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PORTRAIT AND 

BIOGRAPHICAL 

RECORD 



OF 

Leavenworth 
Douglas and 
Franklin Counties 

...KANSAS... 



Containing Portraits, Biographies and Genealogies 
of well known Citizens of the Past and Present 



Together with Portraits and Biographies 
of all the Presidents of the United States 



CHAPMAN PUBLISHING COMPANY 

CHICAGO 

1899 




•-4'Ps 









PREFACE) 



"he greatest of English historians, Macaulay, and one of the most brilliant writers of the 
present century, has said: "The history of a country is best told in a record of the lives of its 
people." In conformity with this idea, the Portrait and Biographical Record of this 
county has been prepared. Instead of going to musty records, and taking therefrom dry statistical 
matter that can be appreciated by but few, our corps of writers have gone to the people, the men 
and women who have, by their enterprise and industry, brought the county to a rank second to none 
among those comprising this great and noble state, and from their lips have the story of their life 
struggles. No more interesting or instructive matter could be presented to an intelligent public. 
In this volume will be found a record of many whose lives are worthy the imitation of coming 
generations. It tells how some, commencing life in poverty, by industry and economy have 
accumulated wealth. It tells how others, with limited advantages for securing an education, have 
become learned men and women, with an influence extending throughout the length and breadth of 
the land. It tells of men who have risen from the lower walks of life to eminence as statesmen, and 
whose names have become famous. It tells of those in every walk in life who have striven to 
succeed, and records how that success has usually crowned their efforts. It tells also of many, very 
many, who, not seeking the applause of the world, have pursued "the even tenor of their way," 
content to have it said of them, as Christ said of the woman performing a deed of mercy — ' 'They have 
done what they could. ' ' It tells how that many in the pride and strength of young manhood left 
the plow and the anvil, the lawyer's office and the counting-room, left every trade and profession, 
and at their country's call went forth valiantly "to do or die," and how through their efforts the 
Union was restored and peace once more reigned in the land. In the life of every man and of every 
woman is a lesson that should not be lost upon those who follow after. 

Coming generations will appreciate this volume and preserve it as a sacred treasure, from the 
fact that it contains so much that would never find its way into public records, and which would 
otherwise be inaccessible. Great care has been taken in the compilation of the work, and every 
opportunity possible given to those represented to insure correctness in what has been written, and 
the publishers flatter themselves that they give to theii readers a work with few errors of consequence. 
In addition to the biographical sketches, portraits of a number of representative citizens are given. 

The faces of some, and biographical sketches of many, will be missed in this volume. For this 
the publishers are not to blame. Not having a proper conception of the work, some refused to give 
the information necessary to compile a sketch, while others were indifferent. Occasionally some 
member of the family would oppose the enterprise, and on account of such opposition the support of 
the interested one would be withheld. In a few instances men could never be found, though 
repeated calls were made at their residences or places of business. 

Chapman Publishing Co. 

December, 1899. 



•.l?^v^./ 




^■<*s^ 



PORTRAITS AND BIOGRAPHIES 



OF THE 



PRESIDENTS 



OF THE 



UNITED STATES 




■^^c^^^ 



/^>^i.<©\ 



PRESIDENTS 



■^^^^1^^^/ 




GEORGE WASIIIXGTOX. 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



HE Father of our Country was bom in West- 
moreland County, Va., February 22, 1732. 
His parents were Augustine and Mary (Ball) 
Washington. The family to which he belonged 
has not been satisfactorily traced in England. 
His great-grandfather, John Washington, emi- 
grated to Virginia about 1657, ^"d became a 
prosperous planter. He had two sons, Lawrence 
and John. The former married Mildred Warner, 
and had three children, John, Augustine and 
Mildred. Augustine, the father of George, first 
married Jane Butler, who bore him four children, 
two of whom, Lawrence and Augustine, reached 
maturity. Of six children by his second mar- 
riage, George was the eldest, the others being 
Betty, Samuel, John Augustine, Charles and 
Mildred. 

Augustine Washington, the father of George, 
died in 1743, leaving a large landed property. 
To his eldest son, Lawrence, he bequeathed an 
estate on the Potomac, afterwards known as Mt. 
Vernon, and to George he left the parental resi- 
dence. George received only such education as 
the neighborhood schools afforded, save for a 
short time after he left school, when he received 
private instruction in mathematics. His spelling 
was rather defective. Remarkable stories are 
told of his great physical strength and develop- 
ment at an early age. He was an acknowledged 
leader among his companions, and was early 
noted for that nobleness of character, fairness and 
veracity which characterized his whole life. 

When George was fourteen years old he had a 
desire to go to sea, and a midshipman's warrant 
was secured for him, but through the opposition 
of his mother the idea was abandoned. Two 



years later he was appointed surveyor to the im- 
mense estate of Lord Fairfax. In this business 
he spent three years in a rough frontier life, 
gaining experience which afterwards proved very 
essential to him. In 1751, though only nineteen 
years of age, he was appointed Adjutant, with the 
rank of Major, in the Virginia militia, then being 
trained for active service against the French and 
Indians. Soon after this he sailed to the West 
Indies with his brother Lawrence, who went there 
to restore his health. They soon returned, and 
in the summer of 1752 Lawrence died, leaving a 
large fortune to an infant daughter, who did not 
long survive him. On her demise the estate of 
Mt. Vernon was given to George. 

Upon the arrival of Robert Dinwiddle as Lieu- 
tenant-Governor of Virginia, in 1752, the militia 
was reorganized, and the province divided into 
four military districts, of which the northern was 
assigned to Washington as Adjutant-General. 
Shortly after this a very perilous mission, which 
others had refused, was assigned him and ac- 
cepted. This was to proceed to the French post 
near Lake Erie, in northwestern Pennsylvania. 
The distance to be traversed was about six hun- 
dred miles. Winter was at hand, and the journey 
was to be made without military escort, through 
a territory occupied by Indians. The trip was a 
perilous one, and several times he nearly lost his 
life, but he returned in safety and furnished a full 
and useful report of his expedition. A regiment 
of three hundred men was raised in Virginia and 
put in command of Col. Joshua Fry, and Maj. 
Washington was commissioned Lieutenant-Colo- 
nel. Active war was then begun against the 
French and Indians, in which Washington took 



so 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 



a most important part. In the memorable event 
of July 9, 1755, known as "Braddock's defeat," 
Washington was almost the only oflScer of dis- 
tinction who escaped from the calamities of the 
day with life and honor. 

Having been for five years in the military serv- 
ice, and having vainly .sought promotion in the 
royal army, he took advantage of the fall of Ft. Du- 
quesne and the expulsion of the French from the 
valley of the Ohio to resign his commission. Soon 
after he entered the I^egislature, w^here, although 
not a leader, he took an active and important 
part. January 17, 1759, he married Mrs. Martha 
(Dand^ridge) Custis, the wealthy widow of John 
Parke Custis. 

When the British ParUament had closed the 
port of Boston, the cry went up throughout the 
provinces, ' ' The cause ot Boston is the cause of 
us all! " It was then, at the suggestion of Vir- 
ginia, that a congress of all the colonies was 
called to meet at Philadelphia September 5, 
1774, to secure their common liberties, peaceably 
if possible. To this congress Col. Washington 
was sent as a delegate. On May 10, 1775, the 
congress re-assembled, when the hostile inten- 
tions of England were plainly apparent. The 
battles of Concord and Lexington had been fought, 
and among the first acts of this congress was the 
election of a commander-in-chief of the Colonial 
forces. This high and responsible office was con- 
ferred upon Washington, who was still a member 
of the congress. He accepted it on June 19, but 
upon the express condition that he receive no sal- 
ary. He would keep an exact account of ex- 
penses, and expect congress to pay them and 
nothing more. It is not the object of this sketch 
to trace the militarj' acts of Washington, to whom 
the fortunes and liberties of the people of this 
country were so long confided. The war was 
conducted by him under every possible disadvan- 
tage; and while his forces often met wuth reverses, 
yet he overcame every obstacle, and after seven 
years of heroic devotion and matchless skill he 
gained liberty for the greatest nation of earth. 
On December 23, 1783, Washington, in a parting 
address of .surpassing beauty, resigned his com- 
mission as Commander-in-Chief of the army to the 



Continental Congress sitting at Annapolis. He 
retired immediately to Mt. Vernon and resumed 
his occupation as a farmer and planter, shunning 
all coiniection with public life. 

In February, 1789, Washington was unani- 
mously elected President, and at the expiration 
of his first term he was unanimously re-elected. 
At the end of this term many were anxious that he 
be re-elected, but he absolutely refused a third 
nomination. On March 4, 1797, at the expiration 
of his second term as President, he returned to his 
home, hoping to pass there his few remaining 
years free from the annoyances of public life. 
Later in the year, however, his repose seemed 
likely to be interrupted by war with France. At 
the prospect of such a war he was again urged to 
take command of the army, but he chose his sub- 
ordinate officers and left them the charge of mat- 
ters in the field, which he superintended from his 
home. In accepting the command, he made the 
reservation that he was not to be in the field until 
it was necessary. In the midst of these prepara- 
tions his life was suddenly cut offi December 1 2 
he took a severe cold from a ride in the rain, 
which, settling in his throat, produced inflamma- 
tion, and terminated fatally on the night of the 
14th. On the 1 8th his body was borne with mili- 
tar>' honors to its final resting-place, and interred 
in the family vault at Mt. Vernon. 

Of the character of Washington it is impossible 
to speak but in terms of the highest respect and 
admiration. The more we see of the operations 
of our government, and the more deeply we feel 
the difficulty of uniting all opinions in a common 
interest, the more highly we must estimate the 
force of his talent and character, which have been 
able to challenge the reverence of all parties, 
and principles, and nations, and to win a fame as 
extended as the limits of the globe, and which we 
cannot but believe will be as lasting as the exist- 
ence of man. 

In person, Washington was unusually tall, erect 
and well proportioned, and his muscular strength 
was great. His features were of a beausiful sym- 
metry. He commanded respect without any ap- 
pearance of haughtiness, and was ever serious 
without beiug dull. 




JOHN ADAMS. 



JOHN ADAMS. 



30HN ADAMS, the second President and the 
first Vice-President of the United States, was 
born in Braintree (now Quincy) Mass., and 
about ten miles from Boston, October 19, 1735. 
His great-grandfather, Henry Adams, emigrated 
from England about 1640, with a family of eight 
sons, and settled at Braintree. The parents of 
John were John and Susannah (Boylston) 
Adams. His father, who was a farmer of limited 
means, also engaged in the business of shoe- 
making. He gave his eldest son, John, a classical 
education at Harvard College. John graduated 
in 1755, and at once took charge of the school at 
Worcester, Mass. This he found but a ' ' school 
of affliction," from which he endeavored to gain 
relief by devoting himself, in addition, to the 
study of law. For this purpose he placed himself 
under the tuition of the only lawyer in the town. 
He had thought seriously of the clerical profes- 
sion, but seems to have been turned from this by 
what he termed ' ' the frightful engines of ecclesi- 
astical councils, of diabolical malice, and Calvin- 
istic good nature, ' ' of the operations of which he 
had been a witness in his native town. He was 
well fitted for the legal profession, possessing a 
clear, sonorous voice, being ready and fluent of 
speech, and having quick perceptive powers. He 
gradually gained a practice, and in 1764 married 
Abigail Smith, a daughter of a minister, and a 
lady of superior intelligence. Shortly after his 
marriage, in 1765, the attempt at parliamentary 
taxation turned him from law to politics. He 
took initial steps toward holding a town meeting, 
and the resolutions he offered on the subject be- 
came very popular throughout the province, and 
were adopted word for word by over forty differ- 
ent towns. He moved to Boston in 1768, and 
became one of the most courageous and promi- 
nent advocates of the popular cause, and was 
chosen a member of the General Court (the I,eg- 
islature) in 1770. 
Mr. Adams was chosen one of the first dele- 



gates from Massachusetts to the first Continent- 
al Congress, which met in 1774. Here he dis- 
tinguished himself by his capacity for business 
and for debate, and advocated the movement for 
independence against the majority of the mem- 
bers. In May, 1776, he moved and carried a res- 
olution in Congress that the Colonies should 
assume the duties of self-government. He was a 
prominent member of the committee of five ap- 
pointed June 1 1 to prepare a declaration of inde- 
pendence. This article was drawn by Jefferson, 
but on Adams devolved the task of battling it 
through Congress in a three-days debate. 

On the day after the Declaration of Independ- 
ence was passed, while his soul was yet warm 
with the glow of excited feeling, he wrote a letter 
to his wife, which, as we read it now, seems to 
have been dictated by the spirit of prophecy. 
"Yesterday," he says, "the greatest question 
was decided that ever was debated in America; 
and greater, perhaps, never was or will be de- 
cided among men. A resolution was passed 
without one dissenting colony, 'that these United 
States are, and of right ought to be, free and in- 
dependent states.' The day is passed. The 
Fourth of July, 1776, will be a memorable epoch 
in the history of America. I am apt to believe it 
will be celebrated by succeeding generations as 
the great anniversary festival. It ought to be 
commemorated as the day of deliverance by 
solemn acts of devotion to Almighty God. It 
ought to be solemnized with pomp, shows, games, 
sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations 
from one end of the continent to the other, from 
this time forward forever. You will think me 
transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I 
am well aware of the toil and blood and treas- 
ure that it will cost to maintain this declaration 
and support and defend these States; yet, through 
all the gloom, I can see the rays of light and 
glory. I can see that the end is worth more than 
all the means, and that posterity will triumph, 



24 



JOHN ADAMS. 



although you and I may rue, which I hope we 
shall not." 

In November, 1777, Mr. Adams was appointed 
a delegate to France, and to co-operate with Ben- 
jamin Franklin and Arthur Lee, who were then 
in Paris, in the endeavor to obtain assistance in 
arms and money from the French government. 
This was a severe trial to his patriotism, as it 
separated him from his home, compelled him to 
cross the ocean in winter, and exposed him to 
great peril of capture by the British cruisers, who 
were seeking him. He left France June 17, 
1779. In September of the same year he was 
again chosen to go to Paris, and there hold 1 im- 
self in readiness to negotiate a treaty of peace and 
of commerce with Great Britain, as soon as the 
British cabinet might be found willing to listen 
to such proposals. He sailed for France in No- 
vemVjcr, and from there he went to Holland, where 
he negoliatcil important loans and formed im- 
portant commercial treaties. 

Finally, a treaty of peace with England was 
signed, Jaimary 21, 1783. The re-action from the 
excitement, toil and anxietj' through which Mr. 
Adams had passed threw him into a fever. After 
suffering from a continued fever and becoming 
feeble and emaciated, he was advised to go to 
England to drink the waters of Bath. While in 
England, still drooping and desponding, he re- 
ceived dispatches from his own government urg- 
ing the nece.s.sity of his going to Amsterdam to 
negotiate another loan. It was winter, his health 
was delicate, yet he inmiediately set out, and 
through storm, on sea, on horseback and foot, he 
made the trip. 

February 24, 1785, Congress appointed Mr. 
Adams envoy to the Court of St. James. Here 
he met face to face the King of ICngland, who 
had so long regarded him as a traitor. As Eng- 
land did not condescend to appoint a minister to 
the United States, and as Mr. Adams felt that he 
was accomplishing but little, he sought permis- 
sion to return to his own country, where he ar- 
rived in June, 1788. 

When Washington was first chosen President, 
John Adams, rendered illustrious by his signal 
services at home and abroad, was chosen Vice- 



President. Again, at the second election of Wash- 
ington as President, Adams was chosen Vice- 
President. In 1796, Washington retired from 
public life, and Mr. Adams was elected President, 
though not without much opposition. Ser\-ing 
in this ofiBce four years, he was succeeded by Mr. 
Jefferson, his opponent in politics. 

While Mr. Adams was Vice-President the 
great French Revolution shook the continent of 
Europe, and it was upon this point that he was 
at issue with the majority of his countrymen, led 
by Mr. Jefferson. Mr. Adams felt no sympathy 
with the French people in their struggle, for he 
had no confidence in their power of self-govern- 
ment, and he utterly abhorred the class of atheist 
philosophers who, he claimed, caused it. On the 
other hand, Jefferson's sj-mpathies were strongly 
enlisted in behalf of the French people. Hence 
originated the alienation between these distin- 
tingnished men, and the two powerful parties were 
thus soon organized, with Adams at the head of 
the one whose sj-mpathies were with England, 
and Jefferson leading the other in sjmjjathy with 
France. 

The Fourth of July, 1826, which completed the 
half-century since the signing of the Declaration 
of Independence, arrived, and there were but 
three of the signers of that immortal instrument 
left upon the earth to hail its morning light. 
And, as it is well known, on that day two of 
these finished their earthly pilgrimage, a coinci- 
dence so remarkable as to seem miraculous. For 
a few days before Mr. Adams had been rapidly 
failing, and on the moniing of the Fourth he 
found himself too weak to rise from his bed. On 
being requested to name a toast for the cus- 
tomary celebration of the day, he exclaimed 
"Independence forever!" When the day was 
ushered in bj^ the ringing of bells and the firing 
of camions, he was asked by one of his attend- 
ants if he knew what daj' it was? He replied, 
" O yes, it is the glorious Fourth of July — God 
bless it — God bless you all!" In the cour.se of 
the day he said, "It is a great and glorious 
day. ' ' The last words he uttered were, ' ' Jeffer- 
son survives." But he had, at one o'clock, 
resigned his spirit into the hands of his God. 




THOMAS JEFFERSON. 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 



"HOMAS JEFFERSON was born April 2, 
1743, at Shadwell, Albemarle County, Va. 
His parents were Peter and Jane (Ran- 
dolph) Jefferson, the fonner a native of "Wales, 
and the latter born in l,ondon. To them were 
born six daughters and two sons, of whom Thomas 
was the elder. When fourteen years of age his 
father died. He received a most liberal educa- 
tion, having been kept diligently at school from 
the time he was five years of age. In 1760 he 
entered William and Mary College. Williams- 
burg was then the seat of the Colonial court, and 
it was the abode of fashion and splendor. Young 
Jefferson, who was then seventeen years old, lived 
somewhat expensively, keeping fine horses, and 
going much into gay society; yet he was ear- 
nestly devoted to his studies, and irreproachable in 
his morals. In the second year of his college 
course, moved by some unexplained impulse, he 
discarded his old companions and pursuits, and 
often devoted fifteen hours a day to hard study. 
He thus attained very high intellectual culture, 
and a like excellence in philosophy and the lan- 
guages. 

Immediately upon leaving college he began the 
study of law. For the short time he continued 
in the practice of his profession he rose rapidly, 
and distinguished himself by his energy and 
acuteness as a law>'er. But the times called for 
greater action . The policy of England had awak- 
ened the spirit of resistance in the American Col- 
onies, and the enlarged views which Jefferson had 
ever entertained soon led him into active politi- 
cal life. In 1 769 he was chosen a member of the 
Virginia House of Burgesses. In 1772 he mar- 



ried Mrs. Martha Skelton, a very beautiful, 
wealthy, and highly accomplished young widow. 

In 1775 he was sent to the Colonial Congress, 
where, though a silent member, his abilities as a 
writer and a reason er soon become known, and he 
was placed upon a number of important com- 
mittees, and was chairman of the one appointed 
for the drawing up of a declaration of independ- 
ence. This committee consisted of Thomas Jef- 
ferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Rogei' 
Sherman and Robert R. Livingston. Jefferson, 
as chairman, was appointed to draw up the paper. 
Franklin and Adams suggested a few verbal 
changes before it was submitted to Congress. On 
June 28, a few slight changes were made in it liy 
Congress, and it was passed and signed July 4, 
1776. 

In 1779 Mr. Jefferson was elected successor to 
Patrick Henry as Governor of Virginia. At one 
time the British officer Tarleton sent a secret 
expedition to Monticello to capture the Governor. 
Scarcely five minutes elapsed after the hurried 
escape of Mr. Jefferson and his family ere his 
mansion was in possession of the British troops. 
His wife's health, never very good, was much 
injured by this excitement, and in the summer 
of 1782 she died. 

Mr. Jefferson was elected to Congress in 1783. 
Two years later he was appointed Minister Pleni- 
potentiary to France. Returning to the United 
States in September, 1789, he became Secretary 
of State in Washington's cabinet. This position 
he resigned January i, 1794. In 1797, he was 
chosen Vice-President, and four years later was 
elected President over Mr. Adams, with Aaron 



28 



THOMAS JEFFERSON. 



Burr as Vice-Presideut. In 1804 he was re- 
elected with wonderful unanimity, George Clin- 
ton being elected Vice-President. 

The early part of Mr. Jefferson's second ad- 
ministration was disturbed by an event which 
threatened the tranquillity and peace of the Union; 
this was the conspiracy of Aaron Burr. Defeated 
in the late election to the Vice-Presidency, and 
led on by an unprincipled ambition, this extraor- 
dinary man formed the plan of a military ex- 
pedition into the Spanish territories on our south- 
western frontier, for the purpose of forming there 
a new republic. This was generally supposed 
to have been a mere pretext; and although it has 
not been generally known what his real plans 
were, there is no doubt that they were of a far 
more dangerous character. 

In 1809, at the expiration of the second term 
for which Mr. Jefferson had been elected, he de- 
termined to retire from political life. For a period 
of nearly forty years he had been continually be- 
fore the public, and all that time had been em- 
ployed in offices of the greatest trust and respon- 
sibility. Havang thus devoted the best part of 
his life to the service of his country, he now felt 
desirous of that rest which his declining years re- 
quired, and upon the organization of the new ad- 
mini.stration, in March, 1809, he bade farewell for- 
ever to public life and retired to Monticello, his 
famous country home, which, next to Mt. Vernon, 
was the most distinguished residence in the land. 

The Fourth of July, 1826, being the fiftieth an- 
niversary of the Declaration of American Inde- 
pendence, great preparations were made in every 
part of the Union for its celebration as the nation's 
jubilee, and the citizens of Washington, to add to 
the solemnity of the occasion, invited Mr. Jeffer- 
son, as the framer and one of the few sur\'iving 
signers of the Declaration, to participate in their 
festivities. But an illness, which had been of 
several weeks' duration and had been continually 
increasing, compelled him to decline the invita- 
tion. 

On the 2d of July the disease under which he 
was laboring left him, but in such a reduced 
state that his medical attendants entertained no 
hope of his recovery. From this time he was 



perfectl}' sensible that his last hour was at hand. 
On the next day, which was Monday, he asked 
of those around him the day of the month, and 
on being told it was the 3d of July, he ex- 
pressed the earnest wish that he might be per- 
mitted to breathe the air of the fiftieth anniver- 
sary. His prayer was heard — that day whose 
dawn was hailed with such rapture through our 
land burst upon his eyes, and then they were 
closed forever. And what a noble consummation 
of a noble life! To die on that day — the birth- 
day of a nation — the day which his own name 
and his own act had rendered glorious, to die 
amidst the rejoicings and festivities of a whole 
nation, who looked up to him as the author, un- 
der God, of their greatest blessings, was all that 
was wanting to fill up the record of his life. 

Almost at the same hour of his death, the kin- 
dred spirit of the venerable Adams, as if to bear 
him company, left the scene of his earthly honors. 
Hand in hand they had stood forth, the cham- 
pions of freedom; hand in hand, during the dark 
and desperate straggle of the Revolution, they 
had cheered and animated their desponding coun- 
trymen; for half a century they had labored to- 
gether for the good of the country, and now hand 
in hand they departed. In their lives they had 
been united in the same great cause of hberty, 
and in their deaths they were not divided. 

In person Mr. Jefferson was tall and thin, rather 
above six feet in height, but well formed; his eyes 
were light, his hair, originally red, in after life be- 
came white and silver^'-, his complexion was fair, 
his forehead broad, and his whole countenance 
intelligent and thoughtful. He possessed great 
fortitude of mind as well as personal courage, and 
his command of temper was such that his oldest 
and most intimate friends never recollected to 
have seen him in a passion. His manners, though 
dignified, were simple and unaffected, and his 
hospitality was so unbounded that all found at 
his house a ready welcome. In conversation he 
was fluent, eloquent and enthusia.stic, and his 
language was remarkably pure and correct. He 
was a finished cla.ssical scholar, and in his writ- 
ings is discernible the care with which he formed 
his style upon the best models of antiquity. 




JAMES MADISON. 



JAMES MADISON. 



(Tames MADISON, "Father of the Consti- 

I tution, ' ' and fourth President of the United 
Q) States, was born March i6, 1757, and died 
at his home in Virginia June 28, 1836. The 
name of James Madison is inseparably connected 
with most of the important events in that heroic 
period of our country during which the founda- 
tions of this great repubUc were laid. He was 
the last of the founders of the Constitution of the 
United States to be called to his eternal reward. 

The Madison family were among the early emi- 
grants to the New World, landing upon the shores 
of the Chesapeake but fifteen years after the settle- 
ment of Jamestown. The father of James Madison 
was an opulent planter, residing upon a very fine 
estate called Montpelier, in Orange County, Va. 
It was but twenty-five miles from the home of Jef- 
ferson at Monticello, and the closest personal and 
political attachment existed between these illustri- 
ous men from their early youth until death. 

The early education of Mr. Madison was con- 
ducted mostly at home under a private tutor. At 
the age of eighteen he was sent to Princeton Col- 
lege, in New Jersey. Here he appUed himself to 
study with the most imprudent zeal, allowing him- 
self for months but three hours' sleep out of the 
twenty-four. His health thus became so seriously 
impaired that he never recovered any vigor of 
constitution. He graduated in 1771, with a feeble 
body, but with a character of utmost purity, and 
a mind highly disciplined and richly stored with 
learning, which embellished and gave efiiciency 
to his subsequent career. 

Returning to Virginia, he commenced the study 
of law and a course of extensive and systematic 
reading. This educational course, the spirit of 
the times in which he lived, and the society with 
which he associated, all combined to inspire him 
with a strong love of liberty, and to train him for 
his life-work as a .statesman. 

In the spring of 1776, when twenty-six years of 



age, he was elected a member of the Virginia Con- 
vention to frame the constitution of the State. The 
next year (1777), he was a candidate for the Gen- 
eral Assembly. He refused to treat the whisky-lov- 
ing voters, and consequently lost his election; but 
those who had witnessed the talent, energy and 
pubUc spirit of the modest young man enlisted 
themselves in his behalf, and he was appointed to 
the Executive Council. 

Both Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson were 
Governors of Virginia while Mr. Madison re- 
mained member of the Council, and their apprecia- 
tion of his intellectual, social and moral worth 
contributed not a little to his subsequent eminence. 
In the year 1780 he was elected a member of the 
Continental Congress. Here he met the most il- 
lustrious men in our land, and he was immediately 
assigned to one oi the most conspicuous positions 
among them. For three years he continued in Con- 
gress, one of its most active and influential mem- 
bers. In 1784, his term having expired, he was 
elected a member of the Virginia Legislature. 

No man felt more deeply than Mr. Madison the 
utter inefficiency of the old confederacy, with no 
national government, and no power to form- trea- 
ties which would be binding, or to enforce law. 
There was not any State more prominent than 
Virginia in the declaration that an efficient na- 
tional government must be formed. In Januarj^ 
1786, Mr. Madison carried a resolution through 
the General Assembly of Virginia, inviting the 
other States to appoint commissioners to meet in 
convention at Annapolis to discuss this subject. 
Five States only were represented. The conven- 
tion, however, issued another call, drawn up by 
Mr. Madison, urging all the States to send their 
delegates to Philadelphia in May, 17S7, to draft 
a Constitution for the United States, to take the 
place of the Confederate League. The delegates 
met at the time appointed. Every State but 
Rhode Island was represented. George Washing- 



32 



JAMES MADISON. 



ton was chosen president of the convention, and the 
present Constitution of tlie United States was then 
and there formed. There was, perhaps, no mind 
and no pen more active in framing this immortal 
document than the mind and the pen of James 
Madison. 

The Constitution, adopted by a vote of eighty-one 
to seventy-nine, was to be presented to the several 
States for acceptance. But grave solicitude was 
felt. Should it be rejected, we should be left but a 
conglomeration of independent States, with but 
little power at home and little respect abroad. Mr. 
Madison was elected by the convention to draw up 
an address to the people of the United States, ex- 
pounding the principles of the Constitution, and 
urging its adoption. There was great opposition 
to it at first, but at length it triumphed over all, 
and went into effect in 1789. 

Mr. Madison was elected to the House of Repre- 
sentatives in the first Congress, and soon became 
the avowed leader of the Republican party. While 
in New York attending Congress, he met Mrs. 
Todd, a young widow of remarkable power of fas- 
cination, whom he married. She was in person 
and character queenly, and probaby no lady has 
thus far occupied .so prominent a position in the 
very peculiar society which has constituted our 
republican court as did Mrs. Madison. 

Mr. Madison served as Secretary- of State under 
Jefferson, and at the close of his administration 
was chosen President. At this time the encroach- 
ments of England had brought us to the verge of 
war. British orders in council destroyed our com- 
merce, and our flag was exposed tocon.stant insult. 
Mr. Madison was a man of peace. Scholarly in 
his taste, retiring in his disposition, war had no 
charms for him. But the meekest spirit can be 
roused. It makes one's blood boil, even now, to 
think of an American ship brought to upon the 
ocean by the guns of an English cruiser. A 
young lieutenant steps on board and orders the 
crew to be paraded before him. With great non- 
chalance he selects any number whom he may 
please to designate as British subjects, orders them 
down the ship's side into his boat, and places them 
on the gundeck of his man-of-war, to fight, by 
compulsion, the battles of England. This right 



of search and impressment no efforts of our Gov- 
ernment could induce the British cabinet to re- 
linquish. 

On the 1 8th of June, 1812, President Madison 
gave his approval to an act of Congress declaring 
war against Great Britain. Notwithstanding the 
bitter hostility of the Federal party to the war, the 
country in general approved; and Mr. Madison, 
on the 4th of March, 18 13, was re-elected by a 
large majority, and entered upon his second terra 
of office. This is not the place to describe the 
various adventures of this war on the land and on 
the water. Our infant navy then laid the found- 
ations of its renown in grappling with the most 
formidable power which ever swept the seas. The 
contest commenced in earnest by the appearance 
of a Briti.sli fleet, early in February, 1813, in 
Chesapeake Bay, declaring nearly the whole coast 
of the United States under blockade. 

The Emperor of Russia offered his services as 
mediator. America accepted; England refused. 
A British force of five thousand men landed on the 
banks of the Patuxet River, near its entrance into 
Chesapeake Bay, and marched rapidly, by way of 
Bladensburg, upon Washington. 

The straggling little city of Washington was 
thrown into consternation. The cannon of the 
brief conflict at Bladensburg echoed through the 
streets of the metropolis. The whole population 
fled from the city. The President, leaving Mrs. 
Madison in the White House, with her carriage 
drawn up at the door to await his speedy return, 
hurried to meet the officers in a council of war. 
He met our troops utterly routed, and he could not 
go back without danger of being captured. But 
few hours elapsed ere the Presidential Mansion, 
the Capitol, and all the public buildings in Wash- 
ington were in flames. 

The war closed after two years of fighting, and 
on February' 13, 181 5, the treaty of peace was 
signed at Ghent. On the 4th of March, 18 17, his 
second term of office expired, and he resigned the 
Presidential chair to his friend, James Monroe. 
He retired to his beautiful home at Montpelier, and 
there passed the remainder of his days. On June 
28, 1836, at the age of eighty-five years, he fell 
asleep in death. Mrs. Madison died July 12, 1849. 




JAMES MCJXKOK. 



JAMES MONROE. 



(Tames MONROE, the fifth President of the 
I United States, was born in Westmoreland 
C) County, Va., April 28, 1758. His early life 
was passed at the place of his nativity. His an- 
cestors had for many j'ears resided in the province 
in which he was born. When he was seventeen 
years old, and in process of completing his educa- 
tion at William and Mary College, the Colonial 
Congress, assembled at Philadelphia to deliberate 
upon the unjust and manifold oppressions of Great 
Britain, declared the separation of the Colonies, 
and promulgated the Declaration of Independence. 
Had he been born ten years before, it is highly 
probable that he would have been one of the 
signers of that celebrated instrument. At this 
time he left school and enlisted among the pa- 
triots. 

He joined the army when everything looked 
hopeless and gloomy. The number of deserters 
increased from day to day. The invading armies 
came pouring in, and the Tories not only favored 
the cause of the mother country, but disheartened 
the new recruits, who were sufficiently terrified 
at the prospect of contending with an enemy 
whom they had been taught to deem invincible. 
To such brave spirits as James Monroe, who went 
right onward undismayed through difiiculty and 
danger, the United States owe their political 
emancipation. The young cadet joined the ranks 
and espoused the cause of his injured country, 
with a firm determination to live or die in her 
strife for liberty. Firmly, yet sadly, he shared in 
the melancholy retreat from Harlem Heights 
and White Plains, and accompanied the dispirited 
army as it fled before its foes through New Jersey. 
In four months after the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, the patriots had been beaten in seven 
battles. At the battle of Trenton he led the van- 
guard, and in the act of charging upon the enemy 
he received a wound in the left shoulder. 



As a reward for his braverj^ Mr. Monroe was 
promoted to be captain of infantrj', and, having re- 
covered from his wounds, he rejoined the army. 
He, however, receded from the line of promotion 
by becoming an officer on the staff of L,ord Ster- 
ling. During the campaigns of 1777 and 1778, 
in the actions of Brandywine, Germantown and 
Monmouth, he continued aide-de-camp; but be- 
coming desirous to regain his position in the 
army, he exerted himself to collect a regiment for 
the Virginia line. This scheme failed, owing to 
the exhausted condition of the State. Upon this 
failure he entered the office of Mr. Jefferson, at 
that period Governor, and pursued with consid- 
erable ardor the study of common law. He did 
not, however, entirely lay aside the knapsack for 
the green bag, but on the invasion of the enemy 
served as a volunteer during the two years of his 
legal pursuits. 

In 1782 he was elected from King George 
County a member of the Legislature of Virginia, 
and by that body he was elevated to a seat in the 
Executive Council. He was thus honored with 
the confidence of his fellow-citizens at twenty- 
three years of age, and having at this early period 
displa3'ed some of that ability and aptitude for 
legislation which were afterward employed with 
unremitting energy for the public good, he was 
in the succeeding year chosen a member of the 
Congress of the United States. 

Deeply as Mr. Monroe felt the imperfections of 
the old Confederacy, he was opposed to the new 
Constitution, thinking, with many others of the 
Republican party, that it gave too much power to 
the Central Government, and not enough to the 
individual States. Still he retained the esteem 
of his friends who were its warm supporters, and 
who, notwithstanding his opposition, secured its 
adoption. In 1789 he became a member of the 
United States Senate, which office he held for 



36 



JAMES MONROE. 



four years. Everj' month the line of distinction 
between the two great parties which divided the 
nation, the Federal and the Republican, was 
growing more distinct. The differences which 
now separated them lay in the fact that the Repub- 
lican party was in sympathy with France, and 
also in favor of such a strict construction of the 
Constitution as to give the Central Government as 
little power, and the State Governments as much 
power, as the Constitution would warrant; while 
the Federalists sympathized with England, and 
were in favor of a liberal construction of the Con- 
stitution, which would give as much power to the 
Central Government as that document could pos- 
sibly authorize. 

Washington was then President. England had 
espoused the cause of the Bourbons against the 
principles of the French Revolution. All Europe 
was drawn into the conflict. We were feeble and 
far away. Wa.shington issued a proclamation of 
neutrality between these contending powers. 
France had helped us in the struggles for our 
liberties. All the despotisms of Europe were now 
combined to prevent the French from escaping 
from a tyranny a thousand-fold worse than that 
which we had endured. Col. Monroe, more mag- 
nanimous than prudent, was anxious that, at 
whatever hazard, we should help our old allies in 
their extremity. It was the impulse of a gener- 
ous and noble nature, and Washington, who could 
appreciate such a character, showed his calm, se- 
rene, almost divine, greatness, by appointing that 
very James Monroe who was denouncing the pol- 
icy of the Government, as the minister of that 
Government to the Republic of France. Mr. 
Monroe was welcomed by the National Conven- 
tion in France with the most enthusiastic dem- 
onstration. 

Shortly after his return to this countrj', Mr. 
Monroe was elected Governor of Virginia, and 
held the office for three j-ears. He was again 
sent to France to co-operate with Chancellor Liv- 
ingston in obtaining the vast territory then known 
as the province of Louisiana, which France had 
but shortly before obtained from Spain. Their 
united efforts were successful. For the compara- 
tively small sum of fifteen millions of dollars, the 



entire territory of Orleans and district of Loui- 
siana were added to the United States. This was 
probably the largest transfer of real estate which 
was ever made in all the history of the world. 

From France Mr. Monroe went to England to 
obtain from that country some recognition of our 
rights as neutrals, and to remonstrate against 
those odious impressments of our seamen. But 
England was unrelenting. He again returned to 
England on the same mission, but could receive 
no redress. He returned to his home and was 
again chosen Governor of Virginia. This he soon 
resigned to accept the position of Secretary of 
State under Madison. While in this office war 
with England was declared, the Secretary of War 
resigned, and during these trying times the 
duties of the War Department were also put upon 
him. He was truly the armor-bearer of President 
Madison, and the most efficient business man in 
his cabinet. Upon the return of peace he re- 
signed the Department of War, but continued in 
the office of Secretary of State until the expira- 
tion of Mr. Madison's administration. At the 
election held the previous autumn, Mr. Monroe 
himself had been cho.sen President with but little 
oppo.sition, and upon March 4, 1817, he was in- 
augurated. Four years later he was elected for 
a second tenn. 

Among the important measures of his Presi- 
dency were the cession of Florida to the United 
States, the Missouri Compromise, and the famous 
" Monroe doctrine." This doctrine was enun- 
ciated by him in 1823, and was as follows: " That 
we should consider any attempt on the part of 
European powers to extend their system to any 
portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our 
peace and .safety," and that " we could not view 
any interposition for the purpose of oppressing or 
controlling American governments or provinces 
in any other light than as a manifestation by 
European powers of an unfriendly disposition 
toward the United States." 

At the end of his second term, Mr. Monroe re- 
tired to his home in Virginia, where he lived un- 
til 1830, when he went to New York to live with 
his son-in-law. In that city he died, on the 4th 
of July, 1831. 



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JOHN gUINCV ADAMS. 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 



(John QUINCY ADAMS, the sixth President 

I of the United States, was born in the rural 
Q) home of his honored father, John Adams, in 
Quincy, Mass., on the nth of July, 1767. His 
mother, a woman of exalted worth, watched over 
his childhood during the almost constant ab- 
sence of his father. When but eight years of 
age, he stood with his mother on an eminence, 
listening to the booming of the great battle on 
Bunker's Hill, and gazing out upon the smoke 
and flames billowing up from the conflagration of 
Charlestown. 

When but eleven years old he took a tearful 
adieu of his mother, to sail with his father for Eu- 
rope, through a fleet of hostile British cruisers. 
The bright, animated boy spent a year and a-half 
in Paris, where his father was associated with 
Franklin and I,ee as Minister Plenipotentiary. 
His intelligence attracted the notice of these dis- 
tinguished men, and he received from them flat- 
tering marks of attention. 

John Adams had scarcely returned to this 
country, in 1779, ere he was again sent abroad. 
Again John Quincy accompanied his father. At 
Paris he applied himself to study with great dil- 
igence for six months, and then accompanied his 
father to Holland, where he entered first a school 
in Amsterdam, then the University at Leyden. 
About a year from this time, in 1781, when the 
manly boy was but fourteen years of age, he was 
selected by Mr. Dana, our Minister to the Rus- 
sian court, as his private secretary. 

In this school of incessant labor and of ennobl- 
ing culture he spent fourteen months, and then 
returned to Holland, through Sweden, Denmark, 
Hamburg and Bremen. This long journey he 
took alone in the winter, when in his sixteenth 
year. Again he resumed his studies, under a pri- 
vate tutor, at The Hague. Then, in the spring of 
1782, he accompanied his father to Paris, travel- 
ing leisurely, and forming acquaintances with the 
most distinguished men on the continent, examin- 



ing architectural remains, galleries of paintings, 
and all renowned works of art. At Paris he 
again became associated with the most illustrious 
men of all lands in the contemplation of the 
loftiest temporal themes which can engross the 
human mind. After a short visit to England he 
returned to Paris, and consecrated all his energies 
to study until May, 1785, when he returned to 
America to finish his education. 

Upon leaving Harvard College at the age of 
twenty, he studied law for three years. In June, 
1 794, being then but twenty-seven years of age, 
he was appointed by Washington Resident Min- 
ister at the Netherlands. Sailing from Boston in 
July, he reached London in October, where he 
was immediately admitted to the deliberations of 
Messrs. Jay & Pinckney, assisting them in nego- 
tiating a commercial treaty with Great Britain. 
After thus spending a fortnight in London, he 
proceeded to The Hague. 

In July, 1797, he left The Hague to go to Por- 
tugal as Minister Plenipotentiary. On his way to 
Portugal, upon arriving in London, he met with 
despatches directing him to the court of Berlin, but 
requesting him to remain in London until he 
should receive his instructions. While waiting 
he was married to an American lady, to whom he 
had been previously engaged — Miss Louisa Cath- 
erine Johnson, a daughter of Joshua Johnson, 
American Consul in London, and a lady en- 
dowed with that beauty and those accomplish- 
ments which eminently fitted her to move in the 
elevated sphere for which she was destined. He 
reached Berlin with his wife in November, 1797, 
where he remained until July, 1799, when, hav- 
ing fulfilled all the purposes of his mission, he so- 
licited his recall. 

Soon after his return, in 1802, he was chosen 
to the Senate of Massachusetts from Boston, and 
then was elected Senator of the United States for 
six years, from the 4th of March, 1804. His rep- 
utation, his ability and his experience placed 



40 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 



him inuncdiately among the most prominent and 
influential members of that body. 

In 1809, Madison succeeded Jefferson in the 
Presidential chair, and he immediately nominated 
John Quincy Adams Minister to St. Petersburgh. 
Resigning his profes.sorship in Harvard Col- 
lege, he embarked at Boston in August, 1809. 

While in Russia, Mr. Adams was an intense 
student. He devoted his attention to the lan- 
guage and history of Russia; to the Chinese trade; 
to the European system of weights, measures and 
coins; to the climate and astronomical observa- 
tions: while he kept up a familiar acquaintance 
with the Greek and Latin clas.sics. In all the 
universities of Europe, a more accomplished 
scholar could scarcely be found. All through 
life the Bible constituted an important part of his 
studies. It was his rule to read five chapters 
every da}'. 

On the 4th of March, 181 7, Mr. Monroe took 
the Presidential chair, and immediately appointed 
Mr. Adams Secretary of State. Taking leave of 
his numerous friends in public and private life in 
Europe, he sailed in June, 1819, for the United 
States. On the 18th of August, he again crossed 
the threshold of his home in Quincy. During the 
eight years of Mr. Monroe's administration, Mr. 
Adams continued Secretar>' of State. 

Some time before the close of Mr. Monroe's 
second term of office, new candidates began to be 
presented for the Presidency. The friends of Mr. 
Adams brought forward his name. It was an 
exciting campaign, and party spirit was never 
more bitter. Two hundred and sixty electoral 
votes were cast. Andrew Jackson received ninety- 
nine; John Quincy Adams eighty-four; William 
H. Crawford forty-one; and Henry Clay thirty- 
seven. As there was no choice by the people, 
the question went to the House of Representa- 
tives. Mr. Clay gave the vote of Kentucky to 
Mr. Adams, and he was elected. 

The friends of all the disappointed candidates 
now combined in a venomous and persistent as- 
sault upon Mr. Adams. There is nothing more 
disgraceful in the past historj' of our countrj' than 
the abuse which was poured in one uninterrupted 
stream upon this high-minded, upright and pa- 



triotic man. There never was an administration 
more pure in principles, more conscientiously de- 
voted to the be.st interests of the countrj-, than 
that of John Quincy Adams; and never, perhaps, 
was there an administration more unscrupulously 
and outrageously assailed. 

On the 4th of March, 1829, Mr. Adams retired 
from the Presidency, and was succeeded by An- 
drew Jackson. John C. Calhoun was elected 
Vice-President. The slavery question now be- 
gan to assume portentous magnitude. Mr. Adams 
returned to Quincy and to his studies, which he 
pursued with unabated zeal. But he was not 
long permitted to remain in retirement. In No- 
vember, 1830, he was elected Representative in 
Congress. For seventeen years, or until his death, 
he occupied the post as Representative, towering 
above all his peers, ever ready to do brave battle 
for freedom, and winning the title of "the Old 
Man Eloquent." Upon taking his seat in the 
House, he announced that he should hold him- 
self bound to no party. Probably there never 
was a member more devoted to his duties. He 
was usuallj' the first in his place in the morning, 
and the last to leave his seat in the evening. 
Not a measure could be brought forward and es- 
cape his scrutiny. The battle which Mr. Adams 
fought, almost singly, against the pro-slavery 
party in the Government was sublime in its 
moral daring and heroism. For persisting in 
presenting petitions for the abolition of slaverj', 
he was threatened with indictment b^' the grand 
jury, with expulsion from the House, with assas- 
sination; but no threats could intimidate him, and 
his final triumph was complete. 

On the 2ist of Februarj-, 1848, he rose on the 
floor of Congress with a paper in his hand, to 
address the speaker. Suddenly he fell, again 
stricken bj' paralysis, and was caught in the anns 
of those around him. For a time he was sense- 
less, as he was conveyed to the sofa in the ro- 
tunda. With reviving consciousness, he opened 
his eyes, looked calmly around and said "This 
is the end of earth;" then after a moment's pause 
he added, " I am content." These were the last 
words of the grand ' ' Old Man Eloquent. ' ' 




ANDREW JACKSON. 



ANDREW JACKSON. 



Gl NDREW JACKSON, the seventh President 
Ll of the United States, was born in Waxhaw 
/ I settlement, N. C, March 15, 1767, a few 
days after his father's death. His parents were 
poor emigrants from Ireland, and took up their 
abode in Waxhaw settlement, where they lived 
in deepest poverty. 

Andrew, or Andy, as he was universally called, 
grew up a very rough, rude, turbulent boy. His 
features were coarse, his form ungainly, and there 
was but very little in his character made visible 
which was attractive. 

When only thirteen years old he joined the 
volunteers of Carolina against the British invasion. 
In 1 78 1, he and his brother Robert were captured 
and imprisoned for a time at Camden. A British 
officer ordered him to brush his mud-spattered 
boots. "lam a prisoner of war, not your serv- 
ant," was the reply of the dauntless boy. 

Andrew supported himselfin various ways, such 
as working at the saddler's trade, teaching school, 
and clerking in a general store, until 1784, when 
he entered a law office at Salisbury', N. C. He, 
however, gave more attention to the wild amuse- 
ments of the times than to his studies. In 1788, 
he was appointed solicitor for the Western District 
of North Carolina, of which Tennessee was then 
a part. This involved many long journeys amid 
dangers of every kind, but Andrew Jackson never 
knew fear, and the Indians had no desire to re- 
peat a skirmish with "Sharp Knife." 

In 1 79 1, Mr. Jackson was married to a woman 
who supposed herself divorced from her former 
husband. Great was the surprise of both parties, 
two years later, to find that the conditions of the 
divorce had just been definitely settled by the 
first husband. The marriage ceremony was per- 
fonned a second time, but the occurrence was 
often used by his enemies to bring Mr. Jackson 
into disfavor. 



In January, 1796, the Territory of Tennessee 
then containing nearly eighty thousand inhabi- 
tants, the people met in con\-ention at Knoxville 
to frame a constitution. Five were sent from 
each of the eleven counties. Andrew Jackson 
was one of the delegates. The new State was 
entitled to but one member in the National House 
of Representatives. Andrew Jackson was chosen 
that member. Mounting his horse, he rode to 
Philadelphia, where Congress then held its ses- 
sions, a distance of about eight hundred miles. 

Jackson was an earnest advocate of the Demo- 
cratic party, and Jeiferson was his idol. He ad- 
mired Bonaparte, lo\'ed France, and hated Eng- 
land. As Mr. Jackson took his seat. Gen. Wash- 
ington, whose second term of office was then 
expiring, delivered his last sfjeech to Congress. 
A committee drew up a complimentary address in 
replj'. Andrew Jackson did not approve of the 
address, and was one of the twelve who voted 
against it. He was not willing to say that Gen. 
Washington's administration had been "wise, 
firm and patriotic. ' ' 

Mr. Jackson was elected to the United States 
Senate in 1797, but soon resigned and returned 
home. Soon after he was chosen Judge of the 
Supreme Court of his State, which position he 
held for six years. 

When the War of 18 12 with Great Britain com- 
menced, Madison occupied the Presidential chair. 
Aaron Burr sent word to the President that there 
was an unknown man in the West, Andrew Jack- 
son, who would do credit to a commission if one 
were conferred upon him. Just at that time Gen. 
Jackson offered his services and those of twenty- 
five hundred volunteers. His offer was accepted, 
and the troops were assembled at Nashville. 

As the British were hourly expected to make 
an attack upon New Orleans, where Gen. Wil- 
kinson was in commaxid, he was ordered to de- 



44 



ANDREW JACKSON. 



scend the river with fifteen hundred troops to aid 
Wilkinson. The expedition reached Natchez, 
and after a dehiy of several weeks there without 
accomplishing anything, the men were ordered 
back to their homes. But the energj' Gen. Jack- 
son had displayed, and his entire devotion to the 
comfort of his soldiers, won for him golden opin- 
ions, and he became the most popular man in the 
State. It was in this expedition that his tough- 
ness gave him the nickname of "Old Hickory." 

Soon after this, while attempting to horsewhip 
Col. Thomas Benton for a remark that gentleman 
made about his taking part as second in a duel 
in which a younger brother of Benton's was en- 
gaged, he received two severe pistol wounds. 
While he was lingering upon a bed of suffering, 
news came that the Indians, who had combined 
under Tecumseh from Florida to the Lakes to ex- 
terminate the white settlers, were committing the 
most awful ravages. Decisive action became nec- 
essary. Gen. Jackson, with his fractured bone 
just beginning to heal, his arm in a sling, and 
unable to mount his horse without assistance, 
gave his amazing energies to the raising of an 
army to rendezvous at Fayettesville, Ala. 

The Creek Indians had established a strong 
fort on one of the bends of the Tallapoosa River, 
near the center of Alabama, about fifty miles be- 
low Ft. Strother. With an army of two thousand 
men. Gen. Jackson traversed the pathless wilder- 
ness in a march of eleven days. He reached their 
fort, called Tohopeka or Horse-shoe, on the 27th 
of March, 1814. The bend of the river enclosed 
nearly one hundred acres of tangled forest and 
wild ravine. Across the narrow neck the Indians 
had constructed a fonnidable breastwork of logs 
and brush. Here nine hundred warriors, with 
an ample suppl}' of arms, were a.ssembled. 

The fort was stormed. The fight was utterly 
desperate. Not an Indian would accept quarter. 
When bleeding and dying, they would fight those 
who endeavored to spare their lives. From ten 
in the morning until dark the battle raged. The 
carnage was awful and revolting. Some threw 
themselves into the river; but the unerring bul- 
lets struck their heads as they swam. Nearly 
every one of the nine hundred warriors was 



killed. A few, probably, in the night swam 
the river and escaped. This ended the war. 

This closing of the Creek War enabled us to 
concentrate all our militia upon the British, who 
were the allies of the Indians. No man of less 
resolute will than Gen. Jackson could have con- 
ducted this Indian campaign to so successful an 
issue. Immediately he was appointed Major- 
General. 

Late in August, with an army of two thousand 
men on a rushing march. Gen. Jackson went to 
Mobile. A British fleet went from Pensacola, 
landed a force upon the beach, anchored near the 
little fort, and from both ship and shore com- 
menced a furious assault. The battle was long 
and doubtful. At length one of the ships was 
blown up and the rest retired. 

Garrisoning Mobile, where he had taken his 
little army, he moved his troops to New Orleans, 
and the battle of New Orleans, which soon ensued, 
was in reality a very arduous campaign. This 
won for Gen. Jack.son an imperishable name. 
Here his troops, which mxmbered about four 
thousand men, won a .signal victory over the 
British army of about nine thousand. His loss 
was but thirteen, while the loss of the British was 
twenty-six hundred. 

The name of Gen. Jackson soon began to be 
mentioned in connection with the Presidency, 
but in 1824 he was defeated by Mr. Adams. 
He was, however, successful in the election of 
1828, and was re-elected for a second term in 
1832. In 1829, just before he as.sumed the reins 
of government, he met with the most terrible 
affliction of his life in the death of his wife, whom 
he had loved with a devotion which has perhaps 
never been surpassed. From the shock of her 
death he never recovered. 

His administration was one of the most mem- 
orable in the annals of our country — applauded 
by one party, condemned by the other. No man 
had more bitter enemies or warmer friends. At 
the expiration of his two terms of office he retired 
to the Hermitage, where he died June 8, 1845. The 
last years of Mr. Jackson's life were those of a de- 
voted Christian man. 




MARTIN VAN BUREN. 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 



( >| ARTIN VAN BUREN, the eighth Presi- 
y dent of the United States, was born at Kin- 
\3 derhook, N. Y., December 5, 1782. He 
died at the same place, July 24, 1862. His body 
rests in the cemetery at Kinderhook. Above it is 
a plain granite shaft, fifteen feet high, bearing a 
simple inscription about half-way up on one face. 
The lot is unfenced, unbordered or unbounded 
by shrub or flower. 

There is but little in the life of Martin Van 
Buren of romantic interest. He fought no battles, 
engaged in no wild adventures. Though his life 
was stormy in political and intellectual conflicts, 
and he gained many signal victories, his da}rs 
passed uneventful in those incidents which give 
zest to biography. His ancestors, as his name indi- 
cates, were of Dutch origin, and were among the 
earliest emigrants from Holland to the banks of 
the Hudson. His father was a farmer, residing 
in the old town of Kinderhook. His mother, also 
of Dutch lineage, was a woman of superior intel- 
ligence and exemplar}' piety. 

He was decidedlj' a precocious boy, developing 
unusual activity, vigor and strength of mind. At 
the age of fourteen, he had finished his academic 
studies in his native village, and commenced the 
study of law. As he had not a collegiate educa- 
tion, seven years of study in a law-office were re- 
quired of him before he could be admitted to the 
Bar. Inspired with a lofty ambition, and con- 
scious of his powers, he pursued his studies with 
indefatigable industry'. After spending six years 
in an ofiice in his native village, he went to the city 
of New York, and prosecuted his studies for the 
seventh year. 

In 1803, Mr. Van Buren, then twenty -one years 



of age, commenced the practice of law in his na- 
tive village. The great conflict between the Fedei al 
and Republican parties was then at its height. 
Mr. Van Buren was from the beginning a politi- 
cian. He had, perhaps, imbibed that spirit while 
listening to the many discussions which had been 
carried on in his father' s hotel. He was in cordial 
sympathy with Jefierson, and earnestly and elo- 
quently espoused the cause of State Rights, though 
at that time the Federal part}' held the supremacy 
both in his town and State. 

His success and increasing reputation led him 
after six years of practice to remove to Hudson, 
the county seat of his county. Here he spent 
seven years, constantly gaining strength by con- 
tending in the courts with some of the ablest men 
who have adorned the Bar of his State. 

Just before leaving Kinderhook for Hudson, Mr. 
Van Buren married a lady alike distinguished for 
beauty and accomplishments. After twelve short 
years she sank into the grave, a victim of con- 
sumption, leaving her husband and four sons to 
weep over her loss. For twenty-five years, Mr. 
Van Buren was an earnest, successful, assiduous 
lawyer. The record of those years is barren in 
items of public interest. In 18 12, when thirty 
years of age, he was chosen to the State Senate, 
and gave his strenuous support to Mr. Madison's 
administration. In 1815, he was appointed At- 
torney-General, and the next year moved to Al- 
bany, the capital of the State. 

While he was acknowledged as one of the most 
prominent leaders of the Democratic party, he had 
the moral courage to avow that true democracy did 
not require that ' 'universal suffrage' ' which admit.'-, 
the vile, the degraded, the ignorant, to the right 



48 



MARTIN VAN BUREN. 



of governing the State. In true consistency with 
his democratic principles, he contended that, while 
the path leading to the privilege of voting should 
be open to everj' man without distinction, no one 
should be invested with that sacred prerogative 
unless he were in some degree qualified for it by 
intelligence, virtue, and some property interests in 
the welfare of the State. 

In 1 82 1 he was elected a member of the United 
States Senate, and in the same year he took a 
seat in the convention to revise the Constitution of 
his native State. His course in this convention 
secured the approval of men of all parties. No 
one could doubt the singleness of his endeavors to 
promote the interests of all classes in the com- 
munity. In the Senate of the United States, he 
rose at once to a conspicuous position as an active 
and useful legislator. 

In 1827, John Quincy Adams being then in the 
Presidential chair, Mr. Van Buren was re-elected 
to the Senate. He had been from the beginning 
a determined opposer of the administration, adopt- 
ing the "State Rights" view in opposition to what 
was deemed the Federal proclivities of Mr. Adams. 

Soon after this, in 1828, he was chosen Governor 
of the State of New York, and accordingly re.signed 
his seat in the Senate. Probably no one in the 
United States contributed so much towards eject- 
ing John Q. Adams from the Presidential chair, 
and placing in it Andrew Jackson, as did Martin 
Van Buren. Whether entitled to the reputation 
or not, he certainly was regarded throughout the 
United States as one of the most skillful, sagacious 
and cunning of politicians. It was suppo.sed that 
no one knew so well as he how to touch the secret 
springs of action, how to pull all the wires to 
put his machinery in motion, and how to organize 
a political army which would secretly and stealth- 
ily accomplish the most gigantic results. By these 
powers it is .said that he outwitted Mr. Adams, Mr. 
Clay, and Mr. Webster, and .secured results which 
few then thought could be accomplished. 

When Andrew Jackson was elected President 
he appointed Mr. Van Buren Secretary of State. 
This position he resigned in 1831, and was im- 
mediately appointed Minister to England, where 
be went the same autumn. The Senate, however, 



when it met, refused to ratify the nomination, and 
he returned home, apparently untroubled. Later 
he was nominated Vice-President in the place of 
Calhoun, at the re-election of President Jackson, 
and with smiles for all and frowns for none, he 
took his place at the head of that Senate which had 
refused to confirm his nomination as ambassador. 

His rejection by the Senate roused all the zeal 
of President Jackson in behalf of his repudiated 
favorite; and this, probably, more than any other 
cause secured his elevation to the chair of the 
Chief Executive. On the 20th of May, 1836, Mr. 
Van Buren received the Democratic nomination 
to succeed Gen. Jackson as President of the United 
States. He was elected by a handsome majority, 
to the delight of the retiring President. ' 'Leaving 
New York out of the canva.ss," says Mr. Parton, 
"the election of Mr. Van Buren to the Presidency 
was as much the act of Gen. Jackson as though 
the Constitution had conferred upon him the power 
to appoint a successor." 

His administration was filled with exciting 
events. The insurrection in Canada, which 
threatened to involve this country in war with 
England, the agitation of the slaverj' question, 
and finally the great commercial panic which 
spread over the countrj', all were trials of his wis- 
dom. The financial distress was attributed to 
the management of the Democratic party, and 
brought the President into such disfavor that he 
failed of re-election, and on the 4th of March, 
1841, he retired from the presidency. 

With the exception of being nominated for the 
Presidency by the "Free Soil" Democrats in 1848, 
Mr. Van Buren lived quietly upon his estate until 
his death. He had ever been a prudent man, of 
frugal habits, and, living within his income, had 
now fortunately a competence for his declining 
years. From his fine estate at Lindenwald, he 
still exerted a powerful influence upon the politics 
of the countrj'. From this time until his death, 
on the 24th of July, 1862, at the age of eighty 
years, he resided at Lindenwald, a gentleman of 
leisure, of culture and wealth, enjoying in a 
healthy old age probably far more happiness than 
he had before experienced amid the stormy scenes 
of his active life. 




WILLIAM HlvNRN' HARRISON. 



WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 



(DGJlLLIAM HENRY HARRISON, the ninth 
lAl President of the United States, was born 
YY at Berkeley, Va., February 9, 1773. His 
father, Benjamin Harrison, was in comparatively 
opulent circumstances, and was one of the most 
distinguished men of his day. He was an inti- 
mate friend of George Washington, was early 
elected a member of the Continental Congress, 
and was conspicuous among the patriots of Vir- 
ginia in resisting the encroachments of the British 
crown. In the celebrated Congress of 1775, Ben- 
jamin Harrison and John Hancock were both 
candidates for the office of Speaker. 

Mr. Harrison was subsequently chosen Gov- 
ernor of Virginia, and was twice re-elected. His 
son William Henrj-, of course, enjoyed in child- 
hood all the advantages which wealth and intel- 
lectual and cultivated society could give. Hav- 
ing received a thorough common-school educa- 
tion, he entered Hampden Sidney College, where 
he graduated with honor soon after the death of 
his father. He then repaired to Philadelphia to 
study medicine under the instructions of Dr. Rush 
and the guardianship of Robert Morris, both of 
whom were, with his father, signers of the Dec- 
laration of Independence. 

Upon the outbreak of the Indian troubles, and 
notwithstanding the remonstrances of his friends, 
he abandoned his medical studies and entered the 
army, having obtained a commission as Ensign 
from President Washington. He was then but 
nineteen years old. From that time he passed 
gradually upward in rank until he became aide 
to Gen. Wayne, after whose death he resigned 
his commission. He was then appointed Secre- 
tary of the Northwestern Territory. This Terri- 
tory was then entitled to but one member in Con- 



gress, and Harrison was chosen to fill that position 
In the spring of 1800 the Northwestern Terri- 
tory was divided by Congress into two portions. 
The eastern portion, comprising the region now 
embraced in the State of Ohio, was called ' ' The 
Territory northwest of the Ohio. ' ' The western 
portion, which included what is now called Indi- 
ana, Illinois and Wisconsin, was called "the Indi- 
ana Territory." William Henry Harrison, then 
twenty-seven years of age, was appointed by John 
Adams Governor of the Indiana Territory, and 
immediately after also Governor of Upper Loui- 
siana. He was thus ruler over almost as exten- 
sive a realm as any sovereign upon the globe. 
He was Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and 
was invested with powers nearly dictatorial over 
the then rapidly increasing white population. The 
ability and fidelity with which he discharged 
these responsible duties may be inferred from the 
fact that he was four times appointed to this 
office — first by John Adams, twice by Thomas 
Jefferson, and afterwards by President Madison. 

When he began his administration there were 
but three white settlements in that almost bound- 
less region, now crowded with cities and resound- 
ing with all the tumult of wealth and traffic. 
One of these settlements was on the Ohio, nearly 
opposite LouisviHe; one at Vincennes, on the 
Wabash; and the third was a French settlement. 

The vast wilderness over which Gov. Harrison 
reigned was filled with many tribes of Indians. 
About the year 1806, two extraordinary men, 
twin brothers of the Shawnee tribe, rose among 
them. One of these was called Tecumseh, or 
"the Crouching Panther;" the other Olliwa- 
checa, or ' ' the Prophet. ' ' Tecumseh was not 
only an Indian warrior, but a man of great sagac- 



52 



WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON. 



ity, far-reaching foresight and indomitable perse- 
verance in any enterprise in which he might en- 
gage. His brother, the Prophet, was an orator, 
who could sway the feelings of the untutored In- 
dians as the gale tos.sed the tree-tops beneath 
which they dwelt. With an enthusiasm unsur- 
passed by Peter the Hermit rousing Europe to the 
crusades, he went from tribe to tribe, assuming 
that he was specially sent by the Great Spirit. 

Gov. Harrison made many attempts to con- 
ciliate the Indians, but at last war came, and at 
Tippecanoe the Indians were routed with great 
.slaughter. October 28, 1812, his army beganits 
march. When near the Prophet's town, three 
Indians of rank made their appearance and in- 
quired why Gov. Harrison was approaching them 
in so hostile an attitude. After a .short confer- 
ence, arrangements were made for a meeting the 
ne.Kt day to agree upon terms of peace. 

But Gov. Harri-son was too well acquainted 
with the Indian character to be deceived by such 
protestations. Selecting a favorable spot for his 
night's encampment, he took every precaution 
against surjarise. His troops were posted in a 
hollow square and .slept upon their arms. The 
wakeful Governor, between three and four o'clock 
in the morning, had risen, and was sitting 
in conversation with his aides by the embers 
of a waning fire. It was a chill, cloudy morning, 
with a drizzling rain. In the darkness, the In- 
dians had crept as near as pos.sible, and just then, 
with a savage yell, rushed, with all the despera- 
tion which super.stition and passion most highly 
inflamed could give, upon the left flank of the 
little army. The savages had been amply pro- 
vided with guns and ammunition by the English, 
and their war-whoop was accompanied by a 
shower of bullets. 

The cam]>-rires were in.stantly extinguished, as 
the light aided the Indians in their aim, and 
Gen. Harrison's troops .stood as inunovable as 
the rocks around them until day dawned, when 
they made a sinuiltaneous charge with the bayo- 
net and swept everything before them, completely 
routing the foe. 

Gov. Harri.son now had all his energies tasked 
to the utmost. The British, descending from the 



Canadas, were of themselves a very formidable 
force, but with their savage allies ru.shing like 
wolves from the forest, burning, plundering, scalp- 
ing, torturing, the wide frontier was plunged into 
a state of consternation which even the most vivid 
imagination can but faintly conceive. Gen. Hull 
had made an ignominious surrender of his forces at 
Detroit. Under the.se despairing circumstances, 
Gov. Harrison was appointed by President Madi- 
son Commander-in-Chief of the Northwestern 
Army, with orders to retake Detroit and to protect 
the frontiers. It would be diflticult to place a man 
in a situation demancUng more energ}', sagacity 
and courage, but he was found equal to the 
position, and nobly and triumphantly did he meet 
all the responsibilities. 

In 1816, Gen. Harrison was chosen a member 
of the National House of Representatives, to rep- 
resent the District of Ohio. In Congress he proved 
an active member, and whenever he sjx)ke it was 
with a force of reason and power of eloquence 
which arrested the attention of all the members. 

In 1819, Harrison was elected to the Senate of 
Ohio, and in 1824, as one of the Presidential Elec- 
tors of that State, he gave his vote for Henry 
Clay. The same year he was chosen to the Uni- 
ted States Senate. In 1836 his friends brought 
him forward as a candidate for the Presidency 
against Van Buren, but he was defeated. At the 
close of Mr. Van Buren's term, he was re-nom- 
inated by his party, and Mr. Harri.son was unani- 
mously nominated by the Whigs, with John Tyler 
for the Vice-Presidency. The contest was very 
animated. Gen. Jack.son gave all his influence to 
prevent Harrison's election, but his triumph was 
.signal. 

The cabinet which he fonned, with Daniel Web- 
■ster at its head as Secretary of State, was one of 
the most brilliant with which any President had 
ever been surrounded. Never were the pro.spects 
of an administration more flattering, or the hopes 
of the country more sanguine. In the midst of 
these bright and joyous prospects. Gen. Harrison 
was seized by a pleurisy-fever, and after a few 
days of violent sickness died, on the 4th of April, 
just one month after his inauguration as President 
of the United States, 



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JOHN TYLER. 



JOHN TYLER. 



(John TYLER, the tenth President of the 
I United States, and was born in Charles 
Q) City County, Va., March 29, 1790. He was 
the favored child of affluence and high social po- 
sition. At the early age of twelve, John entered 
William and Mary College, and graduated with 
much honor when but seventeen years old. After 
graduating, he devoted himself with great assi- 
duity to the study of law, partly with his father 
and partly with Edmund Randolph, one of the 
most distinguished lawyers of Virginia. 

At nineteen years of age, he commenced the 
practice of law. His success was rapid and as- 
tonishing. It is said that three months had not 
elapsed ere there was scarcely a case on the 
docket of the court in which he was not retained. 
When but twenty-one years of age, he was almost 
unanimously elected to a seat in the State Legis- 
lature. He connected himself with the Demo- 
cratic party, and warmly advocated the measures 
of Jefferson and Madison. For five successive 
years he was elected to the Legislature, receiving 
nearly the unanimous vote of his county. 

When but twenty-six years of age, he was 
elected a Member of Congress. Here he acted ear- 
nestly and ably with the Democratic party, oppos- 
ing a national bank, internal improvements by 
the General Government, and a protective tariff; 
advocating a strict construction of the Constitu- 
tion and the most careful vigilance over State 
rights. His labors in Congress were so arduous 
that before the close of his second term he found 
it necessary to resign and retire to his estate in 
Charles City County to recruit his health. He, 
however, soon after consented to take his seat in 
the State Legislature, where his influence was 
powerful in promoting public works of great 
utility. With a reputation thus constantly in- 
creasing, he was chosen by a very large majority 
of votes Governor of his native State. His ad- 
ministration was a signally successful one, and his 
popularity secured his re-election. 



John Randolph, a brilliant, erratic, half-crazed 
man, then represented Virginia in the Senate of 
the United States. A portion of the Democratic 
party was displeased with Mr. Randolph's way- 
ward course, and brought forward John Tyler as 
his opponent, considering him the only man in 
Virginia of sufiicient popularity to succeed 
against the renowned orator of Roanoke. Mr. 
Tjder was the victor. 

In accordance with his professions, upon tak- 
ing his seat in the Senate he joined the ranks of 
the opposition. He opposed the tariff, and spoke 
against and voted against the bank as unconsti- 
tutional; he strenuously opposed all restrictions 
upon slavery, resisting all projects of internal im- 
provements by the General Government, and 
avowed his sympathy with Mr. Calhoun's view 
of nullification; he declared that Gen. Jackson, 
by his opposition to the nullifiers, had abandoned 
the principles of the Democratic party. Such 
was Mr. Tyler's record in Congress^a record in 
perfect accordance with the principles which he 
had always avowed. 

Returning to Virginia, he resumed the practice 
of his profession. There was a split in the Demo- 
cratic party. His friends still regarded him as a 
true Jeffersonian, gave him a dinner, and show- 
ered compliments upon him. He had now at- 
tained the age of forty-six, and his career had been 
very brilliant. In consequence of his devotion to 
public business, his private affairs had fallen into 
some disorder, and it was not without satisfac- 
tion that he resumed the practice of law, and de- 
voted himself to the cultivation of his plantation. 
Soon after this he removed to Williamsburg, for 
the better education of his children, and he again 
took his seat in the Legislature of Virginia. 

By the southern Whigs he was sent to the 
national convention at Harrisburg in 1 839 to nom- 
inate a President. The majority of votes were 
given to Gen Harrison, a genuine Whig, much 
to the disappointment of the South, which wished 



56 



JOHN TYLER. 



for Henry Clay. To conciliate the southern 
Whigs and to secure their vote, the convention 
then nominated John Tyler for Vice-President. 
It was well known that he was not in sympathy 
with the Whig party in the North; but the Vice- 
President has very little power in the Govern- 
ment, his main and almost only duty being to 
preside over the meetings of the Senate. Thus it 
happened that a Whig President and, in reality, 
a Democratic Vice-President were chosen. 

m 1841, Mr. Tyler was inaugurated Vice- 
President of the United States. In one short 
month from that time. President Harrison died, 
and Mr. Tyler thus found himself, to his own 
surprise and that of the whole nation, an occu- 
pant of the Presidential chair. Hastening from 
Williamsburg to Washington, on the 6th of 
April he was inaugurated to the high and re- 
sponsible office. He was placed in a position of 
exceeding delicacy and difficulty. All his long 
life he had been opposed to the main principles of 
the party which had brought him into power. 
He had ever been a consistent, honest man, with 
an unblemished record. Gen. Harrison had se- 
lected a Whig cabinet. Should he retain them, 
and thus surround himself with counselors whose 
views were antagonistic to his own ? or, on the 
other hand, should he turn against the party 
which had elected him, and select a cabinet in 
harmony with himself, and which would oppose 
all tho.se views which the Whigs deemed essen- 
tial to the public welfare ? This was his fearful 
dilemma. He invited the cabinet which Presi- 
dent Harrison had selected to retain their seats, 
and recommended a day of fasting and prayer, 
that God would guide and bless us. 

The Whigs carried through Congress a bill for 
the incorporation of a fiscal bank of the United 
States. The President, after ten days' delay, re- 
turned it with his veto. He suggested, however, 
that he would approve of a bill drawn up upon 
such a plan as he proposed. Such a bill was ac- 
cordingly prepared, and privately submitted to 
him. He gave it his approval. It was passed 
without alteration, and he sent it back with his 
veto. Here commenced the open rupture. It is 
said that Mr. Tyler was provoked to this meas- 



ure by a published letter from the Hon. John M. 
Botts, a distingui.shed Virginia Whig, who se- 
verely touched the pride of the President. 

The opposition now exultingly received the 
President into their anns. The party wliich 
elected him denounced him bitterly. All the 
members of his cabinet, excepting Mr. Webster, 
resigned. The Whigs of Congress, both the 
Senate and the House, held a meeting and issued 
an address to the people of the United States, 
proclaiming that all political alliance between the 
Whigs and President Tyler was at an end. 

Still the President attempted to conciliate. He 
appointed a new cabinet of distinguished Whigs 
and Conservatives, carefully leaving out all strong 
party men. Mr. Webster soon found it necessary 
to resign, forced out by the pressure of his Whig 
friends. Thus the four years of Mr. Tyler's un- 
fortunate administration passed sadly away. No 
one was satisfied. The land was filled with mur- 
murs and vituperation. Whigs and Democrats 
alike assailed him. More and more, however, he 
brought himself into sympathj^ with his old 
friends, the Democrats, until at the close of his 
term he gave his whole influence to the .support 
of Mr. Polk, the Democratic candidate for his 
successor. 

On the 4th of March, 1845, President Tyler re- 
tired from the harassments of office, to the regret 
of neither part}', and probably to his own unspeak- 
able relief The remainder of his days were 
passed mainly in the retirement of his beautiful 
home — Sherwood Forest, Charles City County, 
Va. His first wife. Miss Letitia Christian, died 
in Washington in 1842; and in June, 1844, 
he was again married, at New York, to Miss Julia 
Gardiner, a young lady of many personal and 
intellectual accomplishments. 

When the great Rebellion rose, which the 
State Rights and imllifying doctrines of John C. 
Calhoun had inaugurated. President Tyler re- 
nounced his allegiance to the United States, and 
joined the Confederates. He was chosen a mem- 
ber of their Congress, and while engaged in 
active measures to destroy, by force of arms, the 
Go\'ernment over which he had once presided, he 
was taken sick and soon died. 




JAMIvS K. POLK. 



JAMES K. POLK. 



(Tames K. polk, the eleventh President of 
I the United States, was born in Mecklenburgh 
V2/ County, N. C. , November 2, 1795. His 
parents were Samuel and Jane (Knox) Polk, the 
former a son of Col. Thomas Polk, who located 
at the above place, as one of the first pioneers, in 
1735. In 1806, with his wife and children, and 
soon after followed by most of the members of the 
Polk family, Samuel Polk emigrated some two or 
three hundred miles farther west, to the rich val- 
ley of the Duck River. Here, in the midst of the 
wilderness, in a region which was subsequently 
called Maurj^ Count}-, they erected their log huts 
and established their homes. In the hard toil of 
a new farm in the wilderness, James K. Polk 
spent the early years of his childhood and youth. 
His father, adding the pursuit of a surve3-or to 
that of a farmer, gradually increased in wealth, 
until he became one of the leading men of the 
region. His mother was a superior woman, of 
strong common sense and earnest piety. 

Very early in life James developed a taste for 
reading, and expressed the strongest desire to ob- 
tain a liberal education. His mother's training 
had made him methodical in his habits, had taught 
him punctuality and industrj^, and had inspired 
him with lofty principles of morality. His health 
was frail, and his father, fearing that he might not 
be able to endure a sedentary life, got a situation 
for him behind the counter, hoping to fit him for 
commercial pursuits. 

This was to James a bitter disappointment. He 
had no taste for these duties, and his daily tasks 
were irksome in the extreme. He remained in this 
uncongenial occupation but a few weeks, when, 
at his earnest solicitation, his father removed 
him and made arrangements for him to pros- 
ecute his studies. Soon after he sent him to Mur- 
freesboro Academy. With ardor which could 
scarcely be surpassed, he pressed forward in his 



studies, and in less than two and a-half years, in 
the autumn of 18 15, entered the sophomore class 
in the University of North Carolina, at Chapel 
Hill. Here he was one of the most exemplary of 
scholars, punctual in every exercise, never allow- 
ing himself to be absent from a recitation or a 
religious sen-ice. 

Mr. Polk graduated in 1818, with the highest 
honors, being deemed the best scholar of his class, 
both in mathematics and the classics. He was 
then twenty-three years of age. His health was 
at this time much impaired by the assiduity with 
which he had prosecuted his studies. After a 
short season of relaxation, he went to Nashville, 
and entered the office of Felix Grundy, to study 
law. Here Mr. Polk renewed his acquaintance 
with Andrew Jackson, who resided on his planta- 
tion, the ' ' Hermitage, ' ' but a few miles from 
Nashville. They had probably been slightly ac- 
quainted before. 

Mr. Polk's father was a Jeffersonian Republican 
and James K. adhered to the same political faith. 
He was a popular public speaker, and was con- 
stantly called upon to address the meetings of his 
party friends. His skill as a speaker was .such 
that he was popularly called the Napoleon of the 
stump. He was a man of unblemished morals, 
genial and courteous in his bearing, and with that 
sympathetic nature in the joys and griefs of oth- 
ers which gave him hosts of friends. In 1823, 
he was elected to the I,egi.slature of Tennessee, 
and gave his strong influence toward the election 
of his friend, Mr. Jackson, to the Presidency of 
the United States. 

In January, 1824, Mr. Polk married Miss Sarah 
Childress, of Rutherford County, Tenn. His 
bride was altogether worthy of him — a ladj- of 
beauty and culture. In the fall of 1825 Mr. Polk 
was chosen a member of Congress, and the satis- 
faction he gave his constituents may be inferred 



6o 



JAMES K. POLK. 



from the fact, that for fourteen successive years, 
or until 1839, he was continued in that office. He 
then voluntarily withdrew, only that he might 
accept the Gubernatorial chair of Tennessee. In 
Congress he was a laborious member, a freqiient 
and a popular speaker. He was always in liis 
seat, always courteous, and whenever he spoke 
it was always to the point, without any ambitious 
rhetorical display. 

During five sessions of Congress Mr. Polk was 
Speaker of the House. Strong passions were 
roused and stormj' scenes were witnessed, but he 
performed his arduous duties to a very general 
satisfaction, and a unanimous vote of thanks to 
him was passed by the House as he withdrew on 
the 4th of March, 1839. 

In accordance with Southern usage, Mr. Polk, 
as a candidate for Governor, canvassed the State. 
He was elected by a large majority, and on Octo- 
ber 14, 1839, took the oath of office at Nashville. 
In 1 841 his term of office expired, and he was 
again the candidate of the Democratic party, but 
was defeated. 

On the 4th of March, 1845, Mr. Polk was in- 
augurated President of the United States. The 
verdict of the country in favor of the annexation 
of Texas exerted its influence upon Congress, 
and the last act of the administration of President 
Tyler was to affix his signature to a joint resolu- 
tion of Congress, passed on the 3d of March, ap- 
proving of the annexation of Texas to the Union. 
As Mexico still claimed Texas as one of her 
provinces, the Mexican Minister, Almonte, im- 
mediately demanded his passports and left the 
countrj', declaring the act of the annexation to be 
an act hostile to Mexico. 

In his first message. President Polk urged that 
Texas should immediately, by act of Congress, be 
received into the Union on the same footing with 
the other States. In the mean time. Gen. Taylor 
was sent with an army into Texas to hold the 
countrj'. He was first sent to Nueces, which the 
Mexicans said was the western boundary of Tex- 
as. Then he was sent nearly two hundred miles 
further we.st, to the Rio Grande, where he erected 
batteries which commanded the Mexican city of 
Matamoras, which was situated on the western 



banks. The anticipated collision soon took place, 
and war was declared against Mexico by President 
Polk. The war was pushed fonvard by his ad- 
ministration with great vigor. Gen. Taylor, 
whose armj' was first called one of ' ' observation, ' ' 
then of "occupation," then of "invasion," was 
sent forward to Monterey. The feeble Mexicans 
in every encounter were hopelessly slaughtered. 
The day of judgment alone can reveal the misery 
which this war caused. It was by the ingenuity 
of Mr. Polk's administration that the war was 
brought on. 

"To the victors belong the spoils." Mexico 
was prostrate before us. Her capital was in our 
hands. We now consented to peace upon the 
condition that Mexico should surrender to us, in 
addition to Texas, all of New Mexico, and all of 
Upper and lyOwer California. This new demand 
embraced, exclusive of Texas, eight hundred 
thousand square miles. This was an extent of 
territory equal to nine States of the size of New 
York. Thus slavery was securing eighteen ma- 
jestic States to be added to the Union. There 
w-ere some Americans who thought it all right; 
there were others who thought it all wrong. In 
the prosecution of this war we expended twenty 
thousand lives and more than $100,000,000. Of 
this money $15,000,000 were paid to Mexico. 

On the 3d of March, 1849, Mr. Polk retired 
from office, having ser\'ed one term. The next 
day was Sunday. On the 5th, Gen. Taylor was 
inaugurated as his successor. Mr. Polk rode to 
the Capitol in the same carriage with Gen. Taj'- 
lor, and the same evening, with Mrs. Polk, he 
commenced his return to Tennessee. He wa.*-, 
then but fifty-four years of age. He had always 
been strictly temperate in all his habits, and his 
health was good. With an ample fortune, a 
choice library, a cultivated mind, and domestic 
ties of the dearest nature, it seemed as though 
long years of tranquillity and happiness were be- 
fore him. But the cholera — that fearful scourge 
— was then sweeping up the Valley of the Missis- 
sippi, and he contracted the disease, dying on the 
15th of June, 1849, in the fiftj'-fourth year of his 
age, greatly mourned by his countrjmen. 



ii 




ZACHARV TAYLOR. 



ZACHARY TAYLOR. 



WACHARY TAYLOR, twelfth President of 
1. the United States, was born on the 24th of 
/^ November, 1784, in Orange County, Va. 
His father. Col. Taylor, was a Virginian of 
note, and a distinguished patriot and soldier of 
the Revolution. When Zachary was an infant, 
his father, with his wife and two children, emi- 
grated to Kentucky, where he settled in the path- 
less wilderness, a few miles from Louisville. In 
this frontier home, away from civilization and all 
its refinements, young Zachary could enjoy but 
few social and educational advantages. When 
six years of age he attended a common school, 
and was then regarded as a bright, active boy, 
rather remarkable for bluntness and decision of 
character. He was strong, fearless and self-reli- 
ant, and manifested a strong desire to enter the 
army to fight the Indians, who were ravaging the 
frontiers. There is little to be recorded of the 
uneventful years of his childhood on his father's 
large but lonely plantation. 

In 1808, his father succeeded in obtaining for 
him a commission as Lieutenant in the United 
States armj^ and he joined the troops which were 
stationed at New Orleans under Gen. Wilkinson. 
Soon after this he married Miss Margaret Smith, 
a young lady from one of the first families of 
Marj'land. 

Immediately after the declaration of war with 
England, in 181 2, Capt. Taylor (for he had then 
been promoted to that rank) was put in command 
of Ft. Harrison, on the Wabash, about fifty miles 
above Vincennes. This fort had been built in the 
wilderness by Gen. Harrison, on his march to 
Tippecanoe. It was one of the first points of at- 
tack by the Indians, led by Tecumseh. Its garri- 
son consisted of a broken company of infantry, 
numbering fifty men, many of whom were sick. 

Early in the autumn of 1812, the Indians, 
stealthily, and in large nnmbers, moved upon the 



fort. Their approach was first indicated by he 
murder of two soldiers just outside of the stockade. 
Capt. Taylor made every possible preparation to 
meet the anticipated assault. On the 4th of Sep- 
tember, a band of forty painted and plumed sav- 
ages came to the fort, waving a white flag, and 
informed Capt. Taylor that in the morning their 
chief would come to have a talk with him. It 
was evident that their object was merely to a.scer- 
tain the state of things at the fort, and Capt. 
Taylor, well versed in the wiles of the savages, 
kept them at a distance. 

The sun went down; the savages disappeared; 
the garrison slept upon their arms. One hour 
before midnight the war-whoop burst from a 
thousand lips in the forest around, followed by 
the discharge of musketry and the rush of the 
foe. Every man, sick and well, sprang to hir. 
post. Every man knew that defeat was not 
merely death, but, in the case of capture, death by 
the most agonizing and prolonged torture. No 
pen can describe, no imagination can conceive, the 
scenes which ensued. The savages succeeded in 
setting fire to one of the block-houses. Until six 
o'clock in the morning this awful conflict con- 
tinued, when the savages, baffled at every point 
and gnashing their teeth with rage, retired. 
Capt. Taylor, for this gallant defense, was pro- 
moted to the rank of Major by brevet. 

Until the close of the war, Maj. Taylor was 
placed in such situations that he saw but little 
more of active service. He was sent far away 
into the depths of the wilderness to Ft. Craw- 
ford, on Fox River, which empties into Green 
Bay. Here there was Httle to be done but to 
wear away the tedious hours as one best could. 
There were no books, no society, no intellectual 
stimulus. Thus with him the uneventful years 
rolled on. Gradually he rose to the rank of 
Colonel. In the Black Hawk War, which re- 



64 



ZACHARY TAYLOR. 



suited in the capture of that renowned chieftain, 
Col. Taylor took a subordinate, but a brave and 
efficient, part. 

For twenty-four years Col. Taylor was engaged 
in the defense of the frontiers, in scenes so re- 
mote, and in eniplojinents so obscure, that his 
name was unknown beyond the limits of his own 
immediate acquaintance. In the year 1836, he 
was sent to Florida to compel the Seminole Indi- 
ans to vacate that region, and retire beyond the 
Mis.sissippi, as their chiefs by treaty had prom- 
ised they should do. The services rendered here 
secured for Col. Taylor the high appreciation of 
the Government, and as a reward he was ele- 
vated to the high rank of Brigadier-General by 
brevet, and soon after, in May, 1838, was ap- 
pointed to the chief command of the United 
States troops in Florida. 

After two years of wearisome employment 
amidst the everglades of the Peninsula, Gen. Tay- 
lor obtained, at his own request, a change of 
command, and was stationed over the Department 
of the Southwest. This field embraced Louisiana, 
Mi.ssissippi, Alabama and Georgia. E.stablishing 
his headquarters at Ft. Jessup, in Louisiana, he 
removed his family to a plantation which he pur- 
chased near Baton Rouge. Here he remained 
for five years, buried, as it were, from the world, 
but faithfully discharging every duty imposed 
upon him. 

In 1846, Gen. Taylor was sent to guard the 
land between the Nueces and Rio Grande, the 
latter river being the boundary of Texas, which 
was then claimed by the United States. Soon 
the war with Mexico was brought on, and at Palo 
Alto and Resaca de la Palnia, Gen. Taylor won 
brilliant victories over the Mexicans. The rank 
of Major-General by brevet was then conferred 
upon Gen. Taylor, and his name was received 
with enthu.siasm almost everywhere in the na- 
tion. Then came the battles of Monterey and 
Buena Vista, in which he won signal victories 
over forces much larger than he commanded. 

The tidings of the brilliant victory of Buena 
Vi.sta spread the wildest enthusia.sm over the 
country. The name of Gen. Taylor was on 
every one's lips. The Whig party decided to 



take advantage of this wonderful popularity in 
bringing forward the unpolished, unlettered, hon- 
est soldier as their candidate for the Presidency. 
Gen. Taylor was astonished at the announce- 
ment, and for a time would not listen to it, de- 
claring that he was not at all qualified for such 
an office. So little interest had he taken in poli- 
tics, that for forty years he had not cast a vote. 
It was not without chagrin that several distin- 
guished statesmen, who had been long years in 
the public ser\-ice, found their claims set aside in 
behalf of one whose name had never been heard 
of, save in connection with Palo Alto, Resaca de 
la Palma, Monterey and Buena Vista. It is said 
that Daniel Webster, in his haste, remarked, " It 
is a nomination not fit to be made." 

Gen. Taylor was not an eloquent speaker nor a 
fine writer. His friends took possession of him, 
and prepared such few communications as it was 
needful should be presented to the public. The 
popularity of the successful warrior swept the 
land. He was triumphantly elected over two 
opposing candidates, — Gen. Cass and Ex-Presi- 
dent Martin Van Buren. Though he selected an 
excellent cabinet, the good old man found himself 
in a very uncongenial position, and was at times 
sorely perplexed and harassed. His mental suf- 
ferings were very severe, and probably tended to 
hasten his death. The pro-slavery party was 
pushing its claims with tireless energy; expedi- 
tions were fitting out to capture Cuba; California 
was pleading for admi.ssion to the Union, while 
slavery stood at the door to bar her out. Gen. 
Taylor found the political conflicts in Washington 
to be far more trying to the nerves than battles 
with Mexicans or Indians. 

In the midst of all these troubles. Gen. Taylor, 
after he had occupied the Presidential chair but 
little over a year, took cold, and after a brief 
sickness of but little over five days, died, on the 
gth of July, 1850. His last words were, "I am 
not afraid to die. I am ready. I have endeav- 
ored to do my duty." He died universally re- 
spected and beloved. An honest, unpretending 
man, he had been steadilj- growing in the affec- 
tions of the people, and the Nation bitterly la- 
mented his death. 




MILLARD LILLMORL 



MILLARD FILLMORE. 



yyilLIvARD FILLMORE, thirteenth President 
y of the United States, was born at Summer 
Hill, Cayuga County, N. Y., on the yth of 
January , 1 800. His father was a farmer, and, owing 
to misfortune, in humble circumstances. Of his 
mother, the daughter of Dr. Abiathar Millard, of 
Pittsfield, Mass., it has been said that she pos- 
sessed an intellect of a high order, united with 
much personal loveliness, sweetness of disposi- 
tion, graceful maimers and exquisite sensibilities. 
She died in 1831, having lived to see her son a 
young man of distinguished promise, though she 
was not permitted to witness the high dignity 
which he finally attained. 

In consequence of the secluded home and limited 
means of his father, Millard enjoyed but slender 
advantages for education in his early years. The 
common schools, which he occasionally attended, 
were very imperfect institutions, and books were 
scarce and expensive. There was nothing then 
in his character to indicate the brilliant career 
upon which he was about to enter. He was a 
plain farmer's boy — intelligent, good-looking, 
kind-hearted. The sacred influences of home 
had taught him to revere the Bible, and had laid 
the foundations of an upright character. When 
fourteen years of age, his father sent him some 
hundred miles from home to the then wilds of 
Livingston County, to learn the trade of a clothier. 
Near the mill there was a small village, where 
some enterprising man had commenced the col- 
lection of a village library. This proved an in- 
estimable blessing to young Fillmore. His even- 
ings were spent in reading. Soon every leisure 
moment was occupied with books. His thirst for 
knowledge became insatiate, and the selections 
which he made were continually more elevating 
and instnictive. He read history, biography, 
oratory, and thus gradually there was enkindled 



in his heart a desire to be something more than a 
mere worker with his hands. 

The young clothier had now attained the age 
of nineteen years, and was of fine personal appear- 
ance and of gentlemanly demeanor. It so hap- 
pened that there was a gentleman in the neigh- 
borhood of ample pecuniary means and of benev- 
olence, — ^Judge Walter Wood, — who was struck 
with the prepossessing appearance of young Fill- 
more. He made his acquaintance, and was so 
much impressed with his ability and attainments 
that he advised him to abandon his trade and de- 
vote himself to the study of the law. The young 
man replied that he had no means of his own, 
no friends to help him, and that his previous edu- 
cation had been very imperfect. But Judge Wood 
had so much confidence in him that he kindly 
offered to take him into his own office, and to 
lend him such money as he needed. Most grate- 
fully the generous offer was accepted. 

There is in many minds a strange delusion 
about a collegiate education. A young man is 
supposed to be liberally educated if he has gradu- 
ated at some college. But many a boy who loi- 
ters through university halls and then enters a 
law office is by no means as well prepared to 
prosecute his legal studies as was Millard Fill- 
more when he graduated at the clothing-mill at 
the end of four years of manual labor, during 
which every leisure moment had been devoted to 
intense mental culture. 

In 1823, when twenty- three 3'ears of age, he 
was admitted to the Court of Common Pleas. 
He then went to the village of Aurora, and com- 
menced the practice of law. In this secluded, 
quiet region, his practice, of course, was limited, 
and there was no opportunity for a sudden rise in 
fortune or in fame. Here, in 1826, he married a 
lady of great moral worth, and one capable of 



68 



MILLARD FILLMORE. 



adorning anj- station she might be called to fill, — 
Miss Abigail Powers. 

His elevation of character, his untiring industry, 
his legal acquirements, and his skill as an advo- 
cate, gradually attracted attention, and he was 
invited to enter into partnership, under highly ad- 
vantageous circumstances, with an elder member 
of the Bar in Buffalo. Just before removing to 
Bufifalo, in 1829, he took his seat in the House of 
Assemlily of the vState of New York, as a Repre- 
sentative from Erie County. Though he had 
never taken a very active part in politics, his vote 
and sympatliies were with the Whig party. The 
State was then Democratic, and he found himself 
in a helpless minority in the Legislature; still the 
testimony comes from all parties that his courtcs)', 
ability and integrity won, to a verj- unusual de- 
gree, the respect of his associates. 

In the autumn of 1S32, he was elected to a 
seat in the United States Congress. He entered 
that troubled arena in the most tumultuous hours 
of our national history, when the great conflict 
respecting the national bank and the removal of 
the deposits was raging. 

His term of two 3'ears closed, and he returned 
to his profession, which he pursued with increas- 
ing reputation and success. After a lapse of two 
years he again became a candidate for Congress; 
was re-elected, and took his seat in 1837. His 
past experience as a Representative gave him 
strength and confidence. The first term of ser\'ice 
in Congress to any man can be but little more 
than an introduction. He was now prepared for 
active duty. All his energies were brought to 
bear upon the public good. Everj' measure re- 
ceived his impress. 

Mr. Fillmore was now a man of wide repute, 
and his popularity filled the State. In the year 
1847, when he had attained the age of forty- 
.seven j'cars, he was elected Comptroller of the 
State. His labors at the Bar, in the Legisla- 
ture, in Congress and as Comptroller, had given 
him verj' considerable fame. The Whigs were 
ca.sting about to find suitable candidates for Presi- 
dent and Vice-President at the approaching elec- 
tion. Far away on the waters of the Rio Grande, 
there was a rough old soldier, who had fought 



one or two successful battles with the Mexicans, 
which had caused his name to be proclaimed in 
trumpet-tones all over the land as a candidate for 
the presidency. But it was neces.sarj- to a.ssociate 
with him on the same ticket some man of repu- 
tation as a statesman. 

Under the influence of these considerations, the 
names of Zacharj' Ta)lor and Millard Fillmore 
became the rallying-cry of the Whigs, as their 
candidates for President and Vice-President. The 
Whig ticket was signally triumphant. On the 
4th of March, 1849, Gen. Taylor was inaugurated 
President, and Millard Fillmore Vice-President, 
of the United States. 

On the yth of July, 1850, President Taylor, 
about one year and four months after his inaugura- 
tion, was suddenly taken sick and died. By the 
Constitution, Vice-President Fillmore thus be- 
came President. He ajipointed a verj- able cabi- 
net, of which the illustrious Daniel Webster was 
Secretary of State; nevertheless, he had serious 
difficulties to contend with, .since the opposition 
had a majoritj- in both Houses. He did all in his 
power to conciliate the South; but the pro-slavery 
party in the South felt the inadequacy of all 
measures of transient conciliation. The jiopula- 
tion of the free States was so rapidly increasing 
over that of the .slave States, tliat it was inevitable 
that the power of the Government should soon 
pass into the hands of the free States. The fa- 
mous compromise measures were adopted under 
Mr. Fillmore's admini.stration, and the Japan ex- 
pedition was sent out. On the 4th of March, 
1853, he, having served one term, retired. 

In 1856, Mr. P^illmore was nominated for the 
Presidency by the "Know-Nothing" party, but 
was beaten by Mr. Buchanan. After that Mr. 
Fillmore lived in retirement. During the terri- 
ble conflict of civil war, he was mostly silent. It 
was generally supposed that his sympathies were 
rather with those who were endeavoring to over- 
throw our institutions. President Fillmore kept 
aloof from the conflict, without any cordial words 
of cheer to one party or the other. He was thus 
forgotten by both. He lived to a ripe old age, 
and died in Buffalo, N. Y. , March 8, 1 874. 




FRANKLIX PIERCE. 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



r"RANKLIN PIERCE, the fourteenth Presi- 
r^ dent of the United States, was born in Hills- 
I * borough, N. H., November 23, 1804. His 
father was a Revolutionary soldier, who with his 
own strong arm hewed out a home in the wilder- 
ness. He was a man of inflexible integrity, of 
strong, though uncultivated, mind, and was an un- 
compromising Democrat. The mother of Frank- 
lin Pierce was all that a son could desire— an in- 
telligent, prudent, affectionate. Christian woman. 
Franklin, who was the sixth of eight children, 
was a remarkably bright and handsome boy, 
generous, warm-hearted and brave. He won 
alike the love of old and young. The boys on 
the play-ground loved him. His teachers loved 
him. The neighbors looked upon him with pride 
and affection. He was by instinct a gentleman, 
always speaking kind words, and doing kind 
deeds, with a peculiar, unstudied tact which 
taught him what was agreeable. Without de- 
veloping any precocity of genius, or any unnatural 
devotion to books, he was a good scholar, and in 
body and mind a finely developed boy. 

When sixteen years of age, in the year 1820, 
he entered Bowdoin College, at Brunswick, Me. 
He was one of the most popular young men in 
the college. The purity of his moral character, 
the unvarying courtesy of his demeanor, his rank 
as a scholar, and genial nature, rendered him a 
universal favorite.- There was something pe- 
culiarly winning in his address, and it was evi- 
dently not in the slightest degree studied — it was 
the simple out'gushing of his own magnanimous 
and loving nature. 

Upon graduating, in the year 1824, Franklin 
Pierce commenced the study of law in the office 
of Judge Woodbury, one of the most distinguished 



lawyers of the State, and a man of great private 
worth. The eminent social qualities of the young 
lawyer, his father's prominence as a public man, 
and the brilliant political career into which Judge 
Woodbury was entering, all tended to entice Mr. 
Pierce into the fascinating yet perilous path of 
political life. With all the ardor of his nature he 
espoused the cause of Gen. Jackson for the Presi- 
dency. He commenced the practice of law in 
Hillsborough, and was soon elected to represent 
the town in the State Legislature. Here he 
served for four years. The last two years he was 
chosen Speaker of the House by a very large 
vote. 

In 1833, at the age of twenty-nine, he was 
elected a member of Congress. In 1837, being 
then but thirty-three years old, he was elected to 
the Senate, taking his seat just as Mr. Van Buren 
commenced his administration. He was the 
youngest member in the Senate. In the year 
1834, he married Miss Jane Means Appleton, a 
lady of rare beauty and accomplishments, and one 
admirably fitted to adorn every station with which 
her husband was honored. Of the three sons who 
were born to them, all now sleep with their par- 
ents in the grave. 

In the year 1838, Mr. Pierce, with growing 
fame and increasing business as a lawyer, took up 
his residence in Concord, the capital of New 
Hampshire. President Polk, upon his accession 
to office, appointed Mr. Pierce Attorney-General 
of the United States; but the offer was declined 
in consequence of numerous professional engage- 
ments at home, and the precarious state of Mrs. 
Pierce's health. He also, about the same time, 
declined the nomination for Governor by the 
Democratic party. The war with Mexico called 



72 



FRANKUN PIERCE. 



Mr. Pierce into tlie arinj-. Receiving the appoint- 
ment of Brigadier-General, he embarked with a 
portion of his troops at Newport, R I., on the 
27th of May, 1847. He took an important part 
in this war, proving himself a brave and true sol- 
dier. 

When Gen. Pierce reached his home in his na- 
tive State, he was received enthusiastically by the 
advocates of the Mexican War, and coldly by his 
opponents. He resumed the practice of his pro- 
fession, verj- frequently taking an active part in 
political questions, giving his cordial support to 
the pro-slavery wing of the Democratic party. 
The compromise measures met cordially with his 
approval, and he strenuously advocated the en- 
forcement of the infamous Fugitive Slave Law, 
which so shocked the religious sensibilities of the 
North. He thus became distinguished as a 
" Northern man with Southern principles." The 
strong partisans of slavery- in the South conse- 
quently regarded him as a man whom they could 
safely trust in office to carry out their plans. 

On the 12th of June, 1852, tlie Democratic con- 
vention met ill Baltimore to nominate a candidate 
for the Presidency. For four days they contin- 
ued in se.s.sion, and in thirty-five ballotings no one 
had obtained a two-thirds vote. Not a vote thus 
far had been thrown for Gen. Pierce. Then the 
Virginia delegation brought forward his name. 
There were fourteen more ballotings, during which 
Gen. Pierce constantly gained strength, until, at 
the forty-ninth ballot, he received two hundred 
and eighty-two votes, and all other candidates 
eleven. Gen. Winfield Scott was the Whig can- 
didate. Gen. Pierce was cho.sen with great una- 
nimity. Only four States — Vermont, Massachu- 
setts, Kentucky and Tennessee — ca.st their elec- 
toral votes against him. Gen. Franklin Pierce 
was therefore inaugurated President of the United 
States on the 4th of March, 1853. 

His administration proved one of the most 
stormy our country had ever experienced. The 
contro\-ersy between .slaver\- and freedom was 
then approaching its culminating point. It be- 
came evident that there was to be an irrepressible 
conflict between them, and that this nation 
could not long exist " hhlf slave and half free." 



President Pierce, during the whole of his admin- 
istration, did everjthiug he could to conciliate the 
South; but it was all in vain. The conflict ever> 
year grew more violent, and threats of the disso- 
lution of the Union were borne to the North on 
every Southern breeze. 

Such was the condition of affairs when Presi- 
dent Pierce approached the close of his four- 
years term of office. The North had become 
thoroughly alienated from him. The anti-slavery 
sentiment, goaded by great outrages, had been 
rapidly increasing; all the intellectual ability and 
social worth of President Pierce were forgotten in 
deep reprehension of his administrative acts. The 
slaveholders of the South also, unmindful of the 
fidelity' with which he had advocated those meas- 
ures of Government which the)- approved, and 
perhaps feeling that he had rendered himself 
.so unpopular as no longer to be able to accepta- 
bly ser\-e them, ungratefully dropped him, and 
nominated James Buchanan to succeed him. 

On the 4th of March, 1857, President Pierce re- 
turned to his home in Concord. His three chil- 
dren were all dead, his last sur\-iving child hav- 
ing been killed before his eyes in a railroad acci- 
dent; and his wife, one of the most estimableand 
accomplished of ladies, was rapidly sinking in 
consumption. The hour of dreadful gloom soon 
came, and he was left alone in the world without 
wife or child. 

When the terrible Rebellion burst forth which 
divided our country into two parties, and two 
only, Mr. Pierce remained steadfast in the prin- 
ciples which he had always cherished, and gave 
his sympathies to that pro-slavery party with 
which he had ever been allied. He declined to 
do anything, either by voice or pen, to strengthen 
the hand of the National Government. He con- 
tinued to reside in Concord until the time of his 
death, which occurred in October, 1869. He was 
one of the most genial and social of men, an hon- 
ored communicant of the Episcopal Church, and 
one of the kindest of neighbors. Generous to a 
fault, he contributed liberally toward the allevia- 
tion of suffering and want, and many of his 
towns-people were often gladdened bj- his material 
bounty. 




JAMES BUCHANAN. 



JAMES BUCHANAN. 



(Tames BUCHANAN, the fifteenth President 
I of the United States, was born in a small 
C2? frontier town, at the foot of the eastern ridge 
of the Alleghanies, in Franklin County, Pa., on 
the 23d of April, 1791. The place where the 
humble cabin home stood was called Stony Bat- 
ter. His father was a native of the north of Ire- 
land, who had emigrated in 1783, with little prop- 
erty save his own strong arms. Five years after- 
ward he married Elizabeth Spear, the daughter 
of a respectable farmer, and, with his young bride, 
plunged into the wilderness, staked his claim, 
reared his log hut, opened a clearing with his 
axe, and settled down there to perform his obscure 
part in the drama of life. When James was eight 
years of age, his father removed to the village of 
Mercersburg, where his son was placed at school, 
and commenced a course of study in English, 
Latin and Greek. His progress was rapid, and 
at the age of fourteen he entered Dickinson Col- 
lege, at Carlisle. Here he developed remarkable 
talent, and took his stand among the first scholars 
in the institution. 

In the year 1809, he graduated with the high- 
est honors of his class. He was then eighteen 
years of age; tall and graceful, vigorous in health, 
fond of athletic sports, an unerring shot, and en- 
livened with an exuberant flow of animal spirits, 
lie immediately commenced the study of law in 
the city of Lancaster, and was admitted to the 
Bar in 1812, when he was but twenty-one years 
of age. 

In 1820, he reluctantly consented to run as a 
candidate for Congress. He was elected, and for 
ten years he remained a member of the Lower 
House. During the vacations of Congress, he 



occasionally tried some important case. In 1831 
he retired altogether from the toils of his profes- 
sion, having acquired an ample fortune. 

Gen. Jack.son, upon his elevation to the Presi- 
dency, appointed Mr. Buchanan Minister to Rus- 
sia. The duties of his mission he performed 
with ability, and gave satisfaction to all parties. 
Upon his return, in 1833, h^ was elected to a seat 
in the United States Senate. He there met as 
his associates Webster, Clay, Wright and Cal- 
houn. He advocated the measures proposed by 
President Jackson, of making reprisals against 
France to enforce the payment of our claims 
against that country, and defended the course of 
the President in his unprecedented and wholesale 
removal from office of those who were not the 
supporters of his administration. Upon this 
question he was brought into direct collision with 
Henry Clay. He also, with voice and vote, ad- 
vocated expunging from the journal of the Senate 
the vote of censure against Gen. Jackson for re- 
moving the deposits. Earnestly he opposed the 
abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, 
and urged the prohibition of the circulation of 
anti-slavery documents by the United States 
mails. As to petitions on the subject of slavery, 
he advocated that they should be re.spectfully re- 
ceived, and that the reply should be returned 
that Congress had no power to legislate upon the 
subject. "Congress," said he, "might as well 
undertake to interfere with slavery under a for- 
eign government as in any of the States where it 
now exists." 

Upon Mr. Polk's accession to the Pre.sidency, 
Mr. Buchanan became Secretary of State, and a? 
such took his share of the responsibility in the 



76 



JAMES BUCHANAN. 



conduct of the Mexican War. Mr. Polk assumed 
that crossing the Nueces by the American 
troops iuto the disputed territorj- was not wrong, 
but for the Mexicans to cross the Rio Grande 
iuto Texas was a declaration of war. No candid 
man can read with pleasure the account of the 
cour.se our Govennnent pursued in that movement. 

Mr. Buchanan identified himself thoroughly 
with the party devoted to the perpetuation and 
extension of .slavery, and brought all the energies 
of his mind to bear against the Wilmot Proviso. 
He gave his cordial approval to the compromise 
mca.sures of 1850, which included the Fugitive 
Slave Law. Mr. Pierce, upon his election to the 
Presidency, honored Mr. Buchanan with the mis- 
sion to England. 

In the year 1856, a national Democratic Con- 
vention nominated Mr. Buchanan for the Presi- 
dency. The political conflict was one of the most 
severe in which our countrj' has ever engaged. 
All the friends of slavery were on one side; all 
the advocates of its restriction and final abolition 
on the other. Mr. Fremont, the candidate of the 
enemies of slavery, received one hundred and 
fourteen electoral votes. Mr. Buchanan received 
one hundred and seventy-four, and was elected. 
The popular vote stood 1,340,618 for Fremont, 
1,224,750 for Buchanan. On March 4, 1857, 
the latter was inaugurated. 

Mr. Buchanan was far advanced in life. Only 
four years were wanting to fill up his three-score 
years and ten. His own friends, those with 
whom he had been allied in political principles 
and action for j-ears, were .seeking the de.struc- 
tion of the Government, that they might rear 
upon the ruins of our free institutions a nation 
who.se corner-stone .should be human slavery. In 
this emergency, Mr. Blichanan was hopelessly 
bewildered. He could not, with his long-avowed 
principles, con.sistently oppose the State Rights 
party in their assumjitions. As President of the 
United States, bound by his oath faithfully to 
administer the laws, he could not, without per- 
jury of the gro.ssest kind, luiite with those en- 
deavoring to overthrow the Republic. He there- 
fore did nothing. 

The opponents of Mr. Bucnauan's administra- 



tion nominated Abraham Lincoln as their stand- 
ard-bearer in the next Presidential canvass. 
The pro-slavery party declared that if he were 
elected and the control of the Government were 
thus taken from their hands, they would .secede 
from the Union, taking with them as they retired 
the National Capitol at Washington and the 
lion's share of the territorj- of the United States. 

As the storm increased in violence, the slave- 
holders claiming the right to secede, and Mr. 
Buchanan avowing that Congress had no power 
to prevent it, one of the most pitiable exhibitions 
of governmental imbecility was exhibited that the 
world has ever seen. He declared that Congress 
had no power to enforce its laws in any State 
which had withdrawn, or which was attempting 
to withdraw, from the Union. This was not the 
doctrine of Andrew Jackson, when, with his hand 
upon his sword-hilt, he exclaimed: "The LTuion 
must and shall be preser\-ed!" 

South Carolina seceded in December, i860, 
nearly three months before the inauguration of 
President Lincoln. Mr. Buchanan looked on in 
listless despair. The rebel flag was raised in 
Charleston; Ft. Sumter was besieged; our forts, 
navj'-yards and arsenals were seized; our depots 
of military stores were plundered, and our cus- 
tom-houses and post-offices were appropriated by 
the rebels. 

The energy of the rebels and the imbecility of 
our Executive were alike marvelous. The na- 
tion looked on iu agony, waiting for the slow 
weeks to glide away and close the administration, 
.so terrible in its weakness. At length the long- 
looked-for hour of deliverance came, when Abra- 
ham Lincoln was to receive the scepter. 

The administration of President Buchanan was 
certainly the most calamitous our country has ex- 
perienced. His best friends can not recall it with 
pleasure. And .still more deplorable it is for his 
fame, that in that dreadful conflict which rolled 
its billows of flame and blood over our whole 
land, no word came from his lips to indicate his 
wish that our country's banner should triumph 
over the flag of the Rebellion. He died at his 
Wheatland retreat, June i, 1868. 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN'. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



Gl BRAHAM LINCOLN, the sixteenth Presi- 
Ll dent of the United States, was born in Hardin 
I I County, Ky. , February 12, 1809. About 
the year 1780, a man by the name of Abraham 
Lincohi left Virginia with his familj' and moved 
into the then wilds of Kentucky. Only two years 
after this emigration, and while still a young man, 
he was working one day in a field, when an Indian 
stealthily approached and killed him. His widow 
was left in extreme poverty with five little chil- 
dren, three boys and two girls. Thomas, the 
youngest of the boys, and the father of President 
Abraham Lincoln, was four years of age at his 
father's death. 

When twenty-eight years old, Thomas Lincoln 
built a log cabin, and married Nancy Hanks, the 
daughter of another family of poor Kentucky 
emigrants, who had also come from Virginia. 
Their second child was Abraham Lincoln, the sub- 
ject of this sketch. The mother of Abraham was 
a noble woman, gentle, loving, pensive, created 
to adorn a palace, but doomed to toil and pine, and 
die in a hovel. " All that I am, or hope to be," 
exclaimed the grateful son, " I owe to my angel- 
mother." When he was eight years of age, his 
father sold his cabin and small farm and moved 
to Indiana, where two years later his mother died. 

As the years rolled on, the lot of this lowly 
family was the usual lot of humanity. There 
were joys and griefs, weddings and funerals. 
Abraham's sister Sarah, to whom he was tenderly 
attached, was married when a child of but four- 
teen years of age, and soon died. The family 
was gradually scattered, and Thomas Lincoln 
sold out his squatter's claim in 1830, and emi- 
grated to Macon County, 111. 

Abraham Lincoln was then twentj'-one years 
of age. With vigorous hands he aided his father 
in rearing another log cabin, and worked quite 
diligently at this until he saw the family com- 
fortably settled, and their small lot of enclosed 
prairie planted with corn, when he announced to 



his father his intention to leave home, and to go 

out into the world and seek his fortune. Little 
did he or his friends imagine how brilliant that 
fortune was to be. He saw the value of educa- 
tion and was intensely earnest to improve his 
mind to the utmost of his power. Religion he 
revered. His morals were pure, and he was un- 
contaminated by a single vice. 

Youug Abraham worked for a time as a hired 
laborer among the farmers. Then he went to 
Springfield, where he was employed in building 
a large flat-boat. In this he took a herd of swine, 
floated them down the Sangamon to Illinois, and 
thence by the Mississippi to New Orleans. What- 
ever Abraham Lincoln undertook, he performed 
so faithfully as to give great satisfaction to his 
emploj'ers. In this adventure the latter were 
so well pleased, that upon his return they placed 
a store and mill under his care. 

In 1832, at the outbreak of the Black Hawk 
War, he enlisted and was chosen Captain of a 
company. He returned to Sangamon County, 
and, although only twenty-three years of age, was 
a candidate for the Legislature, but was defeated. 
He soon after received from Andrew Jackson the 
appointment of Postmaster of New Salem. His 
only post-office was his hat. All the letters he 
received he carried there, ready to deliver to those 
he chanced to meet. He studied surveying, and 
.soon made this his business. In 1834 he again 
became a candidate for the Legislature and was 
elected. Mr. Stuart, of Springfield, advised him 
to study law. He walked from New Salem to 
Springfield, borrowed of Mr. Stuart a load of 
books, carried them back, and began his legal 
studies. When the Legislature assembled, he 
trudged on foot with his pack on his back one 
hundred miles to Vandalia, then the capital. In 
1836 he was re-elected to the Legislature. Here 
it was he first met Stephen A. Douglas. In 1839 
he removed to Springfield and began the practice 
of law. His success with the jury was so great 



8o 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 



that he was soon engaged in almost every noted 
case in the circuit. 

In 1S54 the great discussion began between Mr. 
Lincohi and Mr. Douglas on the slavery ques- 
tion. In the organization of the Republican party 
in Illinois, in 1856, he took an active part, and at 
once became one of the leaders in that party. 
Mr. Lincoln's speeches in opposition to Senator 
Douglas in the contest in 1858 for a seat in the 
Senate, form a most notable part of his history. 
The issue was on the .slavery question, and he 
took the broad ground of the Declaration of In- 
dependence, that all men are created equal. Mr. 
Lincoln was defeated in this contest, but won a 
far higher prize. 

The great Republican Convention met at Chi- 
cago on the 1 6th of June, 1S60. The delegates 
and strangers who crowded the city amounted to 
twentj'-five thousand. An immense building 
called " The Wigwam," was reared to accommo- 
date the convention. There were eleven candi- 
dates for whom votes were thrown. William H. 
Seward, a man whose fame as a statesman had 
long filled the land, was the most prominent. It 
was generally supposed he would be the nomi- 
nee. Abraham Lincoln, however, received the 
nomination on the third ballot. 

Election day came, and Mr. Lincoln received 
one hundred and eighty electoral votes out of two 
hundred and three cast, and was, therefore, con- 
stitutionally elected President of the United States. 
The tirade of abuse that was poured upon this 
good and merciful man, especially by the slave- 
faolders, was greater than upon any other man 
ever elected to this high position. In February, 
1861, Mr. Lincoln .started for Washington, .stop- 
ping in all the large cities on his way, making 
speeches. The whole journey was fraught with 
much danger. Many of the Southern States had 
already seceded, and several attempts at a,ssassi- 
nation were afterward brought to light. A gang 
in lialtiuiore had arranged upon his arrival to 
"get up a row," and in the confusion to make 
sure of his death with revolvers and hand-gren- 
ades. A detective unravelled the plot. A secret 
and .special train was provided to take him from 
Harrisburg, through Baltimore, at an unexpected 



hour of the night. The tram started at half- past 
ten, and to prevent any possible connnunicalion 
on the part of the Sece.s.sionists with their Con- 
federate gang in Baltimore, as soon as the train 
had .started the telegraph-wires were cut. Mr. 
Lincoln reached Washington in safetj- and was 
inaugurated, although great anxiety was felt by 
all loyal people. 

In the selection of his cabinet Mr. Lincoln gave 
to Mr. Seward the Department of State, and to 
other prominent opponents before the convention 
he gave important positions; but during no other 
administration had the duties devolving upon the 
President been so manifold, and the responsibilities 
.so great, as those which fell to his lot. Knowing 
this, and feeling his own weakness and inability 
to meet, and in his own strength to cope with, 
the difficulties, he learned early to seek Divine 
wisdom and guidance in detenuining his plans, 
and Divine comfort in all his trials, both personal 
and national. Contrary to his own estimate of 
himself, Mr. Lincoln was one of the most cour- 
ageous of men. He went directly into the rebel 
capital just as the retreating foe was leaving, with 
no guard but a few sailors. From the time he 
had left Springfield, in 1861, however, plans had 
been made for his assassination, and he at last 
fell a victim to one of them. April 14, 1865, he, 
with Gen. Grant, was urgently invited to attend 
Ford's Theatre. It was aimounced that they 
would be present. Gen. Grant, however, left the 
cit}'. Pre.sident Lincoln, feeling, with his char- 
acteristic kindliness of heart, that it would be a 
disappointment if he should fail them, very re- 
luctantly consented to go. While listening to 
the play, an actor by the name of John Wilkes 
Booth entered the box where the President and 
family were .seated, and fired a bullet into his 
brain. He died the next morning at seven 
o'clock. 

Never before in the history of the world was 
a nation plunged into such deep grief by the death 
of its ruler. Strong men met in the streets and 
wept in speechless anguish. His was a life which 
will fitly become a model. His name as the 
Savior of his countrj- will live with that of Wash- 
ington's, its Father. 




ANDREW JOHNvSON. 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 



(p\ NDREW JOHNSON, seventeenth President 
lJ of the United States. The early life of An- 
I I drew Johnson contains but the record of pov- 
erty, destitution and friendlessness. He was born 
December 29, 1808, in Raleigh, N. C. His par- 
ents, belonging to the class of "poor whites" 
of the South, were in such circumstances that they 
could not confer even the slightest advantages of 
education upon their child. When Andrew was 
five years of age, his father accidentally lost his 
life, while heroically endeavoring to save a friend 
from drowning. Until ten j^ears of age, Andrew 
was a ragged boy about the streets, supported by 
the labor of his mother, who obtained her living 
with her own hands. 

He then, having never attended a school one 
day, and behig unable either to read or write, was 
apprenticed to a tailor in his native town. A gen- 
tleman was in the habit of going to the tailor's 
shop occasionally, and reading to the boys at 
work there. He often read from the speeches of 
distinguished British statesmen. Andrew, who 
was endowed with a mind of more than ordinary 
ability, became much interested in these speeches; 
his ambition was roused, and he was inspired with 
a strong desire to learn to read. 

He accordingly applied himself to the alphabet, 
and with the assistance of some of his fellow- 
workmen learned his letters. He then called upon 
the gentleman to borrow the book of speeches. 
The owner, pleased with his zeal, not only gave 
him the book, but assisted him in learning to com- 
bine the letters into words. Under such difficul- 
ties he pressed onward laboriously, spending usu- 
ally ten or twelve hours at work in the shop, and 
then robbing himself of rest and recreation to de- 
vote such time as he could to reading. 

He went to Tennessee in 1826, and located at 



Greenville, where he married a young lady who 
possessed some education. Under her instructions 
he learned to write and cipher. He became 
prominent in the village debating society, and a 
favorite with the students of Greenville College. 
In 1828, he organized a working man's party, 
which elected him Alderman, and in 1830 elected 
him Mayor, which position he held three years. 

He now began to take a lively interest in 
political affairs, identifying himself with the work- 
ing-class, to which he belonged. In 1835, he 
was elected a member of the House of Represent- 
atives of Tennessee. He was then just twenty- 
seven years of age. He became a very active 
member of the Legislature, gave his support to 
the Democratic party, and in 1840 "stumped the 
State," advocating Martin Van Buren's claims to 
the Presidency, in opposition to those of Gen. 
Harrison. In this campaign he acquired much 
readiness as a speaker, and extended and increased 
his reputation. 

In 1 84 1, he was elected State Senator; in 1843, 
he was elected a Member of Congress, and by suc- 
cessive elections held that important post for ten 
years. In 1853, he was elected Governor of Tenn- 
essee, and was re-elected in 1855. In all these 
responsible positions, he discharged his duties 
with distinguished ability, and proved himself the 
warm friend of the working classes. In 1857, Mr. 
Johnson was elected United States Senator. 

Years before, in 1845, he had warmly advocated 
the annexation of Texas, stating, however, as his 
reason, that he thought this annexation would 
probably prove ' 'to be the gateway out of which 
the sable sons of Africa are to pass from bondage 
to freedom, and become merged in a population 
congenial to themselves." In 1850, he also sup- 
ported the compromise measures, the two essen- 



84 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 



tial features of which were, that the white people 
of the Territories should be permitted to decide 
for themselves whether they would enslave the 
colored people or not, and that the free States of 
the North shoidd return to the South persons who 
attempted to escape from slavery. 

Mr. Johnson was never ashamed of his lowly 
origin: on the cont^arJ^ he oflen took pride in 
avowing that he owed his distinction to his own 
exertions. "Sir," said he on the floor of the 
Senate, "I do not forget that I am a mechanic; 
neither do I forget that Adam was a tailor and 
sewed fig-leaves, and that our Savior was the son 
of a carpenter. ' ' 

In the Charleston-Baltimore convention of i860, 
he was the choice of the Tennessee Democrats for 
the Presidency. In 1861, when the purpose of 
the Southern Democracy became apparent, he took 
a decided stand in favor of the Union, and held 
that ".slavery "must be held subordinate to the 
Union at whatever cost." He returned to Tenn- 
essee, and repeatedly imperiled his own life to 
protect the Unionists of that State. Tennessee 
having seceded from the Union, President Lincoln, 
on March 4, 1862, appointed him Military Gov- 
ernor of the State, and he established the most 
stringent militarj' rule. His numerous proclama- 
tions attracted wide attention. In 1864, he was 
elected Vice-President of the United States, and 
upon the death of Mr. Lincoln, April 15, 1865, 
became President. In a speech two days later he 
said, "The American people must be taught, if 
they do not already feel, that treason is a crime 
and must be punished; that the Government will 
not always bear with its enemies; that it is strong 
not only to protect, but to punish. * * The 
people must understand that it (treason) is the 
blackest of crimes, and will surely be punished." 
Yet his whole administration, the history of which 
is so well known, was in utter inconsistency with, 
and in the most violent opposition to, the princi- 
ples laid down in that speech. 

In his loose policy of reconstruction and general 
amnesty, he was opposed by Congress, and he 
characterized Congress as a new rebellion, and 
lawlessly defied it in everything possible to the ut- 
most. In the beginning of 1868, on account of 



"High crimes and misdemeanors," the principal 
of which was the removal of Secretarj^ Stanton in 
violation of the Tenure of Office Act, articles of 
impeachment were preferred against him, and the 
trial began March 23. 

It was very tedious, continuing for nearly three 
months. A test article of the impeachment was 
at length submitted to the court for its action. It 
was certain that as the court voted upon that ar- 
ticle so would it vote upon all. Thirty-four voices 
pronounced the President guilty. As a two-thirds 
vote was necessary to his condenniation, he was 
pronounced acquitted, notwithstanding the great 
majority against him. The change of one vote 
from the 710 1 guilty side would have sustained the 
impeachment. 

The President, for the remainder of his term, 
was but little regarded. He continued, though 
impoteutly, his conflict with Congress. His own 
party did not think it expedient to renominate 
him for the Presidency. The Nation rallied with 
enthusiasm, unparalleled since the days of Wash- 
ington, around the name of Gen. Grant. Andrew 
Johnson was forgotten. The bullet of the assassin 
introduced him to the President's chair. Not- 
withstanding this, never was there presented to a 
man a better opportunity to immortalize his name, 
and to win the gratitude of a nation. He failed 
utterly. He retired to his home in Greenville, 
Tenn., taking no verj- active part in politics until 
1875. On January 26, after an exciting struggle, 
he was chosen by the Legislature of Tennessee 
United States Senator in the Fort3'-fourth Congess, 
and took his seat in that body, at the special ses- 
sion convened by President Grant, on the 5th of 
March. On the 27tliof July, 1875, the ex-Presi- 
dent made a visit to his daughter's home, near 
Carter Station, Tenn. When he started on his 
journey, he was apparently in his usual vigorous 
health, but on reaching the residence of his child 
the following day, he was .stricken with paralysis, 
which rendered him unconscious. He rallied oc- 
casionally, but finally passed away at 2 A. m., 
July 31 , aged sixty-.seven years. His funeral was 
held at Greenville, on the 3d of August, with 
every demonstration of respect. 




ULYSSES S. GRANT 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



HLYSSES S. GRANT, the eighteenth Presi- 
deut of the United States, was born on the 
29th of April, 1822, of Christian parents, in 
a humble home at Point Pleasant, on the banks 
of the Ohio. Shortly after, his father moved to 
Georgetown, Brown County, Ohio. In this re- 
mote frontier hamlet, Ulysses received a common- 
school education. At the age of seventeen, in 
the year 1839, he' entered the Military Academy 
at West Point. Here he was regarded as a solid, 
sensible young man, of fair ability, and of sturdy, 
honest character. He took respectable rank as a 
scholar. In June, 1843, he. graduated about the 
middle in his class, and was sent as I^ieutenant of 
Infantry to one of the distant miUtary posts in the 
Missouri Territory. Two years he passed in these 
dreary solitudes, watching the vagabond Indians. 

The war with Mexico came. Lieut. Grant was 
sent with his regiment to Corpus Christi. His 
first battle was at Palo Alto. There was no 
chance here for the exhibition of either skill or 
heroism, nor at Resaca de la Palma, his second 
battle. At the battle of Monterey, his third en- 
gagement, it is said that he performed a signal 
service of daring and skillful horsemanship. 

At the close of the Mexican War, Capt. Grant 
returned with his regiment to New York, and 
was again sent to one of the military posts on the 
frontier. The discovery of gold in California 
causing an immense tide of emigration to flow to 
the Pacific shores, Capt. Grant was sent with a 
battalion to Ft. Dallas, in Oregon, for the protec- 
tion of the interests of the immigrants. But life 
was wearisome in those wilds, and he resigned 
his commission and returned to the States. Hav- 
ing married, he entered upon the cultivation of a 
small farm near St. I^ouis, Mo., but having little 



skill as a farmer, and finding his toil not re- 
munerative, he turned to mercantile life, entering 
into the leather business, with a younger brother 
at Galena, 111. This was in the year i860. As 
the tidings of the rebels firing on Ft. Sumter 
reached the ears of Capt. Grant in his counting- 
room, he said: "Uncle Sam has educated me 
for the army; though I have served him through 
one war, I do not feel that I have yet repaid the 
debt. I am still ready to discharge my obliga- 
tions. I shall therefore buckle on my sword and 
see Uncle Sam through this war too. ' ' 

He went into the streets, raised a company of 
volunteers, and led them as their Captain to 
Springfield, the capital of the State, where their 
services were oflfered to Gov. Yates. The Gov- 
ernor, impressed by the zeal and straightforward 
executive ability of Capt. Grant, gave him a desk 
in his ofiice to assist in the volunteer organiza- 
tion that was being formed in the State in behalf 
of the Government. On the 15th of June, 186 1, 
Capt. Grant received a commission as Colonel of 
the Twenty-first Regiment of Illinois Volunteers. 
His merits as a West Point graduate, who had 
served for fifteen years in the regular army, were 
such that he was soon promoted to the rank of 
Brigadier- General, and was placed in command at 
Cairo. The rebels raised their banner at Padu- 
cah, near the mouth of the Tennessee River. 
Scarcely had its folds appeared in the breeze ere 
Gen. Grant was there. The rebels fled, their 
banner fell, and the Stars and Stripes were un- 
furled in its stead. 

He entered the service with great determina- 
tion and immediately began active duty. This 
was the beginning, and until the surrender of 
Lee at Richmond he was ever pushing the enemy 



88 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



with great vigor and effectiveness. At Belmont, 
a few days later, he surprised and routed the 
rebels, then at Ft. Henry won another victory. 
Then came the brilliant fight at Ft. Donelson. 
The nation was electrified by the victorj-, and the 
brave leader of the boys in blue was immediately 
made a Major-General, and the military district 
of Tennessee was "assigned to him. 

Like all great captains, Gen. Grant knew well 
how to secure the results of victory. He imme- 
diately pushed on to the enemies' lines. Then 
came the terrible battles of Pittsburg Landing, 
Corinth, and the siege of Vicksburg, where Gen. 
Pemberton made an unconditional surrender of 
the city with over thirty thousand men and one 
hinidred and seventy-two cannon. The fall of 
Vicksburg was by far the most severe blow which 
the rebels had thus far encountered, and opened 
up the Mississippi from Cairo to the Gulf 

Gen. Grant was next ordered to co-operate with 
Gen. Banks in a movement upon Texas, and pro- 
ceeded to New Orleans, where he was thrown 
from his hor.se, and received severe injuries, from 
which he was laid up for months. He then 
rushed to the aid of Gens. Rosecrans and Thomas 
at Chattanooga, and by a wonderful series of 
strategic and technical measures put the Union 
army in fighting condition. Then followed the 
bloody battles at Chattanooga, Lookout Moun- 
tain and Missionarj' Ridge, in which the rebels 
were routed with g^eat loss. This won for him 
unlxninded praise in the North. On the 4th of 
February, 1^64, Congress revived the grade of 
lieutenant-general, and the rank was conferred 
on Gen. Grant. He repaired to Washington to 
receive his credentials and enter upon the duties 
of his new office. 

Gen. Grant decided as soon as he took charge 
of the army to concentrate the widely-di.sper.sed 
National troops for an attack upon Richmond, 
the nominal capital of the rebellion, and endeavor 
there to destroy the rebel armies which would be 
promptly assembled hum all cjuarters for its de- 
fense. The whole continent .seemed to tremble 
under the tramp ofthe.se majestic armies, rushing 
to the decisive battle-field. Steamers were crowd- 
ed with troops. Railway trains were burdened 



with closely-packed thousands. His plans were 

comprehensive, and involved a series of cam- 
paigns, which were executed With remarkable 
energy^ and ability, and were consummated at the 
surrender of Lee, April 9, 1865. 

The war was ended. The Union was saved. 
The almost unanimous voice of the nation de- 
clared Gen. Grant to be the most prominent in- 
strument in its salvation. The eminent services 
he had thus rendered the country brought him 
conspicuously forward as the Republican candi- 
date for the Presidential chair. 

At the Republican Convention held at Chicago, 
May 21, 1868, he was unanimously nominated 
for the Presidency, and at the autumn election 
received a majority of the popular vote, and two 
hundred and fourteen out of two hundred and 
ninety-four electoral votes. 

The National Convention of the Republican 
party, which met at Philadelphia on the 5th ot 
June, 1872, placed Gen. Grant in nomination for 
a second term by a unanimous vote. The selec- 
tion was eniphaticallj' indorsed by the people five 
months later, two hundred and ninety-two elect- 
oral votes being cast for him. 

Soon after the close of his second term. Gen. 
Grant started upon his famous trip around the 
world. He visited almost every country of the 
civilized world, and was everywhere received 
with such ovations and demonstrations of respect 
and honor, private as well as public and official, 
as were never before bestowed upon any citizen 
of the United States. 

He was the most prominent candidate before 
the Rejiublican National Convention in 1880 for 
a renomination for President. He went to New 
York and embarked in the brokerage business 
under the firm name of Grant & Ward. The 
latter proved a villain, wrecked Grant's fortune, 
and for larceny was sent to the penitentiary. 
The General was attacked with cancer in the 
throat, but suffered in his stoic-like manner, never 
complaining. He was re-instated as General of 
the Army, and retired by Congress. The cancer 
soon finished its deadly work, and July 23, 1885, 
the nation went in mourning over the death 01 
the illustrious General. 




Rl"TiIKRl'<)kI) ]',. lI.WIvS. 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 



QUTHERFORD B. HAYES, the nineteenth 
U^ President of the United States, was born in 
p\ Delaware, Ohio, October 4, 1822, almost 
three months after the death of his father, Ruther- 
ford Hayes. His ancestry on both the paternal and 
maternal sides was of the most honorable char- 
acter. It can be traced, it is said, as far back as 
1280, when Hayes and Rutherford were two 
Scottish chieftains, fighting side by side with 
Baliol, William Wallace and Robert Bruce. Both 
families belonged to the nobility, owned extensive 
estates, and had a large following. Misfortune 
overtaking the family, George Hayes left Scotland 
in 1680, and settled in Windsor, Conn. His son 
George was born in Windsor, and remained there 
during his life. Daniel Hayes, son of the latter, 
married Sarah Lee, and lived from the time of 
his marriage until his death in Simsbury, Conn. 
Ezekiel, son of Daniel, was born in 1724, and was 
a manufacturer of scythes at Bradford, Conn. 
Rutherford Hayes, son of Ezekiel and grandfather 
of President Hayes, was born in New Haven, in 
August, 1756. He was a farmer, blacksmith and 
tavern-keeper. He emigrated to Vermont at an 
unknown date, settling in Brattleboro, where he 
established a hotel. Here his son, Rutherford 
Hayes, the father of President Hayes, was born. 
He was married, in September, 181 3, to Sophia 
Birchard, of Wilmington, Vt., whose ancestors 
emigrated thither from Connecticut, they having 
been among the wealthiest and best families of 
Norwich. Her ancestry on the male side is 
traced back to 1635, to John Birchard, one of the 
principal founders of Norwich. Both of her grand- 
fathers were soldiers in the Revolution arj' War. 

The father of President Hayes was an industri- 
ous, frugal, yet open-hearted man. He was of a 



mechanical turn of mind, and could mend a plow, 
knit a stocking, or do almost anything else that 
he chose to undertake. He was a member of the 
church, active in all the benevolent enterprises 
of the town, and conducted his business on Chris- 
tian principles. After the close of the War of 
18 1 2, for reasons inexplicable to his neighbors, he 
resolved to emigrate to Ohio. 

The journey from Vermont to Ohio in that day, 
when there were no canals, steamers, or rail- 
ways, was a very serious affair. A tour of in- 
spection was first made, occupying four months. 
Mr. Hayes decided to move to Delaware, where 
the family arrived in 181 7. He died Julj' 22, 
1822, a victim of malarial fever, less than three 
months before the birth of the son of whom we 
write. Mrs. Hayes, in her sore bereavement, 
found the support she so much needed in her 
brother Sardis, who had been a member of the 
household from the day of its departure from 
Vermont, and in an orphan girl, whom she had 
adopted some time before as an act of charity. 

Rutherford was seven years old before he went 
to school. His education, however, was not neg- 
lected. He probably learned as much from his 
mother and sister as he would have done at 
school. His sports were almost wholly within 
doors, his playmates being his sister and her asso- 
ciates. These circumstances tended, no doubt, to 
foster that gentleness of disposition and that del- 
icate consideration for the feelings of others which 
were marked traits of his character. 

His uncle, Sardis Birchard, took the deepest 
interest in his education; and as the boy's health 
had improved, and he was making good progress 
in his studies, he proposed to send him to college. 
His preparation commenced with a tutor at home; 



92 



RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. 



but he was afterwards sent for one j-ear to a pro- 
fessor in the Wesleyau University in Middletown, 
Conn. He entered Kenyon College in 1838, at 
the age of sixteen, and was graduated at the head 
of his class in 1842. 

Immediately after his graduation he began the 
study of law in the office of Thomas Sparrow, 
Esq., in Columbus. Finding his opportunities 
for study in Columbus somewhat limited, he de- 
termined to enter the Law School at Cambridge, 
Mass., where he remained two years. 

In 1S45, after graduating at the Law School, he 
was admitted to the Bar at Marietta, Ohio, and 
shortly afterward went into practice as an at- 
torney-at-law with Ralph P. Buckland, of Fre- 
mont. Here he remained three years, acquiring 
but a limited practice, and apparently unambitious 
of distinction in his profession. 

In 1849 he moved to Cincinnati, where his am- 
bition found a new stimulus. For several years, 
however, his progress was slow. Two events 
occurring at this period had a powerful influence 
upon his subsequent life. One of these was his 
marriage with Miss Lucy Ware Webb, daughter 
of Dr. James Webb, of Chillicothe; the other was 
his introduction to the Cincinnati Literary Club, 
a body embracing among its members such men 
as Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, Gen. John 
Pope, Gov. Edward F. Noyes, and many others 
hardly less distinguished in after life. The mar- 
riage was a fortunate one in every respect, as 
everybody knows. Not one of all the wives of 
our Presidents was more universally admired, 
reverenced and beloved than was Mrs. Hayes, and 
no one did more than she to reflect honor upon 
American womanhood. The LiteraryClub brought 
Mr. Hayes into constant association with young 
men of high character and noble aims, and lured 
him to display the qualities so long hidden by his 
bashfulness and modesty. 

In 1856 he was nominated to the office of Judge 
of the Court of Common Pleas, but he declined to 
accept the nomination. Two years later, the of- 
fice of City Solicitor becoming vacant, the City 
Council elected him for the unexpired term. 

In 1 86 1, when the Rebellion broke out, he was 
at the zenith of his professional life. His rank at 



the Bar was among the first. But the news of 
the attack on Ft. Sumter found him eager to 
take up arms for the defense of his country. 

His mihtary record was bright and illustrious. 
In October, 1861, he was made Lieutenant- Colo- 
nel, and in August, 1862, promoted Colonel of 
the Seventj'-ninth Ohio Regiment, but he refused 
to leave his old comrades and go among strangers. 
Subsequently, however, he was made Colonel of 
his old regiment. At the battle of South Moun- 
tain he received a wound, and while faint and 
bleeding displayed courage and fortitude that 
won admiration from all. 

Col. Hayes was detached from his regimenti 
after his recover}', to act as Brigadier-General, 
and placed in command of the celebrated Kanawha 
division, and for gallant and meritorious services 
in the battles of Winchester, Fisher's Hill and 
Cedar Creek, he was promoted Brigadier-General. 
He was also breveted Major- General, ' 'for gallant 
and distinguished services during the campaigns 
of 1864, in West Virginia." In the course of his 
arduous services, four horses were shot from un- 
der him, and he was wounded four times. 

In 1864, Gen. Hayes was elected to Congress 
from the Second Ohio District, which had long 
been Democratic. He was not present during the 
campaign, and after the election was importuned 
to resign his commission in the army; but he fi- 
nally declared, " I shall never come to Washing- 
ton until I can come by way of Richmond." He 
was re-elected in 1866. 

In 1867, Gen. Haj'es was elected Governor of 
Ohio, over Hon. Allen G. Thurman, a popular 
Democrat, and in 1869 was re-elected over George 
H. Pendleton. He was elected Governor for the 
third term in 1875. 

In 1876 he was the standard-bearer of the Re- 
publican part}' in the Presidential contest, and 
after a hard, long contest was chosen President, 
and was inaugurated Monday, March 5, 1877. 
He served his full tenn, not, however, with satis- 
faction to his part}', but his administration was an 
average one. The remaining years of his life 
were passed quietly in his Ohio home, where he 
passed away January 17, 1893. 



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JAMK.S A. GARFIELD. 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



(Tames a. GARFIELD, twentieth President 
I of the United States, was born November 1 9, 
(2/ 1 83 1, in the woods of Orange, Cuyahoga 
County, Ohio. His parents were Abram and 
EHza (Ballou) Garfield, both of New England 
ancestry, and from families well known in the 
early history of that section of our country, but 
who had moved to the Western Reserve, in Ohio, 
early in its settlement. 

The house in which James A. was born was 
not unlike the houses of poor Ohio fanners of 
that day. It was about 20 x 30 feet, built of logs, 
with the spaces between the logs filled with clay. 
His father was a hard-working farmer, and he 
soon had his fields cleared, an orchard planted, 
and a log barn built. The household comprised 
the father and mother and their four children, 
Mehetabel, Thomas, Mary and James. In May, 
1823, the father died from a cold contracted in 
helping to put out a forest fire. At this time 
James was about eighteen months old, and 
Thomas about ten years old. No one, perhaps, 
can tell how much James was indebted to his 
brother's toil and self-sacrifice during the twenty 
years succeeding his father's death. He now 
lives in Michigan, and the two sisters live in Solon, 
Ohio, near their birthplace. 

The early educational advantages young Gar- 
field enjoyed were very limited, yet he made the 
most of them. He labored at farm work for 
others, did carpenter work, chopped wood, or did 
anything that would bring in a few dollars to aid 
his widowed mother in her struggles to keep the 
little family together. Nor was Gen. Garfield 
ever ashamed of his origin, and he never forgot 
the friends of his struggling childhood, youth and 
manhood; neither did they ever forget him. 
When in the highest seats of honor, the humblest 
friend of his boyhood was as kindly greeted as 
ever. The poorest laborer was sure of the sym- 
pathy of one who had known aU the bitterness of 



want and the sweetness of bread earned by the 
sweat of the brow. He was ever the simple, 
plain, modest gentleman. 

The highest ambition of young Garfield until 
he was about sixteen years old was to be cap- 
tain of a vessel on Lake Erie. He was anxious 
to go aboard a vessel, but this his mother strongly 
opposed. She finally consented to his going to 
Cleveland, with the understanding, however, that 
he should try to obtain some other kind of em- 
ployment. He walked all the way to Cleveland. 
This was his first visit to the city. After making 
many applications for work, and trying to get 
aboard a lake vessel and not meeting with suc- 
cess, he engaged as a driver for his cousin, Amos 
Eetcher, on the Ohio & Pennsylvania Canal. 
He remained at this work but a short time, when 
he went home, and attended the seminary at 
Chester for about three years. He then entered 
Hiram and the Eclectic Institute, teaching a few 
terms of school in the mean time, and doing other 
work. This school was started by the Disciples 
of Christ in 1850, of which body he was then a 
member. He became janitor and bell-ringer in 
order to help pay his way. He then became both 
teacher and pupil. Soon "exhausting Hiram," 
and needing a higher education, in the fall of 1854 
he entered Williams College, from which he grad- 
uated in 1856, taking one of the highest honors of 
his class. He afterwards returned to Hiram Col- 
lege as its President. As above stated, he early 
united with the Christian, or Disciples, Church at 
Hiram, and was ever after a devoted, zealous 
member, often preaching in its pulpit and places 
where he happened to be. 

Mr. Garfield was united in marriage, Novem- 
ber II, 185S, with Miss Lucretia Rudolph, who 
proved herself worthy as the wife of one whom 
all the world loved. To them were born seven 
children, five of whom are still living, four boys 
and one girl. 



96 



JAMES A. GARFIELD. 



Mr. Garfield made his first political speeches in 
1856, in Hiram and the neighboring villages, and 
three years later he began to speak at county 
mass-meetings, and became the favorite speaker 
wherever he was. During this year he was 
elected to the Ohio Senate. He also began to 
study law at Cleveland, and in 1861 was admitted 
to the Bar. The great Rebellion broke out in the 
early part of this year, and Mr. Garfield at once 
resolved to fight as he had talked, and enlisted to 
defend the Old Flag. He received his commission 
as Lieutenant-Colonel of the Forty-second Regi- 
ment of Ohio Infantry August 14, 1861. He 
was immediately put into active ser\'ice, and be- 
fore he had ever seen a gun fired in action, was 
placed in command of four regiments of infantry 
and eight companies of cavalrj-, charged with the 
work of driving out of his native State the able 
rebel officer, Humphrey Marshall, of Kentucky. 
This work was bravely and speedily accomplished, 
although against great odds, and President Lin- 
coln commissioned him Brigadier-General, Janu- 
ary 10, 1862; and "as he had been the youngest 
man in the Ohio Senate two years before, so now 
he was the youngest General in the army." He 
was with Gen. Buell's anny at Shiloh, in its 
operations around Corinth and its march through 
Alabama. He was then detailed as a member of 
the general court martial for the trial of Gen. 
Fitz-Johu Porter. He was next ordered to re- 
port to Gen. Rosecrans, and was assigned to the 
" Cliief of Staff." The military historj- of Gen. 
Garfield closed with his brilliant sen-ices at Chick- 
amauga, where he won the rank of Major-General. 

Without an effort on his part. Gen. Garfield 
was elected to Congress in the fall of 1862, from 
the Nineteenth District of Ohio. This section of 
Ohio had been represented in Congress for sixt)' 
years mainly bj' two men — Elisha Whittlesey and 
Joshua R. Giddings. It was not without a strug- 
gle that he resigned his place in the army. At 
the time he entered Congress he was the youngest 
member in that body. There he remained by 
successive re-elections until he was elected Presi- 
dent, in i88c. Of his labors in Congress, Senator 
Hoar says: "Since the year 1864 you cannot 
think of a question which has been debated in 



Congress, or discussed before a tribunal of the 
American people, in regard to which you will not 
find, if you wish instruction, the argument on 
one side stated, in almost every instance better 
than by anybody else, in some speech made in 
the House of Representatives or on the hustings 
by Mr. Garfield." 

Upon January 14, 1880, Gen. Garfield was elect- 
ed to the United States Senate, and on the 8th of 
June, of the same year, was nominated as the 
candidate of his party for President at the great 
Chicago Convention. He was elected in the fol- 
lowing November, and on March 4, 1881, was 
inaugurated. Probably no administration ever 
opened its existence under brighter auspices than 
that of President Garfield, and every day it grew 
in favor with the people. By the ist of July 
he had completed all the initiatory and prehnii- 
nary work of his administration, and was prepar- 
ing to leave the city to meet his friends at Will- 
iams College. While on his way and at the 
depot, in company with Secretary Blaine, a man 
stepped behind him, drew a revolver, and fired 
directly at his back. The President tottered and 
fell, and as he did so the assassin fired a second 
shot, the bullet cutting the left coat sleeve of his 
victim, but inflicting no further injurj% It has 
been very truthfully said that this was ' ' the shot 
that was heard around the world." Never before 
in the history of the nation had anything occur- 
red which so nearly froze the blood of the people 
for the moment as this awful deed. He was 
smitten on the brightest, gladdest day of all his 
life, at the summit of his power and hope. For 
eightj- days, all during the hot months of July 
and August, he lingered and suffered. He, how- 
ever, remained master of himself till the last, and 
by his magnificent bearing taught the country 
and the world one of the noblest of human les- 
sons — how to live grandly in the very clutch of 
death. Great in life, he was surpassingly great 
in death. He passed serenely away September 
19, 1883, ^t Elberon, N. J., on the very bank of 
the ocean, where he had been taken shortly be- 
fore. The world wept at his death, as it rarely 
ever had done on the death of any other great 
and noble man. 




CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 



E HESTER A. ARTHUR, twenty-first Presi- 
dent of the United States, was born in Frank- 
lin County, Vt., on the 5th day of October, 
1830, and was the eldest of a family of two sons 
and five daughters. His father was the Rev. Dr. 
William Arthur, a Baptist clergyman, who emi- 
grated to this country from County Antrim, Ire- 
land, in his eighteenth year, and died in 1875, in 
Newtonville, near Albany, after a long and suc- 
cessful ministry. 

Young Arthur was educated at Union College, 
Schenectady, where he excelled in all his studies. 
After his graduation he taught school in Ver- 
mont for two years, and at the expiration of that 
time came to New York, with $500 in his pocket, 
and entered the office of ex -Judge E. D. Culver 
as a student. After being admitted to the Bar, he 
formed a partnership with his intimate friend and 
room-mate, Henry D. Gardiner, with the inten- 
tion of practicing in the West, and for three 
months they roamed about in the Western States 
in search of an eligible site, but in the end re- 
turned to New York, where they hung out their 
shingle, and entered upon a successful career al- 
mo!5t from the start. Gen. Arthur soon after mar- 
ried the daughter of Lieut. Herndon, of the 
United States Navy, who was lost at sea. Con- 
gress voted a gold medal to his widow in recog- 
nition of the braver>' he displayed on that occa- 
sion. Mrs. Arthur died shortly before Mr. 
Arthur's nomination to the Vice-Presidency, leav- 
ing two children. 

Gen. Arthur obtained considerable legal celeb- 
rity in his first great case, the famous Eemmon 
suit, brought to recover possession of eight slaves 
who had been declared free by Judge Paine, of 
the Superior Court of New York City. It was in 



1852 that Jonathan Lemmon, of Virginia, went to 
New York with his slaves, intending to ship them 
to Texas, when they were discovered and freed. 
The Judge decided that they could not be held by 
the owner under the Fugitive Slave Law. A howl 
of rage went up from the South, and the Virginia 
Legislature authorized the Attorney-General of 
that State to assist in an appeal. W^illiam M. 
Evarts and Chester A. Arthur were employed to 
represent the people, and they won their case, 
which then went to the Supreme Court of the 
United States. Charles O' Conor here espoused 
the cause of the slaveholders, but he, too, was 
beaten by Messrs. Evarts and Arthur, and a long 
step was taken toward the emancipation of the 
black race. 

Another great ser\dce was rendered by Gen. 
Arthur in the same cause in 1856. Lizzie Jen- 
nings, a respectable colored woman, was put off 
a Fourth Avenue car with violence after she had 
paid her fare. Gen. Arthur sued on her behalf, 
and secured a verdict of $500 damages. The next 
day the company issued an order to admit colored 
persons to ride on their cars, and the other car 
companies quickly followed their example. Be- 
fore that the Sixth Avenue Company ran a few 
special cars for colored persons, and the other lines 
refused to let them ride at all. 

Gen. Arthur was a delegate to the convention 
at Saratoga that founded the Republican party. 
Previous to the war he was Judge-Advocate of 
the Second Brigade of the State of New York, 
and Gov. Morgan, of that State, appointed him 
Engineer-in-Chief of his staff. In 1861, he was 
made Inspector-General, and soon afterward be- 
came Quartermaster-General. In each of these 
offices he rendered great service to the Govern- 



LOFC 



lOO 



CHESTER A. ARTHUR. 



ment during the war. At the end of Gov. Mor- 
gan's term he resumed the practice of law, form- 
ing a partnership with Mr. Ransom, and then 
Mr. Phelps, the District Attornej' of New York, 
was added to the firm. The legal practice of this 
well-known firm was verj- large and lucrative, 
as each of the gentlemen composing it was an able 
lawyer, and possessed a splendid local reputa- 
tion, if not, indeed, one of national extent. 

Mr. Arthur always took a leading part in State 
and city politics. He was appointed Collector of 
the Port of New York by President Grant, No- 
vember 21, 1872, to succeed Thomas Murphy, 
and he held the office until July 20, 1878, when 
he was succeeded by Collector Merritt. 

Mr. Arthur was nominated on the Presidential 
ticket, with Gen. James A. Garfield, at the 
famous National Republican Convention held at 
Chicago in June, 1880. This was perhaps the 
greatest political convention that ever assembled 
on the continent. It was composed of the lead- 
ing politicians of the Republican party, all able 
men, and each stood firm and fought vigorously 
and with signal tenacity for his respective can- 
didate that was before the convention for the 
nomination. Finally Gen. Garfield received the 
nomination for President, and Gen. Arthur for 
Vice-President. The campaign which followed 
was one of the most animated known in the his- 
tory of our country. Gen. Hancock, the .stand- 
ard-bearer of the Democratic party, was a popular 
man, and his party made a valiant fight for his 
election. 

p-inally the election came, and the country's 
choice was Garfield and Arthur. They were in- 
augiirated March 4, 1881, as President and Vice- 
President. A few months only had passed ere 
the newly-chosen President was the victim of the 
a.ssassin's bullet. Then came terrible weeks of 
suffering — those moments of anxious suspense, 
when the hearts of all civilized nations were 
throbbing in unison, longing for the recoverj- of 
the noble, the good President. The remarkable 
patience that he manifested during those hours 
and weeks, and even months, of the most terrible 
suffering man has ever been called upon to en- 
dure, was seemingly more than human. It was 



certainly godlike. During all this period of 
deepest anxiety Mr. Arthur's every move was 
watched, and, be it said to his credit, that his every 
action displaj'ed only an earnest desire that the 
suffering Garfield might recover to serve the re- 
mainder of the term he had so auspiciouslj* be- 
gun. Not a selfish feeling was manifested in 
deed or look of this man, even though the most 
honored position in the world was at any moment 
likely to fall to him. 

At last God in his mercy relieved President 
Garfield from further suffering, and the world, as 
never before in its historj- over the death of any 
other man, wept at his bier. Then it became the 
duty of the Vice-President to assume the respon- 
sibilities of the high office, and he took the oath 
in New York, September 20, 1881. The position 
was an embarrassing one to him, made doubly so 
from the fact that all eyes were on him, anxious 
to know what he would do, what policy he would 
pursue, and whom he would select as advisers. 
The duties of the office had been greatly neglected 
during the President's long illness, and many im- 
portant measures were to be immediately decided 
by him; and to still further embara.ss him he did 
not fail to realize under what circumstances he 
became President, and knew the feelings of many 
on this point. Under the.se trying circumstances. 
President Arthur took the reins of the Govern- 
ment in his own hands, and, as embarrassing as 
was the condition of affairs, he happily surprised 
the nation, acting so wisely that but few criticized 
his administration. He served the nation well 
and faithfull}^ until the close of his administra- 
tion, March 4, 1885, and was a popular candidate 
before his part}' for a second term. His name 
was ablj- presented before the convention at Chi- 
cago, and was received with great favor, and 
doubtless but for the personal popularity of one 
of the opposing candidates, he would have been 
selected as the standard-bearer of his party for 
another campaign. He retired to private life, car- 
rying with him the best wi.shes of the American 
people, whom he had served in a manner satisfac- 
tory' to them and with credit to himself. One 
year later he was called to his final rest. 







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STEPHEN GROVER CLEVELAND. 




BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



STEPHEN GROVER CLEVELAND. 



ITEPHEN GROVER CLEVElvAND, the 
twenty -second President of the United States, 
was born in 1837, in the obscure town of 
Caldwell, Essex County, N. J., and in a little 
two-and-a-half-story white house, which is still 
standing to characteristically mark the humble 
birthplace of one of America's great men, in 
striking contrast with the Old World, where all 
men high in office must be high in origin and 
bom in the cradle of wealth. When the subject 
of this sketch was three years of age, his father, 
who was a Presbyterian minister with a large 
family and a small salary, moved, by way of the 
Hudson River and Erie Canal, to Fayetteville, N. 
Y. , in search of an increased income and a larger 
field of work. Fayetteville was then the most 
straggling of country villages, about five miles 
from Pompey Hill, where Governor Seymour 
was born. 

At the last-mentioned place young Grover com- 
menced going to school in the good, old-fashioned 
way, and presumably distinguished himself after 
the manner of all village boys — in doing the 
things he ought not to do. Such is the dis- 
tinguishing trait of all geniuses and independent 
thinkers. When he arrived at the age of four- 
teen years, he had outgrown the capacity of the 
village school, and expressed a most emphatic de- 
sire to be sent to an academy. To this his fa- 
ther decidedly objected. Academies in those 
days cost money; besides, his father wanted him 
to become self-supporting by the quickest pos- 
sible means, and this at that time in Fayetteville 
seemed to be a position in a country store, where 
his father and the large family on his hands had 



considerable influence. Grover was to be paid 
$50 for his services the first year, and if he proved 
trustworthy he was to receive $100 the second 
year. Here the lad commenced his career as 
salesman, and in two years he had earned so good 
a reputation for trustworthiness that his employ- 
ers desired to retain him for an indefinite length 
of time. 

But instead of remaining with this firm in 
Fayetteville, he went with the family in their re- 
moval to Clinton, where he had an opportunity 
of attending a High School. Here he industri- 
ously pursued his studies until the family re- 
moved with him to a point on Black River known 
as the "Holland Patent," a village of five or six 
hundred people, fifteen miles north of Utica, N. Y. 
At this place his father died, after preaching but 
three Sundays. This event broke up the family, 
and Grover set out for New York City to accept, 
at a small salary, the position of under-teacher 
in an asylum for the blind. He taught faithfully 
for two years, and although he obtained a good 
reputation in this capacity, he concluded that 
teaching was not his calling in life, and, revers- 
ing the traditional order, he left the city to seek 
his fortune, instead of going to the city. He first 
thought of Cleveland, Ohio, as there was some 
charm in that name for him; but before proceed- 
ing to that place he went to Bufialo to ask advice 
of his uncle, Lewis F. Allan, a noted stock- 
breeder of that place. The latter did not speak 
enthusiastically. "What is it you want to do, 
my boy?" he asked. "Well, sir, I want to study 
law," was the reply "Good gracious!" remarked 
the old gentleman; "do you, indeed? Whatever 



ro4 



STEPHEN GROVER CLEVELAND. 



put that into your head? How much money 
have you got?" "Well, sir, to tell the truth, I 
haven't got any." 

After a long consultation, his uncle offered him 
a place temporarily as assistant herd-keeper, at 
$$o a year, while he could look around. One 
day soon afterward he boldly walked into the of- 
fice of Rogers, Bowen & Rogers, of Buffalo, and 
told them what he wanted. A number of young 
men were already engaged in the office, but Gro- 
ver's persistency won, and he was finally per- 
mitted to come as an office boy and have the use 
of the law library, receiving as wages the sum of 
$3 or $4 a week. Out of this he had to pay for his 
board and washing. The walk to and from his 
uncle's was a long and rugged one; and although 
the first winter was a memorably severe one, his 
shoes were out of repair, and as for his overcoat he 
had none; yet he was, nevertheless, prompt and 
regular. On the first day of his service there, his 
senior employer threw down a copy of Black- 
stone before him, with a bang that made the dust 
fly, saying "That's where they all begin." A 
titter ran around the little circle of clerks and 
students, as they thought that was enough to 
scare young Grover out of his plans; but in due 
time he mastered that cumbersome volume. 
Then, as ever afterward, however, Mr. Cleve- 
land exhibited a talent for executiveness rather 
than for chasing principles through all their 
metaphysical po.ssibilities. "Let us quit talking 
and go and do it," was practically his motto. 

The first public office to which Mr. Cleveland 
was elected was that of Sheriff of Erie County, 
N. Y., in which Buffalo is situated; and in such 
capacity it fell to his dut>- to inflict capital punish- 
ment upon two criminals. In 1881 he was 
elected Mayor of the City of Buffalo, on the 
Democratic ticket, with especial reference to bring- 
ing about certain reforms in the admini.stration 
of the municipal affairs of that city. In this of- 
fice, as well as in that of Sheriff, his performance 
of duty has generally been considered fair, with 
possibly a few exceptions, which were ferreted 
out and magnified during his Presidential cam- 
paign. As a specimen of his plain language in 
a veto message, we quote from one vetoing an 



iniquitous street-cleaning contract: "This is a 
time for plain speech, and my objection to jour 
action shall be plainlj- stated. I regard it as the 
culmination of a most bare-faced, impudent and 
shameless scheme to betray the interests of the 
people and to worse than squander the people's 
money." The New York Sun afterward very 
highly commended Mr. Cleveland's administra- 
tion as Mayor of Buffalo, and thereupon recom- 
mended him for Governor of the Empire State. 
To the latter office he was elected in 1882, and 
his administration of the affairs of State was 
generally satisfactorj-. The mistakes he made, 
if any, were made verj- public throughout the na- 
tion after he was nominated for President of the 
United States. For this high office he was 
nominated July 11, 18S4, by the National Demo- 
cratic Convention at Chicago, when other com- 
petitors were Thomas F. Bayard, Roswell P. 
Flower, Thomas A. Hendricks, Benjamin F. 
Butler, Allen G. Thurman, etc.; and he was 
elected by the people, by a majority of about a 
thousand, over the brilliant and long-tried Re- 
publican .statesman, James G. Blaine. President 
Cleveland resigned his office as Governor of New 
York in January, 1885, in order to prepare for 
his duties as the Chief Executive of the United 
States, in which capacity his term commenced at 
noon on the 4th of March, 1885. 

The silver question precipitated a controversy 
between those who were in favor of the continu- 
ance of silver coinage and those who were op- 
po.sed, Mr. Cleveland answering for the latter, 
even before his inauguration. 

Ou June 2, 1886, President Cleveland married 
Frances, daughter of his deceased friend and part- 
ner, Oscar Folsom, of the Buffalo Bar. In the 
campaign of 1888, President Cleveland was re- 
nominated by his party, but the Republican candi- 
date. Gen. Benjamin Harri.son, was victorious. 
In the nomination of 1892 these two candidates 
for the highest position in the gift of the people 
were again pitted against each other, and in the 
ensuing election President Cleveland was victori- 
ous by an overwhelming majority. Since the 
close of his second term, he has resided in Prince- 
ton, N. J. 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



Benjamin HARRISON, the twenty-third 
\\ President, is the descendant of one of the 
^ historical families of this country. The first 
known head of the faniil}- was Maj.-Gen. Harrison, 
one of Oliver Cromwell's trusted followers and 
fighters. In the zenith of Cromwell's power it be- 
came the duty of this Harrison to participate in 
the trial of Charles I. , and afterward to sign the 
death warrant of the king. He subsequently 
paid for this with his life, being hung October 13, 
1660. His descendants came to America, and 
the next of the family that appears in historj' is 
Benjamin Harrison, of Virginia, great-grandfa- 
ther of the subject of this sketch, and after whom 
he was named. Benjamin Harrison was a mem- 
ber of the Continental Congress during the years 
1774, 1775 and 1776, and was one of the original 
signers of the Declaration of Independence. He 
was three times elected Governor of Virginia. 

Gen. William Henry Harrison, the son of the 
distinguished patriot of the Revolution, after a 
successful career as a soldier during the War of 
18 12, and with a clean record as Governor of the 
Northwestern Territory, was elected President of 
the United States in 1840. His career was cut 
short by death within one month after his in- 
auguration. 

President Harrison was born at North Bend, 



Hamilton County, Ohio, August 20, 1833. His 
life up to the time of his graduation from Miami 
University, at Oxford, Ohio, was the uneventfiil 
one of a country lad of a family of small means. 
His father was able to give him a good education, 
and nothing more. He became engaged while at 
college to the daughter of Dr. Scott, Principal of 
a female school at Oxford. After graduating, he 
determined to enter upon the study of law. He 
went to Cincinnati and there read law for two 
years. At the expiration of that time young Har- 
rison received the only inheritance of his life — his 
aunt, dying, left him a lot valued at $800. He 
regarded this legacy as a fortune, and decided to 
get married at once, take this money and go to 
some Eastern town and begin the practice of law. 
He sold his lot, and, with the money in his pocket, 
he started out with his young wife to fight for a 
place in the world. He decided to go to Indian- 
apolis, which was even at that time a town of 
promise. He met with slight encouragement at 
first, making scarcely anything the first year. 
He worked diligentlj', applying himself closely to 
his calling, built up an extensive practice and 
took a leading rank in the legal profession. 

In i860, Mr. Harrison was nominated for the 
position of Supreme Court Reporter, and then be- 
gan his experience as a stump speaker. He can- 



io8 



BENJAMIN HARRISON. 



vassed the State thoroughly, and was elected by 
a handsome majority. In 1862 he raised the 
Seventeenth Indiana Infantry, and was chosen its 
Colonel. His regiment was composed of the raw- 
est material, but Col. Harrison employed all his 
time at first in mastering militar>' tactics and drill- 
ing his men, and when he came to move toward 
the East with Sherman, his regiment was one of 
the best drilled and organized in the army. At 
Resaca he especially distinguished himself, and 
for his bravery at Peachtree Creek he was made 
a Brigadier-General, Gen. Hooker speaking of 
him in the most complimentarj- terms. 

During the absence of Gen. Harrison in the 
field, the Supreme Court declared the office of 
Supreme Court Reporter vacant, and another 
person was elected to the position. From the 
time of leaving Indiana with his regiment until 
the fall of 1 864 he had taken no leave of absence, 
but having been nominated that year for the same 
office, he got a thirty-day leave of absence, and 
during that time made a brilliant canvass of the 
State, and was elected for another term. He then 
started to rejoin Sherman, but on the way was 
stricken down with scarlet fever, and after a most 
trying attack made his way to the front in time to 
participate in the closing incidents of the war. 

In 1868 Gen. Harrison declined a re-election 
as Reporter, and resumed the practice of law. In 
1876 he was a candidate for Governor. Although 
defeated, the brilliant campaign he made won for 
him a national reputation, and he was much sought 
after, especially in the East, to make speeches. 
In 18S0, as usual, he took an active part in the 
campaign, and was elected to the United States 
Senate. Here he served for six years, and was 
known as one of the ablest men, best lawj-ers and 
strongest debaters in that body. With the ex- 
piration of his senatorial term he returned to the 
practice of his profession, becoming the head of 
one of the strongest firms in the State. 

The political campaign of 188S was one of the 
most memorable in the hi.story of our country. 
The convention which assembled in Chicago in 
June and named Mr. Harrison as the chief stand- 
ard-bearer of the Republican party was great in 
every particular, and on this account, and the at- 



titude it assumed upon the vital questions of the 
day, chief among which was the tarifif, awoke a 
deep interest in the campaign throughout the 
nation. Shortly after the nomination, delegations 
began to visit Mr. Harrison at Indianapolis, his 
home. This movement became popular, and from 
all sections of the country societies, clubs and 
delegations journeyed thither to pay their re- 
spects to the distinguished statesman. 

Mr. Harrison spoke daily all through the sum- 
mer and autumn to these visiting delegations, 
and so varied, masterly, and eloquent were his 
speeches that they at once placed him in the fore- 
most rank of American orators and statesmen. 
Elected by a handsome majority, he ser\-ed his 
countr>' faithfully and well, and in 1892 was nom- 
inated for re-election; but the people demanded a 
change and he was defeated by his predecessor 
in office, Grover Cleveland. 

On account of his eloquence as a speaker and 
his power as a debater. Gen. Harrison was called 
upon at an early age to take part in the dis- 
cussion of the great questions that then began to 
agitate the country. He was an uncompromising 
anti-slaver>' man, and was matched against some 
of the most eminent Democratic speakers of his 
State. No man who felt the touch of his blade 
desired to be pitted with him again. With all 
his eloquence as an orator he never spoke for ora- 
torical effect, but his words always went like bul- 
lets to the mark. He is purely American in his 
ideas, and is a splendid tj'pe of the American 
statesman. Gifted with quick perception, a logi- 
cal mind and a ready tongue, he is one of the 
most distinguished impromptu speakers in the 
nation. Many of these .speeches sparkled with the 
rarest eloquence and contained arguments of great 
weight, and many of his terse statements have 
already become aphorisms. Original in thought, 
precise in logic, terse in statement, yet withal 
faultless in eloquence, he is recognized as the 
sound statesman and brilliant orator of the day. 
By his first wife, Caroline (Scott) Harrison, he 
had a son and daughter. In 1896 he married 
Mrs. Mary (Scott) Dimmick, and they, with their 
daughter, reside in Indianapolis, Ind., where he 
has made his home since early manhood. 




WILLIAM McKIXI.KV 



WILLIAM McKINLEY. 



WILIvIAM McKINLEY, who was inaugu- 
rated President of the United States in 1897, 
was born in Niles, Ohio, January 29, 1843. 
The family of which he is a member originated 
in the west of Scotland, and from there removed 
to the north of Ireland. According to the fam- 
ily tradition, James and William McKinley emi- 
grated to this country from Ireland and founded 
the two branches of the family in the United 
States, one settling in the north, the other in the 
south. At the time of their arrival, James was 
twelve years of age. He settled in York County, 
Pa., where he married and spent his remaining 
years. 

David, son of James, and the great-grandfather 
of William McKinley, was born May 16, 1755, 
and three times enlisted in the service of the 
colonies during the Revolutionary War, serving 
seven months after his first enlistment in June, 
1776, spending six months at the front in 1777, 
and again in the following year serving eight 
months. December 19, 1780, he married Sarah 
Gray, who was born May 10, 1760, and died 
October 6, 1814. For fifteen years he lived in 
Westmoreland County, Pa., and thence removed 
to Mercer County. One year after the death 
of his first wife he married Eleanor McLean 
and about the same time settled in Colum- 
biana County, Ohio, but afterward made his home 
in Crawford County, where he died August 8, 
1840. 

James, grandfather of William McKinley, was 
born September 19, 1783, married Mary (or 
"Polly") Rose, and with his family moved to New 
Lisbon, Ohio, in 1809. Their eldest son, Will- 
iam, Sr. , was born in Mercer County, Pa., 
November 15, 1807, and in 1827 married 
Nancy Allison, a woman of noble and strong 
character and consistent Christian life. For some 
years he was engaged as manager of iron fur- 
naces at difierent places. From Niles he re- 



moved to Poland, because of the educational ad- 
vantages offered by Poland Academy. In 1869 
he established his home in Canton, and here he 
died November 24, 1892. His widow lives at 
the family residence in Canton, and with her are 
her daughter, Miss Helen, and two orphan 
grandchildren. 

Of the family of nine children, William, Jr. , who 
was seventh in order of birth, was born during 
the residence of his parents at Niles, Ohio, Jan- 
uary 29, 1843. His boyhood years were spent 
in that place and Poland, where he studied in the 
academy. At the age of seventeen he entered 
Allegheny College, but illness caused his return 
to Poland, and on his recovery he did not return 
to college, but taught a country school. At the 
opening of the Civil War, though only eighteen 
years of age, he immediately wanted to enlist. 
As soon as he could overcome the objections of 
his mother, he enlisted, in May of 1861, as a 
private in Company E, Twenty-third Ohio In- 
fantry. The regiment was commanded by Col. 
W. S. Rosecrans, who afterward, as general, led 
his forces on many a bloody battle field, and the 
first major was Rutherford B. Hayes, afterward 
President of the United States. As a gallant 
soldier Mr. McKinley soon won promotion, serving 
for a time as commissary sergeant, later was pro- 
moted to the rank of second lieutenant for gal- 
lantry at Antietam, and then won his way up- 
ward until, at the close of the war, he was pro- 
moted to major by brevet. July 26, 1865, after 
more than four years of hard service, he was 
mustered out with his regiment. 

With Judge Charles E. Glidden, of Mahoning 
County, Mr. McKinley began the study of law, 
which he afterward carried on in the Albany 
(N. Y.) Law School, and in 1867 was admitted 
to the bar. Beginning the practice of his pro- 
fession in Canton, he soon became prominently 
known among the able attorneys of the city. His 



112 



WILLIAM Mckinley. 



first connection with political affairs was in 1869, 
when he was elected prosecuting attorney of Stark 
County, and this office he held for two years. 
In 1876 he was nominated for Congressional 
honors and was elected to the Forty-fifth Con- 
gress, afterward by successive re-elections serv- 
ing for fourteen years. In March of 1890 he in- 
troduced the celebrated McKiuley tariff bill, 
which was passed and became a law. In the fol- 
lowing year, 1891, he was elected governor of 
Ohio, and two years afterward was re-elected to 
that high office, which he filled in such a manner 
as to command the respect not only of his own 
party — ^the Republican — but his political op- 
ponents as well. The connection of his name 
with the tariff bill and his prominence in the Re- 
publican party, together with his force and elo- 
quence as a speaker, brought him into national 
fame. In the campaign of 1892, for a period of 
more than three months, he traveled over a 
territory extending from New York to Nebraska, 
making speeches in the interest of the Republi- 
can platform. Those who heard him speak, 
whether friends or opponents of his political 
opinions, cannot but have admired his logical 
reasoning, breadth of intellect, eloquence of speech 
and modesty of demeanor. During the campaign 
of 1S94 he made three hundred and seventy -one 
speeches and visited over three hundred towns, 
within a period of two months, addressing perhaps 
two million people. 

The tariff issue and all the intricate questions 
of public revenue that are interwoven with it, 
constitute the most complicated problems with 
which a statesman has to deal. To master them 
in every detail requires an intellect of the high- 
est order. That Major McKinley thoroughly un- 
derstands these questions is admitted by all who 
have investigated his official utterances o;i the 
subject, beginning with the speech on the Wood 
tariff bill, delivered in the house of representatives 
April 15, 1878, and closing with his speech in 
favor of the tariff bill of 1890, which as chairman 
of the ways and means committee he reported to 
the house and which was subsequently passed and 
is known throughout the world as the McKinley 
tariff bill of 1890. He opposed the Wood bill be- 
cause of a conviction that the proposed measure 



would, if enacted, prove a public calamity. For 
the same reason, in 1882, he advocated a friendly 
revision of the tariff by a tariff commission, to be 
authorized by congress and appointed by the 
president. In 1884 he opposed the Morrison 
horizontal bill, which he denounced as ambiguous 
for a great public statute, and in 1888 he led the 
forces in the fight against the Mills tariff bill. 

As governor of Ohio, his policy was conserva- 
tive. He aimed to give to the public institutions 
the benefit of the service of the best man of the 
state, and at all times upheld the legitimate rights 
of the workiiigmen. Recognizing the fact that 
the problem of taxation needed regulation, in 
his messages of 1892, 1893 and 1894, he urged 
the legislature that a remedy be applied. In 
1892 he recommended legislation for the safety 
and comfort of steam railroad employes, and the 
following year urged the furnishing of automatic 
couplers and air-brakes for all railroad cars used 
in the state. 

When, in 1896, the Republican party, in con- 
vention assembled at St. Louis, selected a man to 
represent their principles in the highest office 
within the gift of the American people, it was not 
a surprise to the public that the choice fell upon 
Major McKinley. The campaign that followed 
was one of the most exciting in the history of 
the country since the period of reconstruction. 
Especial interest centered in the fact that the 
point at issue seemed, not, as in former days, 
free trade or protection, but whether or not the 
govenmient should declare for the free coinage of 
silver. This question divided the voters of the 
country upon somewhat different lines than theold- 
time principles of the Republican and Democratic 
parties and thus made the campaign a memorable 
one. The supporters of the gold standard main- 
tained that silver monometallism would precipi- 
tate a panic and permanentlj' injure the business 
interests of the country, and the people, by a 
large majority, supported these principles. 

January 25, 1871, Major McKinlej' was united 
in marriage with Miss Ida Saxton, who was born 
in June, 1847, the daughter of James A. Saxton. 
Their two children died in 1874, within a short 
time of each other, one at the age of three years 
and the other in infancy. 



LEAVENWORTH 

DOUGLAS and 

FRANKLIN COUNTIES 

..KANSAS... 



INTRODUCTORY 



glOGRAPHY alone can justly represent the progress of local history and portray with accuracy 
the relation of men to events. It is the only means of perpetuating the lives and deeds of 
those men to whom the advancement of a city or county and the enlightenment of its people 
are due. The compilers of this work have striven to honor, not only men of present prominence, 
but also, as far as possible, those who in years gone by labored to promote the welfare of their com- 
munity. The following sketches have been prepared from the standpoint of no man's prejudice, 
but with an impartial aim to render justice to progressive and public-spirited citizens and to collect 
personal records that will be of value to generations yet to come. 

To be forgotten has been the great dread of mankind from remotest ages. All will be forgotten 
soon enough, in spite of their best works and the most earnest efforts of their friends to preserve the 
memory of their lives. The means employed to prevent oblivion and to perpetuate their memory 
have been in proportion to the amount of intelligence they possessed. The pyramids of Egypt were 
built to perpetuate the names and deeds of their great rulers. The exhumations made by the 
archaeologists of Egypt from buried Memphis indicate a desire of those people to perpetuate the 
memory of their achievements. The erection of the great obelisks was for the same purpose. 
Coming down to a later period, we find the Greeks and Romans erecting mausoleums and 
monuments, and carving out statues to chronicle their great achievements and carry them down the 
ages. It is also evident that the Mound-builders, in piling up their great mounds of earth, had but 
this idea — to leave something to show that they had lived. All these works, though many of them 
costly in the extreme, give but a faint idea of the lives and character of those whose memory they 
were intended to perpetuate, and scarcely anything of the masses of the people that then lived. The 
great pyramids and some of the obelisks remain objects only of curiosity; the mausoleums, 
monuments and statues are crumbling into dust. 

It was left to modern ages to establish an intelligent, undecaying, immutable method of 
perpetuating a full history — immutable in that it is almost unlimited in extent and perpetual in its 
action; and this is through the art of printing. 

To the present generation, however, we are indebted for the introduction of the admirable 
system of local biography. By this system every man, though he has not achieved what the world 
calls greatness, has the means to perpetuate his life, his history, through the coming ages. 

The scythe of Time cuts down all; nothing of the physical man is left. The monument which 
his children or friends may erect to his memory in the cemetery will crumble into dust and pass 
away; but his life, his achievements, the work he has accomplished, which otherwise would be 
forgotten, is perpetuated by a record of this kind. 

To preserve the lineaments of our companions we engrave their portraits; for the same reason 
we collect the attainable facts of their history. Nor do we think it necessary, as we speak only 
truth of them, to wait until they are dead, or until those who know them are gone; to do this we 
are ashamed only to publish to the world the history of those whose lives are unworthy of public 
record. 



^<^z^ 





d-tL^ /!^tZ^ ■^Zo-^ 



J- 




,:^^c^ c^. c/0. JCd^^ 



f'>Z'il-^y^ — _ 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



NON. CHARLES ROBINSON, M. D., first 
governor of Kansas. Of the many men 
who were attracted to Kansas during the 
days of its early struggles, there is none whose 
name is more indissolubly associated with its his- 
tory than that of Charles Robinson, and certainly 
there is none whose memory is more worthy of 
perpetuation in the annals of the state. He was 
born in Hardwick, Mass., July 21, 18 18, a de- 
scendant of Rev. John Robinson, the illustrious 
pastor of the Pilgrim Fathers. From his parents, 
Jonathan and Huldah (Woodward) Robinson, he 
inherited superior intelligence and originalit)' of 
thought. The opposition to slavery, which was 
one of his marked characteristics, came to him 
from his father, who as early as 1840 broke off 
from party affiliations and became associated with 
the champions of liberty, who gathered under the 
standard of James G. Birney. Ever afterward 
he was outspoken in his belief that the institution 
of slavery was in violation to all of God's laws. 
He was not spared to see the colored race made 
free (for he died in i860), but his life was one of 
the many that lent its iniluence toward securing 
that great end. The mother, too, possessed great 
force of character, combined with a gentle, mild 
disposition, and while the care for the physical 
well-being of her six sons and four daughters 
consumed much of her time, she gave careful 
thought also to their mental training and im- 
planted in their hearts principles of honor and 
integrity. She was spared to an advanced age, 
dying in 1869, surrounded by and ministered to 
by her family, in whose success her happiness 
was consummated. 

When a boy Charles Robinson was a student 



in select and private schools, and Hopkins and 
Amherst Academies, and subsequently attended 
Amherst College for two years. He was obliged 
to leave college on account of trouble with his 
eyes, and he walked forty miles to Keene, N. H., 
to consult a celebrated oculist. Dr. Twichell. 
While his ej^es were being treated he became so 
impressed with the greatness of the medical pro- 
fession that he determined to take it for his life 
work. Accordingly he entered Dr. Twichell's 
office as a student, and after a year with him en- 
tered the office of Dr. Gridley, of Amherst, with 
whom he gained considerable practical expe- 
rience. He attended medical lectures at Wood- 
stock, Vt., and Pittsfield, Mass., receiving the 
degree of M. D. from the latter place in 1843. 
During the same year he succeeded Dr. Garrett 
at Belchertown, Mass., which at that time was a 
prosperous and aristocratic town. From'the first 
he was successful in his profession, butconstant 
attention to his professional duties undermined 
his health and forced him to relinquish his prac- 
tice. In 1S45 he removed to Springfield, where 
he and the famous author. Dr. J. G. Holland, 
opened a hospital. While residing in that city, 
January 17, 1846, his first wife, Sarah (Adams) 
Robinson, died; the two children born of their 
marriage died in infancy. At the solicitation of 
his brother Cyrus he removed to Fitchburg, 
Mass. , and continued to practice there until fail- 
ing health demanded a complete change of cli- 
mate. 

When the first news was received of the dis- 
covery of gold in California, a party of fifty men 
from Boston and Roxbury (the first from Massa- 
chusetts) decided to seek the far west. He ac- 



122 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



companied them as physician for a colony. They 
arrived in Kansas City April lo, 1849, and on 
the loth of May started from that town, with ox 
and mule teams, following the Kansas River 
route. On the next day, while he was riding 
ahead of his party, he ascended Mount Oread 
(named after Oread school in the east). There 
he paused, viewing with liveliest interest and 
admiration the beautiful landscape that lay 
stretched before him, forming what is now the 
southwestern part of the city of Lawrence. In 
his journal he wrote that if the land were open 
to settlement he would go no further. However, 
he pursued his way toward the setting sun, little 
dreaming that, in later years, the reading of the 
journal in which this sentiment was written 
should have caused the Emigrant Aid Society to 
select him as its leader, to return to this very 
spot and labor for the success of the free-state 
party here. 

After a weary but uneventful journey the party 
reached Sacramento August 17, 1849. After ex- 
perimenting as a miner for two weeks Dr. Rob- 
inson became interested in a restaurant, in which 
business he was successful until he lost all by the 
Sacramento River flood. He also published the 
Miners' and Settlers' Tribune until elected to the 
legislature. During the controversy between the 
speculators and squatters on the Sutter claim he 
upheld the rights of the squatters, and this 
brought upon him the revengeful enmity of the 
speculators, by whom he was shot through the 
body a little below the heart, but owing to his 
vigorous constitution he soon recovered and was 
thrown into a prison ship. While there he was 
elected to the legislature, in which he served for 
one term, meantime forming the acquaintance of 
John C. Fremont, whose election to the United 
States senate he favored, but which was not ac- 
complished. July I, 1851, he left San Francisco 
for the east. Qn the night of the 4th the ship 
"Union" was wrecked after being out three days. 
The passengers, provisions and gold dust were 
saved by means of the life boats, in which they 
were taken to a barren rock, on the coast eighty 
miles south of San Diego. There they remained 
two weeks, then went to San Diego, where they 



embarked on board ship. They landed on the 
shore at the mouth of a dr}' ravine. They formed 
a company of forty men, of which the doctor was 
second in command, and they guarded the gold 
dust in relays often. Captain Day and Dr. Rob- 
inson stopped at Acapulco for the purpose of 
seeing the American consul and arranging to get 
the proper papers for salvage in New York and 
Philadelphia. The ship proceeded on its course 
and left Captain Day and the doctor to take an- 
other ship two weeks later. He was also delayed 
two weeks at Aspinwall, on the east side of the 
isthmus, making nearly two months on the way. 
At the isthmus Dr. Robinson was employed as 
physician by the steamer "Crescent," which had 
on board a large number of sick laborers from 
the Panama Railroad, then in process of construc- 
tion. The .steamer reached Havana on the day 
of the execution of Lopez. Arriving at Belcher- 
town, September 9, 1851, the next year he began 
the publication of the Fitchburg AVrr.f, an anti- 
slavery paper, which he conducted for two years, 
but, having frequent calls for professional service, 
he sold his paper and re-entered the profession. 

On the repeal of the Missouri compromise Dr. 
Robinson was sent to Kansas, June 28, 1854, to 
prepare the waj- for northern settlers. For this 
work his experience in California admirablj- qual- 
ified him. The subsequent portion of his life was 
a part of the history of Kansas. He became the 
real leader of the free-state forces. His position 
made his life in daily peril from pro-slavery men, 
and more than once he narrowly escaped. At 
one time when going east on a boat he became 
involved in a controversy with Gens. Joe Shelby 
and Donald.son, but he was so determined in the 
stand he took, the men had not the courage to kill 
him, as they had planned. In 1855 the free-state 
men were driven from the polls. He was one of 
the first to repudiate the authoritj- of the bogus 
laws and was chosen delegate to the convention 
which met at Topeka to formulate new laws and 
a state government. From May 1 1 to Septem- 
ber II, 1856, he was held a prisoner near Le- 
compton, charged with treason. During what 
was known as the Wakarusa war, in November, 
1855, when Lawrence was besieged by eleven 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



hundred pro-slaverj' men and there were only six 
hundred men to defend it, he was chosen major- 
general of the forces and assisted in the defense 
of the city. 

On the adoption of the free-state constitution 
Dr. Robinson was chosen governor of the pro- 
posed state. The legislature met twice in 1856. 
On the adoption of the Wyandotte constitution 
he was elected governor of Kansas, and when 
the state was admitted to the Union, January 29, 
1861, he assumed the duties of office, holding the 
position until January, 1863. The position was 
a most trying one. The progress of the Civil 
war, the hostility of Indians, the strife between 
diflFerent elements of the citizenship, made the 
governor's office no sinecure. It would have 
been impossible for a man to fill the position 
without making enemies; in fact, any man of 
force of character and great will power always 
meets with opposition, and Governor Robinson 
was no exception to the rule. But he allowed 
no criticism to deter him, when once his mind 
was resolved upon a certain course of action he 
believed to be just and right. To his faithful 
work amidst the most trying circinnstances, and 
in the face of greatest danger to life, he pursued 
his wa}', undaunted by threats, undismayed by 
hardships. His retirement from the gubernato- 
rial chair did not mean his retirement from public 
life. The people appreciated his worth as an offi- 
cial. In 1864 he was elected to the state senate, 
and two years later was honored by re-election. 
Later he was made a member of the house of rep- 
resentatives. 

Throughout his entire life Governor Robinson 
was interested in educational matters. On com- 
ing to Kansas he organized the first free school 
and paid the teacher, Edward Fitch, who opened 
a school in January, 1855, in the rear room of 
the Emigrant Aid Building on the banks of the 
Kansas River, at the north end of Massachusetts 
street, Lawrence. The next teacher was Miss 
Kate Kellogg, who came as one of the family in 
March, 1855, remaining here until she returned 
east in September of that year to marrj' Dr. 
Temple. Shortly after his arrival here Governor 
Robinson pre-emjjted a claim to the tract where 



he had stood, some years before, en route to Cal- 
ifornia. From that unimproved stretch of ground 
he evolved a beautiful homestead "Oak Ridge," 
comprising sixteen hundred acres. He located 
the first site of a college where the original 
structure of the Kansas State University stands. 
To the founding of the college he gave nineteen 
acres and his wife twenty-one acres, and after- 
ward they donated gifts of money, besides assist- 
ing in other ways. For years before his death 
he was a regent of the university, and his will 
provided that, at the death of his wife, their 
beautiful homestead should become the property 
of the institution in which they were so deeply 
interested. 

For some years Governor Robinson was inter- 
ested in railroad enterprises, and was a director 
of the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Rail- 
road. During the latter part of his life he gave 
some time to literary work, and wrote a complete 
account of the condition of Kansas during the 
'50s, which he published under the title of "The 
Kansas Conflict." It is a work replete with facts 
and showing a thorough knowledge of the con- 
dition of the state during the most troubled period 
of its history. As an addition to the history of 
that period it is invaluable. While he was a 
Whig and Republican in early manhood, in later 
life he became independent, and during the fa- 
mous campaign of 1872 supported Horace Gree- 
ley, of whom he was a warm admirer. His life 
was prolonged to an advanced age. He died 
August 17, 1894, having lived to see the wonder- 
ful progress of the state and its advancement of 
material wealth and educational resources. His 
life is ended, its record complete. He who reads 
it may emulate with eagerness the strict integrity, 
the force of will, the adherence to principle and 
the lofty honor that leaves the pages of the life 
record untarnished and undimmed. 



yyiRS. SARA T. D. LAWRENCE ROBINSON 

y is a member of a family that has furnished 

(^ many distingui.shed men to our country. 

Among the.se may be mentioned Hon. Abbott 

Lawrence, minister to England; Hon. Amos 



I 22 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



A. Lawreiicf , in whose honor the citj- of Law- 
rence, Kans., was named, and who donated 
$10,000 to the State University at its opening; 
and Hon. Timothy Dwight, president of Yale 
College, and one of the most prominent educators 
in the land. Benjamin Lawrence, a native of 
Windsor, Conn., became a pioneer of Middle- 
bury, Vt. , where his subsequent life was spent. 
His two sons, Myron and Edwin, were successful 
attorneys, the latter being for thirteen years 
judge of the district court in Washtenaw County, 
Mich. The former, who was born in Middle- 
bury May 18, 1799, graduated from the college 
in that city, and then studied law with M. A. K. 
Doolittle, a graduate of Yale. He made his 
home in the residence of Mr. Doolittle, and there 
met Miss Clarissa Dwight, a teacher, who was 
boarding with Mr. Doolittle's famil)-, and whom 
he married in 1824. On his admission to the bar 
he began to practice at Northampton, Mass., 
where his ability soon placed him in the front 
rank of attorneys. Recognizing his fitness for 
public oflSce, his fellow-citizens frequently chose 
him to represent them in offices of trust and 
honor. For several terms he was a member of 
the Massachusetts state senate, of which body he 
was president from 1838 to 1840. During twenty- 
seven years of his life he was either representa- 
tive or senator. His career in the lower and 
upper house was one that reflected the highest 
credit upon his moral worth and his extensive 
knowledge. With the broad vision of a states- 
man he looked forward to the future, and 'advo- 
cated measures that would have not merelj- a 
present, but a future, bearing on the welfare of 
the state. In his advocacy of temperance prin- 
ciples he was steadfast. Both by precept and by 
example he gave his influence for prohibition. 
In 1852, when the temperance issue was in the 
ascendency, he was nominated for governor, but, 
his health being poor, he declined the nomina- 
tion. Had he been able to make the race there 
is every reason to believe that he would have 
been elected. He was a member of the Congre- 
gational Church, adhering to the religion of his 
forefathers. Fraternally he was connected witli 
the Masons. In political belief he favored the 



Whig party. He was a warm personal friend 
and great admirer of Daniel Webster, and two 
weeks after that great statesman passed away he 
answered his death summons, November 7, 1852. 

The wife of Senator Lawrence was bom in 
Belchertown, Mass., a daughter of Col. Henry 
Dwight, and a descendant of the old family of 
that name, for years prominent among the Pil- 
grims at Dedham, Mass. Colonel Dwight, a 
native of Warren, Mass., was a man of great 
prominence and blameless life, and during the 
Revolutionary war commanded a regiment as 
colonel. Mrs. Lawrence was educated in Hop- 
kins and Deerfield Academies, and a ladies' 
boarding school at Hartford, Conn. Not only 
was she a woman of splendid education, but of 
great executive force as well, and in the town 
where she made her home her position was very 
high. She was born November 25, 1799, and 
died August 21, 1869, leaving a son and two 
daughters. The son, Mark D. , who was a mer- 
chant, died in Philadelphia August 23, 1884. 
One of the daughters, Sophia Dwight, became 
the wife of Samuel Goddard, and died in Massa- 
chusetts March 15, 1893. 

The only surviving member of the family is 
Mrs. Robinson. She bore the maiden name of 
Sara Tappan Doolittle Lawrence. Her educa- 
tion, which was thorough, she acquired in the 
Belchertown classical school. Miss Smith's pri- 
vate school and New Salem Academy. At her 
father's home in Belchertown, October 30, 1851, 
she was united in marriage to Dr. Charles Rob- 
inson, whose helpmate and companion she re- 
mained until his death. Like him, she was 
brave and fearless, hence was fitted for life in the 
west during its dark days. When her husband 
was arrested at Lexington, Mo., and taken to 
Lecompton to be tried for treason by the pro- 
slavery party, she went east, carrying the official 
proceedings of the congressional committee of 
investigation, and safely delivered them to the 
proper parties. From there she joined her hus- 
band in prison, and remained with him until he 
was released. Her knowledge of early life in 
Kansas and her literary ability qualify her for 
work as an author, and her work, " Kansas, Its 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



123 



Exterior and Interior," is one of the most com- 
plete of its kind ever published. It was pub- 
lished in 1856, with nine editions of one thou- 
sand each, and a revised edition was published 
in 1899, with appendix. As a descriptive work 
it is unsurpassed, and the detailed accounts of 
the character of the new territory and the strug- 
gles of the free-state men possess an undying in- 
terest for all who love the state. 



pQELLINGTON Y. LEONARD, M. D., a 
\ A / leading physician of Lawrence and coro- 
V V ner of Douglas County, was born in Tro)% 
Miami County, Ohio, October 5, 1834, a son of 
James W. and Julia (Renshaw) Leonard, natives 
respectively of Rutland, Vt., and Philadelphia, 
Pa. His grandfather, Joseph Leonard, who was 
a member of a pioneer family of New England, 
spent his entire life in Vermont, with the excep- 
tion of the period of his service in the Revolu- 
tionary war; his wife passed away in Massachu- 
setts when within six months of one hundred years 
old. For some years James W. Leonard was 
foreman of large iron works in Phoenixville, Pa., 
but in 1834 settled in Troy, Ohio, and for some 
time cultivated a farm near that village. In 
1S51 he removed to Albion, Ind., where he con- 
tinued farm pursuits until his death, at the age of 
seventy-five years. His wife, who was of Scotch 
descent and a woman of estimable character, died 
at sixty-four years. They were the parents of 
seven children, four of whom attained mature 
years and two are now living. 

The education of Dr. Leonard was begun in 
Troy public schools and further prosecuted in 
the college of Xenia, Ohio, from which he grad- 
uated in 1856. Later he taught two terms of 
school and in 1858 began to study medicine under 
Dr. D. W. C. Denney, of Albion, Ind. The fol- 
lowing year he entered Jefferson Medical College, 
*vhere he carried on his studies for two years. 
Returning to Albion, he formed a partnership 
with Dr. Denney, with whom he remained until 
the latter entered the arm)'. In 1862 he ma- 
triculated in the Cincinnati College of Medicine 



and Surgery, from which he graduated in 1863, 
with the degree of M. D. In 1865 he entered 
Rush Medical College in Chicago, and the fol- 
lowing year was given the degree of M. D. by 
that institution. Afterward he frequently re- 
turned to Rush for the purpose of conducting 
post-graduate work. The continuous practice of 
his profession in Albion in the course of time 
undermined his health and he felt the need of a 
change of climate and surroundings. For this 
reason in 18^3 he came to Lawrence and here he 
carried on a drug business, starting the City 
drug store, as a member of the firm of Leonard 
& Hamlin. At the same time he also gave some 
attention to practice. In April, 1898, he sold 
the store in order that he might devote himself 
exclusively to professional work. 

In Phoenixville, Pa., Dr. Leonard married 
Miss Sarah A. Place, who was born there and re- 
ceived an academic education. They are the 
parents of four children, namely: E. W., who is 
a business man in Kansas City; J. R., editor of 
the Strong City Derrick, at Strong, Kans. ; O. P. , 
a merchant tailor in Lawrence; and Ella M. , at 
home. 

During his residence in Indiana Dr. Leonard 
was for eight years surgeon for the Baltimore & 
Ohio Railroad. Politically he has always been a 
Republican. Ou that ticket, in 1893, he was 
nominated for countj- coroner and received a good 
majority at the election. In 1895 and 1S97 he 
was re-elected, his third term to expire in Jan- 
uarj^ 1900. Fraternally he is a Mason, identified 
with Lawrence Lodge No. 6, A. F. & A. M. 
He is identified with the Lawrence Medical So- 
ciety, and prior to his removal west was active 
in the work of the American Medical Associa- 
tion. In religion he is a member of the Baptist 
Church, and is serving upon the board of trus- 
tees of the same. 



HON. H. MILES MOORE. The life of 
General Moore has been inseparably asso- 
ciated with the history of Kansas. Full of 
incidents, stirring and exciting, it possesses that 



124 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



interest which attaches to all lives presenting the 
spectacle of a man who stands for a principle, 
and who, alike in prosperous and in adverse 
environments, preserves the independence of 
thought and action and the patriotic spirit char- 
acteristic of a true son of the land of the free. 
From bojhood a believer in the Declaration of 
Independence, and firm in his adherence to the 
truth that "all men are created free and equal," 
he saw that the system of slavery was a menace 
to our country, and therefore gave his whole be- 
ing to secure its overthrow. When Kansas was 
the theater of deepest interest and the fate of the 
state regarding slavery was at a critical point, 
he came here, and from that time afterward he 
was vitally comiected with the free-state move- 
ment. In politics, fir.st an ardent Whig and 
later a Democrat, he held to the maxim that 
"He serves his party best who serves his country 
best," and with him partyism was absorbed in 
patriotism. More than once his close connection 
with the anti-slavery cause brought him in peril 
of his life. Often he was shot at by those who 
realized that his death would be of advantage to 
the pro. slavery movement. Three times, during 
the days of border warfare, he was taken by ene- 
mies and led out to be hanged, but each time his 
connection with the Masonic fraternity saved his 
life. Those were perilous days for the prominent 
men of Kansas, and none perhaps was in greater 
danger than he. Through perils, seen and un- 
seen, he walked from day to daj', until finally 
the crisis was passed, and Kansas, no longer the 
"bleeding .state," could turn its attention to the 
development of farms and fields, to the improve- 
ment of cities and towns. 

The Moore family was first represented in 
America by several brothers from Ireland. Miles 
Moore, a grandson of one of these original emi- 
grants, was the son of a colonel in the war of 
1812, and was himself a man of patriotic spirit. 
He engaged in the mercantile business at Brock- 
port, N. Y., where he died at thirty-one years of 
age. In Monroe County, that state, he married 
Irene Smith, who was born in Connecticut, and 
who, like himself, died in the prime of life. 
There were only two children born of the union. 



and one of these died in infancy. The other, who 
forms the subject of this article, was born in 
Brockport September 2, 1826, and was reared in 
the home of his grandfather, Deacon Levi Smith, 
a veteran of the war of 1S12 and the son of a 
Revolutionary soldier. 

When nineteen years of age H. Miles Moore 
graduated from Union College, Schenectady, 
N. Y. , with the degree of A. B. He then trav- 
eled for a year, after which he .studied law with 
Selden & Jewett, of Clarkson, N. Y., and later 
with C. M. Lee and L. Farrar, of Rochester, that 
state. While in the latter city he was a member 
of the Rochester Union Graj^s, nearlj' all of 
whom attempted to enlist in the Mexican war, 
but, the desired quota having been obtained, 
they were rejected. In 1848 he was admitted to 
the bar, and soon afterward went south, where 
he owned interests. In a previous trip in the 
south he had purchased land in Louisiana, and re- 
turning to that state he engaged in the practice 
of law, and also took charge of his plantation. 
After having made a visit to Weston, Mo., in 
the fall of 1S49 he decided to locate in that 
place, and the spring of the following year found 
him a resident there. He opened a law office, 
engaged in practice, and also had charge of the 
editorial work of the Weston Reporter. 

The excitement incident to the passage of the 
Kansas-Nebraska Bill spread throughout the 
country, and both slavery supporters and op- 
ponents were induced to come to Kansas. In 
June, 1854, Mr. Moore came to the then terri- 
tory. He belonged to what might be termed the 
"fighting" element of his party, hence he 
brought upon himself the enmity of southern 
sympathizers, but, on the other hand, he won 
the esteem of anti-.slavery men, among whom he 
soon wielded great influence. Three times he 
was elected attornej'- general of Kansas condi- 
tional upon its admission to the Union as a state. 
He was a member of the first territorial legisla- 
ture in 1S57, and was afterward again chosen tec 
serve in this position, besides one term later in 
the state legislature. He also served as city at- 
torney for six years, and as United States com- 
missioner and assistant United States attorney. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



125 



General Moore was a member of the original 
town company of lyCaven worth, and, as its secre- 
tary, he drew up the first paper organizing the 
same. This he still has in his possession, to- 
gether with many other relics of those pioneer 
days. The company consisted of thirty mem- 
bers, three of whom (himself one of the three) 
were chosen to select a name for the new town. 
He selected the name L,eavenworth, in honor of 
the fort near by. The others preferred the name 
of Douglas, but he was successful in securing the 
name he desired. The lots comprising the origi- 
nal plat of the town were bought at a cost of 
$24,000, each of these lots having a government 
patent. Adjacent property was sold in blocks, 
after which the town company was disbanded 
and the partnership dissolved. The first gov- 
ernor, A. J. Reeder, promised to locate the capi- 
tal here, but failed to keep his promise. The 
neighboring towns in the county were settled by 
hard-working, persevering men, who gave this 
section the high reputation it has since retained. 

With that typical western man. General Lane, 
our subject was always in deepest sympathy. In 
1 86 1 he served as judge advocate, with the rank 
of lieutenant-colonel, on General Lane's staff, 
after which he was transferred to the Fifth Kan- 
sas Regiment as acting colonel. During a part 
of the war he was appointed and served as com- 
missary of subsistence, with the rank of captain, 
his commission coming from Abraham Lincoln. 
Prior to the Rebelliou he served as colonel, and 
later was general, of the free state army organi- 
zation. Since the close of the war he has engaged 
in the practice of law, and held various offices. 
He has maintained a deep interest in every move- 
ment for the upbuilding of Leavenworth, which he 
has seen grow from a few inhabitants to its present 
large population. Active in educational work 
he served as a member of the school board for 
many years, and did all within his power to pro- 
mote the interests of the public schools. He has 
also been generous in contributions to religious 
enterprises and philanthropic movements, and is 
active in the work of the Episcopal Church, to 
which he belongs. In the early days he became 
identified with the State Historical Society, and 



has since acted as one of its trustees. During 
his residence in Weston he was made a Mason, 
and is now connected with Leavenworth Lodge 
No. 2, A. F. & A. M. He is a member of Kan- 
sas Commandery of the Military Order of Loyal 
Legion, and Custer Post No. 2, G. A. R., in 
which he has served as a department aide. 

In Madison, Wis., General Moore married 
Harriet E. Van Valkenburg, of New York, a 
descendant of Dutch ancestry. While visiting 
in Lockport, N. Y., she was thrown from a car- 
riage and fatally injured, dying soon afterward. 
His second marriage took place in Leavenworth 
September 15, 1857, and united him with Miss 
Linnie F. Kehoe, who was born at Laurel Hill, 
Fairfax County, Va., and was reared in Wash- 
ington, D. C, graduating from Georgetown 
Convent. The two children born of the first 
marriage are deceased. Of the second marriage 
one child is now living, Harry Miles Moore, who 
is engaged in the drug business at Galena, Kans. 

As one of the pioneers of Leavenworth, the 
name of General Moore deserves to be placed in 
the archives of history ; but still more is he de- 
serving of remembrance when we consider his 
long and active connection with movements for 
the development of the city. Personally he is a 
man of decided and inflexible traits of mind, as 
his past history proves. Possessing a strong 
mind and determined will, he has, under every 
circumstance, had the courage of his convictions, 
and has never deviated from the course his con- 
science mapped out for him. He is a fine con- 
versationalist, with the courtesy and agreeable 
manners that make him popular with all. Well 
informed along all lines, he is especially familiar 
with local history, and whenever questions arise 
regarding facts in the history of early days, he is 
always referred to as an authority. With the 
thoughtfulness of a man who looks into the 
future he has carefully preserved letters, jour- 
nals, papers, etc., together with his personal 
recollections in writing, concerning those event- 
ful days when the fate of Kansas trembled in the 
balance. These data, if compiled and published, 
would fill a volume, and would form an import- 
ant addition to the history of that period. 



126 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



HON. THOMAS CARNEY, second governor 
of Kansas, was intimately identified with 
the historj' of this commonwealth during the 
exciting days prior to and during the Civil war. 
In fact, for some years his life history was the 
history of the state itself, so inseparably was he 
associated with public measures. An ardent sup- 
porter of Republican principles and a man of great 
patriotism, he did all within his power to pro- 
mote the interests of his party, his state and his 
comitry, in each of which he attained distinction. 

In Delaware County, Ohio, Mr. Carney was 
born August, 20, 1824. When he was four j'ears 
of age his father, James Carney, died, leavingthe 
widowed mother, poor, and with four small chil- 
dren. For this reason, his opportunities were 
meagre; in fact, he had none except such as he 
made for himself. His early life was spent in 
the hardest kind of work, after he was old enough 
to be of assistance on the farm. .From the time 
he was eleven until he left home, he was the 
teamster of the family, and conveyed the prod- 
ucts of the farm to Newark, thirty-six miles dis- 
tant, using as a means of transportation a yoke 
of oxen. When nineteen years of age, with $3. 50 
in his possession and buoyed by the hope of youth, 
he left the home farm. He attended school in 
Berkshire, Ohio, for six months, meantime work- 
ing for his board. Afterward he secured employ- 
ment in a retail dry-goods house in Columbus, 
where he remained for two years, then became 
clerk in a wholesale dry-goods house in Cincin- 
nati. While with the retail firm he received $50 
and his board the first year and $100 and board 
the second year. He remained in Cincinnati for 
twelve years, but his health became impaired by 
his clo.se attention to busine.ss, his success as a 
member of the firm of Carney, Swift & Co., hav- 
ing been secured only at the expense of his phy- 
sical strength. 

Realizing that he must seek another climate, 
in 1857 Mr. Carney visited the west. In the 
spring of 1858 he commenced busine.ss in Leaven- 
worth, Kans. , where, in partnership with Thomas 
C. Stevens, he opened the first exclusively whole- 
sale house in the city and founded a business that 
for years was of immense value to local interests. 



On the retirement of Mr. Stevens in 1866, the firm 
name was changed to Carney, Fenlon & Co. 
Two 3'ears later the firm established the house of 
E. Fenlon & Co., in St. Louis, which business 
later merged into the house of Carnej', Garrett, 
Fenlon & Co., and later was changed to Carney, 
Fenlon & Co. The subsequent retirement of Mr. 
Fenlon cau.sed another change in the business, 
which was afterward conducted bj- Mr. Carnej- 
alone until it was sold. He also started the 
wholesale shoe house of Carney, Storer & Co., 
which firm in 1873 was dissolved, and succeeded 
by Thomas Carney & Co. In 1875 the business 
was .sold and the one to whom its success was 
due retired, in a measure, from participation in 
business affairs. 

The connection of Mr. Carney with affairs ot 
state dates from the fall of 1861, when he was elec- 
ted to the lower house of the legislature. Sep- 
tember 17, 1862, when the Republicans met in 
state convention, he was nominated for governor, 
and on the 4th of November was elected, receiv- 
ing ten thousand and ninety votes, about twice 
the number received by his opponent. January 
12, 1863, he took his seat as governor, and from 
that time until the close of his term he gave his 
undivided attention to public affairs. He found 
the state in a discouraging condition. It was 
utterly without credit, and without means to carry 
on its government or protect its citizens from 
guerillas, Indians and the calamities incident to 
war. Along the eastern and southern borders 
the confederates hovered, while on the west were 
murderous bands of Indians. The life of everj' 
settler was in peril. The general government, 
immersed in civil war, had no time to devote to 
the welfare of a remote state. Hence, the wel- 
fare of the people devolved entirely upon the gov- 
ernor. Finding that he would be obliged to de- 
pend upon his own resources, he investigated the 
situation thoroughly. The state had no money, 
no arms and no ammmiition, but this did not dis- 
courage him. On visiting the menaced regions 
he found that the people were beginning to 
seek places of greater safety, and he foresaw 
the probability that the region would become a 
desert, unless decisive steps were immediately 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



127 



taken. He raised a force of one hundred and 
fifty men and emplgyed them as a patrol along 
the border, so that no hostile movement could be 
made without detection and the people would 
thus have time to rally to the necessary points for 
defense. The patrol was hired by the governor 
and paid out of his private means, he giving $1 
a day for a man and horse, the United States gov- 
ernment furnishing the rations. He put the men 
in the field and kept them there, at a cost to him- 
self of more than $10,000. At the same time he 
was a captain in the home guard and often on 
duty in that capacity. Through his patrol he 
preserved the border from invasion, but, at a later 
period, he was notified bj' the commander of the 
federal forces to abolish the patrol, as the regu- 
lar troops would be able to care for the safety of 
the state. He carried out the order, and within 
three days Quantrell made his raid into Kansas, 
Lawrence was in ashes and one hundred and 
eighty persons were foully murdered. During 
the existence of the patrol, the arrangements 
were such that the different members could speak 
with each other ever}' hour, but the militia were 
scattered in squads over a distance of twenty-five 
miles, and when Quantrell marched into Kansas, 
he easily escaped their notice. He moved stealth- 
ily. No one knew of his approach except one 
man who lived along the line of march. He saw 
the guerillas, mounted a horse and hurried to- 
ward Lawrence to warn the inhabitants, but his 
horse fell and the rider's neck was broken. Thus 
the sole witness of the invasion was silenced. It 
is worthy of mention, as showing the governor's 
generous disposition, that he made a gift of $500 
to the widow of this man, and he also gave $1,000 
for the relief of the people of Lawrence. 

The entire official career of Governor Carney 
was a stormy one. Occurring, as it did, at a 
time when the nation was rent asunder by inter- 
nal strife, when the state itself was a financial 
and political wreck, the situation called for a man 
of great discretion, foresight, energy and force of 
character. That he met the demands of the sit- 
uation is recognized by all. Through his in- 
strumentality the state was placed upon a firm 
basis financially. He sacrificed himself for the 



interests of the state, and gave generously of 
time, of means and of influence, to promote the 
prosperity of the commonwealth. During the 
first year of his administration, the house ac- 
cepted the grant of congress giving land for the 
agricultural college and located said college at 
Manhattan, Riley County; also provided for the 
establishment of an asylum for insane at Osa- 
watomie, for the building of a penitentiary at 
Leavenworth, the establishment of a state normal 
school at Emporia, and the Kansas State Univer- 
sity at Lawrence (to which he made a personal 
contribution of $5,000). December 10, 1863,3 
brick building on Kansas avenue, Topeka, was 
leased to the state for a temporary capitol. Dur- 
ing 1864 the house appointed commissioners to 
locate a blind asylum in Wyandotte County, and 
a deaf and dumb asylum in Olathe; grand juries 
were abolished and a bureau of immigration es- 
tablished. 

January 9, 1865, Governor Carney retired from 
the chair of chief executive, in which he was suc- 
ceeded by Samuel J. Crawford. June 4, 1866, 
he was elected a director in the Kansas City, 
Lawrence & Fort Gibson Railroad Company, of 
which James H. Lane was first, and William 
Sturges the second president. In 1865 and 1866 
he served as mayor of Leavenworth, during which 
time he was interested in and contributed toward 
the building of the railroads here. He was inter- 
ested in the organization of the First National 
Bank of Leavenworth, of which he ofiiciated as 
a director for several years. With other enter- 
prises, both local and state, he continued to be 
identified, and, while giving much time and 
thought to private business affairs, nevertheless 
found opportunity to identify himself with every 
project for the public welfare and advancement. 
His death, the result of apoplexy, occurred July 
28, 1888, in the town of which he had long been 
an honored citizen and to whose development he 
had contributed perhaps as much as any of its 
prominent pioneers. His name is inseparably as- 
sociated with the history of the state he loved so 
well. Those who watched his official career, 
amid all the perplexities of war times, when great 
responsibilities were thrust upon him, under the 



128 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



most adverse and trying circumstances, agreed 
that he proved himself to be equal to every emer- 
gency, the man for the place; and, whatever may 
have been individual opinions as to his decisions 
and actions, it was the verdict of all that his ad- 
ministration was the means of establishing the 
credit of the state upon a sound financial basis and 
advancing its educational and general interests 
in a manner most gratifying to every loyal cit- 
izen. 

During his residence in Ohio, Governor Carney 
married Miss Rebecca Ann Canaday, who was 
born in Kenton, that state, and died in Leaven- 
worth, September 25, 1895. They were the par- 
ents of five sons, namely : Edwin L. ; William 
W., both of Leavenworth; Harry C, of Butte, 
Mont. ; Charles T. , of Meeker, Colo. ; and Frank, 
who died in infancy. 



SEN. EDWARD RUSSELL. The life his- 
tory of General Russell was clo.sely con- 
nected with the history of Kansas from a 
very early period of its development and progress. 
Of stanch patriotic principles, he was ever loyal 
to the Union, and during the exciting days prior 
to the war he stood firm in his allegiance to the 
government. Every reformatory movement en- 
listed his sympathies and his co-operation; he 
was a stalwart friend of civil service and other re- 
forms, to all of which he gave his firm allegiance. 
Descended from Puritan ancestors (one of who.se 
descendants, ex-Governor Russell of Massa- 
chusetts, was his own cousin), he inherited 
qualities that contributed to his success in life. 
Hislife was brought to a close August 14, 1898, 
with a rounded completeness that comes to few 
lives, and he was followed to his grave by the 
esteem of hosts of friends and personal associates. 
Capt. Daniel Russell, who was of English and 
Scotch descent, served as a captain in the Revo- 
lutionary war and was disabled while at the 
front. Returning to Massachusetts, he settled 
on a farm near Boston and there remained until 
death. His son, David Moore Russell, was born 
in New Hampshire, and there married Mary 
Flint, who was born in the suburbs of Boston. 



Mr. Russell was a son of Moore Russell and 
grandson of Peltier Russell, both of whom served 
in the Revolution, the latter as an officer. While 
David M. Ru.ssell was living at Plymouth, N. H., 
his son, Edward, was born, February 9, 1833. 
Two years later the family settled in Gainesville, 
Sumter County, Ala., prior to the removal of the 
Choctaw Indians to their present reservation in the 
Indian Territory. The father became a large 
land owner in Alabama and Mississippi, and gave 
his attention to the management of his vast es- 
tates. He also owned large interests in copper 
mines in Michigan. The war coming on he lost 
all of his fortune, and the cares and excitement 
occasioned by the distressing condition of affairs 
caused his death in 1864. His wife died in Ala- 
bama in 1875. They had only two children, 
both sons, the younger of whom, David Moore 
Rus.sell, is now a planter in Mississippi. 

When eleven years of age Edward Russell was 
placed ill an academy at Meriden, N. H., and 
there prepared for college. He entered Yale at 
.seventeen years of age and studied there for a 
year, after which he was a student in Williams 
College in Massachusetts for a year. An attack 
of measles so injured his eyesight as to render the 
completion of his education impossible. For a 
time afterward his winters were spent in the 
south, and his summers in the north and west. 
During this time he was a close observer of the 
relative advantages of slave and free labor, and a 
close student of the slavery question. The re- 
sult was that, in 1856, upon coming to Kan.sas, 
he placed himself 011 the side of the Union, as 
against slavery. In the spring of 1857 he set- 
tled at Elwood, Doniphan County, Kans., where 
he afterward had charge of the Advertiser, 
which was published in the interests of the town 
company. September 25, 1S59, he married Miss 
Ionia Blackstone, great-great-great-granddaugh- 
ter of William Blackstone, the famous author of 
Blackstone's commentary on law; also of George 
Fox, the famous leader of the Quakers; and a 
third cou.sin of ex-President Rutherford B. 
Hayes. Her father, Ebenezer Blackstone, was 
born in Smithfield, Ohio, and was a son of Will- 
iam Blackstone, a dry-goods merchant of Phila- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



129 



delphia, and later a resident of Smithfield; he 
married Miss Ann Price, whose mother was a 
daughter of George Fox. William's father, Eb- 
enezer, was born in England, where his father, 
William Blackstone, was a leading attorney and 
writer upon law. The various branches of the 
family were allied with the Society of Friends. 
Ebenezer Blackstone, Jr., engaged in the dry- 
goods business in Middletown, Guernsey County, 
Ohio, where his daughter, Ionia, was born. 
About 1854 he removed to St. Joe, Mo., where 
he built and operated the first steam ferry on the 
then upper Missouri, the charter for which he 
held for thirty years, meantime running the 
ferry between St. Joe and Elwood. During the 
Civil war the government chartered two of his 
boats and converted them into iron-clads, using 
them at St. Louis until the war closed. Of 
one of these boats he was commissioned captain. 
At the close of the war he returned to St. Joe, 
where he engaged in dealing in farm lands and 
city real estate. He adhered to the Republican 
party and in religion upheld the doctrines of the 
Quaker Church. When he died, January 10, 
1888, he was seventy-five years of age. His 
was a bu.sy life. During the Pike's Peak excite- 
ment the tide of emigration westward was so 
great that he ran three ferries and several flat 
boats, and employed one hundred men, besides 
forty men who got out timber in the woods: 

The marriage of Ebenezer Blackstone united 
him with Mary A. Hayes, a native of Middle- 
town, Ohio, and a daughter of Thomas Hayes, 
who removed from Pennsylvania to Ohio in a 
very early day. His father, Thomas, Sr., was a 
soldier of the Revolution, and a pioneer of Ohio, 
where he cleared large tracts of land. Mrs. 
Blackstone died at St. Joe, April 12, 1893, when 
seventy-five years of age. She was a woman of 
deeply religious character and an earnest member 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In her fam- 
ily were five children, viz.: Mrs. Annie E. Ells- 
worth, of Cripple Creek, Colo.; Ionia; Rebecca 
Susan, wife of Benjamin Fleming, of St. Joe, Mo.; 
Frank T., a farmer in Howell County, Mo. ; and 
Ella, wife of B. F. Saunders, of Salt Lake City, 
who is known as the ' ' cattle king ' ' of the west. 



At the time her parents came west, Mrs. Rus- 
sell accompanied them. She was educated in 
the Sacred Heart Convent and the Presbyterian 
Female College in St. Joseph. Educated in the 
Quaker faith, she has always adhered to its doc- 
trines, though not a member of the society. 
During the Civil war she experienced all the 
perils common to the times, and stood guard over 
her own fireside. Having befriended a jaw- 
hawking captain, the latter was the means of 
saving her considerable loss. To her marriage 
four children were born. The eldest, Percy 
Blackstone, was educated in Williams College and 
the University of Kansas, and is now pro- 
prietor of a plantation in Mississippi, his home 
being in Memphis, Tenn. Formerly he had 
charge of the building of the Great Eastern irri- 
gation canal, which his father projected and 
which rendered possible the opening to settle- 
ment of thousands of acres on the Arkansas 
River between Deerfield and Hartland. The 
second son, Edward Flint Russell, is a farmer in 
Jefferson County, Kans. The older daughter, 
Mary R. , was educated inElmira College in New 
York and became the wife of Arthur Peabody, 
late of Lawrence, now deceased. The youngest 
child, Ella, is a student in the high school of 
Lawrence. 

In the contest over the Lecompton constitution, 
pending the vote, August 3, 1858, by order of 
congress, it was then that Mr. Russell made his 
first canvass in the interests of the abolition of 
slavery. At that time his county (Doniphan) was 
almost equally divided between the free state and 
slavery advocates. In the spring of 1859, with 
A. L. Lee and D. Webster Wilder, he began the 
publication of the Elwood Free Press, which he 
assisted in publishing for a year. In the spring 
of 1 86 1 he moved his family on the bluffs of the 
Missouri, one mile west of Wathena, and there 
planted an orchard. In 1862 he served as a 
member of the legislature, and as chairman of 
the committee on ways and means he spent 
much time in endeavoring to place the state upon 
a safe financial basis by means of better laws of 
taxation. He was re-elected to the legislature of 
1863 and again served as chairman of the ways 



I30 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



and means committee. While a member he cast 
the deciding vote in favor of Lawrence as the 
place to establish the State University. In the 
spring of 1863 he was appointed quartermaster- 
general of Kansas, and this position, with 
the rank of colonel, he held until the close of the 
war. He was called upon to provide for the mi- 
litia secured to protect the border counties from 
sudden invasion by Confederates or Indians. As 
acting paymaster, he reluctantly paid off the de- 
tachments at Olathe and Paola, in accordance 
with the instructions of the government. Im- 
mediately afterward, through the neglect of some 
one at General Ewing's headquarters in Kan.sas 
City, Quantrell's raid was rendered possible. He 
paid off the men and the latter dispersed. A few 
days later, in August, 1864, Quantrell secretly 
approached Lawrence and in a short time many 
lives were lost and the city in ruins. General 
Russell was returning to Lawrence when he saw 
some soldiers leaving. He succeeded in escaping 
observation and, by taking another road, entered 
the city unobserved, just after the raid. From 
1863 to 1 864 he was a member of the board of en- 
rollment, and in 1864 was chairman of the state 
Republican central committee. He was a mem- 
ber of the legislature in 1865 and voted against 
the re-election of United States Senator Lane. 

In April, 1865, General Russell removed to 
Leavenworth, where he embarked in the real- 
estate and conveyancing business, and in this he 
continued until 1874. He was one of the pro- 
jectors of the Leavenworth Coal Company, that 
has since become one of the most prosperous con- 
cerns of Kansas. In 1872 he was elected auditor 
of Leavenworth County. The following year 
Gov. Thomas A. Osborn appointed him superin- 
tendent of insurance, and this position he held 
until December, 1874. After ten or more years 
in Leavenworth he moved to Lawrence, and con- 
tinued in the building and real-estate business 
until his death, although during the last nine 
years of his life his health was so poor that he 
was unable to engage actively in business. His 
connection with public affairs extended over 
many years, and brought him into intimacy with 
all the prominent men of Kansas. He served as 



a member of the legislature from Doniphan, 
Douglas and Leavenworth Counties, and in each 
instance his service was most satisfactory. He 
belonged to the first territorial legislature, and 
hence was identified with Kansas history from its 
territorial days. A man of broad knowledge and 
deep insight into national issues, their causes, 
and their results, he was a frequent contributor 
to newspapers and periodicals and kept posted 
concerning every problem brought before the 
people. From boyhood he held membership in 
the Presbyterian Church, of which for many 
years he was a ruling elder. He died August 
14, 1898, and his remains were interred in Mount 
Muncie Cemetery at Leavenworth. 



SEN. JAMES H. LANE. The life of this 
remarkable man was inseparabl}' associated 
with the history of Kansas during the crit- 
ical period when its fate, as a free or slave state, 
hung in the balance. Whatever may be said of 
his faults and mistakes, it cannot be denied that 
he was for years the leading free-state advocate 
in the territory-, and to his influence, more than 
to that of an}- other man, the success of the free- 
state movement was due. He was a man of 
powerful ambitions, and, like Cardinal Woolsey, 
he might have justly attributed much of the dis- 
appointment and sorrow of his last days to that 
attribute of mind which had been his guiding 
star during all the active years of his tempestu- 
ous life. At the same time he was a man of great 
personal courage, undaunted in the face of any 
foe, and one to whom the word "fear" had no 
e.Kistence. He was also a remarkable orator, 
perhaps the most eloquent man in the west dur- 
ing the early days, and his stirring, eloquent 
speeches won, both in the east and west, thou- 
sands of converts to the free-state cause. Many 
men who for j-ears have been among the best 
citizens of Kansas were led to ca.st in their fort- 
unes with the people here, through hearing him 
describe the condition of affairs in the territory. 
The passing of the Union Pacific Railroad 
through the state w-as almost wholly the result 
of his judicious management. At all times loyal 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



131 



to his country, he was especially devoted to the 
state of his adoption, and in seeking its glory his 
own happiness was to be found. 

General Lane was born in Lawrenceburg, Ind., 
June 22, 1814. He was of Scotch-Irish descent 
on his father's side, and through his mother was 
connected with the Foote family of Connecticut. 
At the time of the Mexican war he was engaged 
in the practice of law. He enlisted as a private 
in the Third Indiana Infantry and raised a com- 
pan)^ of which he was made captain. Later he 
was chosen colonel of the regiment, which he 
commanded in the brilliant campaign of General 
Taylor. 

After the close of the war he was chosen lieu- 
tenant-governor of Indiana, and in 1852 was 
elected to congress, also during the same year 
was an elector-at-large on the Democratic ticket. 
He supported the Nebraska bill, the passage of 
which, rendered the re-election of its northern 
Democratic supporters very doubtful. Realizing 
that his political future in Indiana was hazardous, 
he decided to cast his lot with the territory whose 
interests he had warmly espoused. In April, 1855, 
he settled on a claim adjoining Lawrence, which 
continued to be his home until his death. Dur- 
ing that year he was chairman of the executive 
committee of the Topeka convention, which in- 
stituted the first state government in Kansas, and 
subsequently he was president of the Topeka con- 
stitutional convention, also was elected major- 
general of the free-state troops. In 1856 he was 
elected to the United States senate by the legisla- 
ture, which met under the Topeka constitution, 
but the election was not recognized by congress. 
In 1857 he was president of the Leavenworth 
constitutional convention, and was also elected 
major-general of the Kansas troops by the terri- 
torial legislature. The legislature of 1861, which 
convened in pursuance of the constitution under 
which Kansas was admitted to the Union, elected 
him to the United States senate. In June, 1S61, 
he was made brigadier-general of volunteers and 
commanded the Kansas brigade in the field for 
four months. Again, in December, he was nomi- 
nated brigadier-general, with a view to com- 
manding an expedition in the southwest, but the 



plan was abandoned and he resigned. After the 
adjournment of congress, in July, 1862, he was 
commissioned to superintend the enlistment of 
troops in the west. 

Upon first coming to Kansas, General Lane 
hoped to organize a national Democratic party 
within the borders of the territory, and with this 
object in view he and others of similar faith 
met in Lawrence July 27, 1855. He was made 
president of the meeting, which passed resolu- 
tions indorsing the Kansas-Nebraska bill and the 
platform of the national Democratic convention 
held in Baltimore in 1852. This movement, 
from which he had hoped so much, touched no 
responsive chord in the hearts of the people, and 
came to naught. Realizing that he could hope 
for no change in that party, he allied himself 
with the free-state anti-slaverj' Republican forces, 
and from that time forward adhered with the zeal 
of an enthusiast to these principles. When the 
Lecompton constitution was about to be thrust 
upon the people against their will, he called a 
public meeting almost at the very doors of the 
convention and denounced the authors of the 
constitution as tyrants. With all of his energy 
he opposed the admission of the state under slav- 
ery rule, and created such a sentiment that the 
secretary of the territory, in the absence of the 
governor, was forced to accede to his demands. 
He persevered until the legislature was convened 
and the threatened disaster was averted. 

In 1864-65 General Lane was re-elected to the 
United States senate. In that body he sided with 
President Johnson regarding the freedman's bu- 
reau and civil rights bill. This action on his 
part disappointed his constituents and caused 
many of them to oppose him strongly. In June, 
1866, he returned to his home in Lawrence, but 
found that those who had formerly yielded him 
homage no longer looked up to him as the ac- 
knowledged leader in public affairs. Ill and dis- 
heartened, he started to return to Washington, 
but his illness became so serious that at St. Louis 
his physician advised his return home, as he 
was threatened with softening of the brain. June 
29 he reached the farm of his brother-in-law, 
Captain McCall, near Leavenworth. On the ist 



1.^2 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



of July, while riding with his brother-in-law and 
another gentleman, he alighted atone of the farm 
gates and, exclaiming, "Good-bye, gentlemen," 
discharged a revolver in his mouth. The ball 
passed out near the center of the cranium. He 
lingered until the nth, when he passed into the 
great beyond. 

General Lane's wife, who died in Lawrence in 
1883, was a granddaughter of General Arthur 
St. Clair, who was born in Roslyn Castle, a 
grandson of the earl of Roslyn, and studied medi- 
cine in Edinburgh, coming to America before the 
Revolutionary war, in which he took a promi- 
nent part. Of the children of General Lane and 
his wife, a son and daughter died in Lawrence; 
Mrs. Anna Johnson resides iu Kansas City, and 
Thomas is living in St. Paul, Minn. 

HON. JUSTIN D. BOWERSOCK. Not 
alone through his prominence in the politi- 
cal life of Lawrence, but also by reason of his 
identification with its commercial interests, Mr. 
Bowersock is recognized as one of the most influ- 
ential citizens of the city. Many of the most im- 
portant business enterprises of the town owe their 
origin or their subsequent growth to his energy-. 
At this writing he is president of the Lawrence 
National Bank, president of the Bowersock Mil- 
ling Company (which owns one of the largest mills 
in Kansas), president of the Griffin Ice Company 
(which is engaged in the manufacture of artificial 
ice and sells that product as well as natural ice), 
president of the Kansas Water Power Company, 
president of the Lawrence Gas and Electric Light 
Company, and vice-president of the Lawrence 
Consolidated Barb Wire Company. He was in- 
strumental in the organizing of the Commercial 
Club and served as its president for many years. 
Born in Columbiana County, Ohio, September 
19, 1842, the subject of this article is a son of I. 
Bowersock and Adaline (McDonald) Bowersock, 
natives respectively of Pennsylvania and New 
York. The former, who was of Holland- Dutch 
and Scotch descent, accompanied his parents to 
Columbiana County, Ohio, in boyhood and set 
tied upon a farm. About 1850 he removed, over- 
land, to Iowa, settling in Iowa City, where for 



years he engaged in the mercantile business. He 
is now living retired, in Iowa. By his marriage 
to Miss McDonald, who was a member of a New 
York family of Revolutionary stock, he had two 
children, Justin D. and Mrs. F. R. Stewart, of 
Fostoria, Ohio. The family lived for some time 
in Wood County, Ohio, where our subject atten- 
ded school. In 1863 he began in the mercantile 
business in Iowa City, where he continued until 
his removal to Kansas in 1877. During his res- 
idence in Iowa he was engaged in farming and 
was a large shipper of stock and grain to Chicago 
and the east. For several years he was an officer 
in the local and state lodges of the Good Temp- 
lars, and assisted in the organization of many 
lodges of this order. After coming to Lawrence 
he built the Lawrence paper mills, rebuilt the 
water power, built the elevators and organized 
all of the companies that utilize the water power. 
At the same time he became interested in bank- 
ing and organized the Douglas County (now the 
Lawrence National) Bank, of which he has since 
been president. 

•While the extensive business interests of Mr. 
Bowersock have necessarily consumed much of 
his time, he has never neglected his duties as a 
citizen, but has kept in touch with national prog- 
ress and has ever been ready to aid in public af- 
fairs. The people have signified their apprecia- 
tion of his worth by electing him to offices of re- 
sponsibility, in all of which he has endeavored to 
promote the welfare of his constituents. In pol- 
itics he has allied himself with the Republican 
party, the principles of which he upholds. In 
1 88 1 and 1883 he was elected mayor of Lawrence. 
Under his administration the city was released 
from an indebtedness of $100, coo to the state. In 
1887 he became a member of the house of repre- 
sentatives, and during his term was instrumental 
in securing the passage of the Quantrell raid re- 
lief bill. His service in the lower house was em- 
inently satisfactory to his constituents and 
brought him into prominence among the public 
men of the state. In 1S95 he was elected to the 
state senate to succeed Judge Thatcher, deceased. 
Three years later he was elected, by a majority of 
two thousand, to represent the second di.strict of 




HON. JOHN PAI..MKR USHER. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



135 



Kansas in the United States congress. By his 
ability and courtesy in the administration of his 
official duties he has made himself deservedly 
popular with the people, and is regarded by all 
as an able officer, as well as a genial friend and 
honorable gentleman. He finds time, a.side from 
his various interests, to superintend his farming 
property, and to serve as president of the Mer- 
chants' Athletic Club. He is also president of 
the board of trustees of Plymouth Congregational 
Church. 

The marriage of Mr. Bowersock took place in 
Iowa City in September, 1866, and united him 
with Miss Mary C. Gower, whose father, James 
H. Gower, was an early settler of that city, a 
leading banker and merchant there, and one of 
the most active in the establishment of the Uni- 
ver.sity of Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Bowersock are 
parents of four daughters and two sons. The lat- 
ter are graduates of the law department of the 
University of Kansas and one also graduated 
from Harvard College. Both are now engaged 
in active professional practice, one being in Kan- 
sas City, the other in Lawrence. 



HON. JOHN PALMER USHER. In pre- 
senting to the readers "of this volume the 
biography of Judge Usher, we are perpetuat- 
ing the life record of one who was once prominent 
in the public affairs of our country and who 
occupied many positions of honor and trust. 
Throughout his long and eventful career he main- 
tained the integrity of character and firmness of 
convictions that were among his mo.st conspicuous 
traits. At a time when our nation was passing 
through the darkest crisis of its existence, when 
the perpetuity of the Union was threatened and 
gloom shrouded the future like a heavy pall, he 
stood by the side of President Lincoln as a mem- 
ber- of his cabinet and upheld him in every 
decision, supported him in every crisis. To that 
great statesman and leader he remained faithful 
to the last, and when the assassin's bullet termi- 
nated the remarkable career of the martyred 
president, he stood by his side as the tide of life 
ebbed slowly out into eternity. 



Judge Usher was born in New York . the son of 
Nathaniel Usher, M. D., a practicing physician 
in that state. He received an excellent education 
in youth and was admitted to the bar at Albany. 
Desiring to seek a western location, he went to 
Indiana, where he opened an office in Terre 
Haute. There and in Illinois he often met Abra- 
ham Lincoln, of whom he was ever a warm friend 
and admirer. He took a prominent part in politics 
and upon the organization of the Republican 
party became an advocate of its principles. For 
a time he served in the Indiana legislature, later 
was a candidate for congress, and under Gov- 
ernor Morton held office as attorney -general of 
Indiana. When Mr. Lincoln became president 
he chose Judge Usher as first assistant secretary 
of the interior, and when Secretary Smith re- 
signed. Judge Usher was chosen to occupy his 
seat in the cabinet. He continued to serve as 
secretary of the interior until after the death of 
Lincoln, but resigned under President Johnson. 

After leaving Wa,shington, Judge Usher came 
to Kansas and established his home in Lawrence, 
where he erected a beautiful residence on Ten- 
nessee street. From the time of his removal to 
Kansas until his death he held the position of 
general solicitor for the Union Pacific Railroad, 
an office of the greatest responsibility, but one 
which he filled with recognized efficiency. Dur- 
ing the latter part of his life he spent his winters 
in Florida, where he had a winter home on the 
Indian River at Sharp's Landing. He died in a 
hospital at Philadelphia, April 13, 1889, at the 
age of seventy-six years. His death removed 
from earth one who had posse.ssed the confidence of 
the people, and whose integrity of character, both 
during and after our great national conflict, and 
whose fidelity to duty, private and public, was 
never questioned. 

In Rockville, Ind. , Judge Usher married Miss 
Margaret A. Patterson, sister of Judge Chambers 
Patterson, who at the time of his death had for 
eighteen years held the office of judge of courts 
in Indiana. Besides this brother, she had two 
sisters, one of whom died in Terre Haute, Ind., 
the other in New York, so that of the family she 
alone survives. She was a daughter of Gen. 



136 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Arthur and Margaret (Chambers) Patterson, na- 
tives respectively of Ireland and western Virginia. 
Her grandfather, James Patterson, brought the 
family to America and some years afterward 
settled near Washington, Pa., where he became 
an extensive farmer. General Patterson, who 
commanded a body of troops in the American 
army during the war of 18 12, winning distinction 
as a general, settled at old Fort Vincennes, and 
after that post was abandoned he laid out Rock- 
ville, the county seat of Park County, Ind. He 
was a very prominent Democrat. At one time 
he came within one vote of being elected to the 
United States senate, and it is said that the vote 
he lacked had been bought by his opponent. He 
was a warm friend of President Madison and 
other notable men of his day. While visiting in 
Saratoga, N. Y., he died there. His wife was a 
daughter of Col. David Chambers, a colonel in 
the Revolutionary war and afterward the owner 
of a large plantation in Virginia, where he died. 
He had a brother, Maj. Benjamin Chambers, 
who served under General Braddock at the time 
of the French and Indian war, and was killed at 
Braddock' s defeat. 

Mrs. Usher was born in a log house at \'in- 
cennes, Ind., April 15, 18 18. The home of her 
infancy was a primitive structure, built more for 
defen.se than for comfort, and was surrounded by 
a huge stockade intended as a protection against 
the Indians. When quite young .she was taken 
by her parents to Rockville. At twelve years of 
age she entered a school in Louisville, Ky., and 
after two years there became a pupil in a Catholic 
school at Bardstown, Ky. She is a woman of 
charitable disposition, and has always been kind 
to the needy and a friend to the suffering. Since 
the death of her husband she has continued these 
helpful charities. Her heart is especially tender 
toward friendless children, and many a poor waif 
or orphan has been clothed and educated by her, 
and given a start in the world through her timely- 
aid. She attends the Presbyterian Church and 
contributes toward its maintenance. Since her 
husband's demise she has continued to occupy 
their home in Lawrence and has maintained a 
supervision over their property interests. Of her 



four sons, Arthur died in Lawrence; John P. 
lives in Kansas City; Linton is a cattleman in 
New Mexico; and Samuel C, a graduate of the 
Lawrence schools, is with his mother. 



QEV. RICHARD CORDLEY, A. M., D. D. 
Ia To this gentleman, often alluded to as the 
r \ "father" of the Congregational Church in 
Lawrence, belongs the distinction of being the 
oldest minister, in point of years of active service, 
in the entire state of Kansas. To write his 
biography is to write a history of the Plymouth 
Church. This congregation was organized in 
September, 1854, under the supervision of the 
Home Missionary Societj' of New York, who 
.sent Rev. S. Y. Lum as missionary. Services 
for some time were held in private houses or 
stores and in the St. Nicholas Hotel. In the 
spring of 1856 a church building was commenced 
(40 X 65) of limestone, but this was not com- 
pleted until 1862. It was situated on Louisiana 
and Piiickney streets, and cost $8,000. 

Meantime four young gentlemen had been 
studying theology in Andover Seminary in 
Massachusetts, from which they graduated in 
1857 with the degree of B. D. It had been their 
custom to meet regularly in their rooms and plan 
for their future work in the west. They were 
pledged to take up work in a new and difficult 
field, and were known as the Andover-Kansas 
band. They carried out their plans, one going to 
Leavenworth, another to Emporia and the third 
to what is now Kansas City. The fourth young 
man, who forms the subject of this sketch, came 
to Lawrence, arriving here December 2, 1857. 
He found an uncompleted church, with a mem- 
bership of twenty-two. Immediately taking up 
the work here, under his efficient ministrations 
the congregation grew and met with continuous 
prosperity until the time of the Quantrell raid. 
He had been so outspoken in his denunciation of 
slavery that he was a marked man among pro- 
slavery sympathizers. When the mob entered 
the city they first passed along Massachusetts 
street, and as his home was on New York street, 
four blocks away, he was warned in time to 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



137 



escape and fled to the river, thus saving his life. 
The church, however, was not so fortunate; six- 
teen of the members were killed and all suffered 
heavy losses financially. This proved a serious 
blow to the little flock, and when the survivors 
met in the church, the second day after the raid, 
they were a sorrowful band and faced a gloomy 
future. However, the period of depression in 
time gave way to a period of hope and prosperitj-, 
which has continued to the present. In 1868, 
the congregation having grown rapidly, a new 
edifice was begun. The structure that was 
erected was, at the time of building, one of the 
largest and finest of its kind in the state, costing, 
with pipe organ, about $45,000. It occupies a 
splendid location on Vermont street, between 
Warren and Berkeley, and is the home of an 
earnest, busy congregation, numbering more 
than five hundred members. 

The Cordley family is of English origin. The 
doctor's father, James, and grandfather, Richard, 
were natives of Lincolnshire. The former was 
engaged in business in Nottingham, but in 1833 
brought his familj' to America, spending ten 
weeks in the voyage from Hull to Quebec, thence 
going to Whitehall and Utica, and by canal, 
after two weeks, to Buffalo, from there to 
Detroit, and thence by ox-teams and wagons to 
the frontier, settling near Hamburg, Livingston 
County, Mich. Bj' care and constant toil he im- 
proved one of the finest estates in his section, 
the property being made more valuable by the 
Cordley lake. He died in 1868, at the age of 
eighty years, having spent his last days with his 
son in Lawrence. He was a firm believer in 
abolition and became identified with the Repub- 
lican party on its organization. In his native 
land he had been connected with the Church of 
England, but after settling in Michigan he 
became a member of the Congregational Church. 
He built the first schoolhouse in his vicinity and 
was interested in educational work. The farm 
which he owned is now the property of de- 
scendants. 

The wife of James Cordley was Ann Minta, 
who was born in Ropsley, Lincolnshire, where 
her father, Thomas Minta, was proprietor of a 



farm of six hundred acres and was a ver}' pros- 
perous and prominent man. The history of the 
Minta family in England dates back to about 
1700, when an Italian family of that name was 
forced to flee from Italy for political reasons and 
sought a home in England. All who bore the 
name were fespected and honorable. Thomas 
Minta died in 1816. His daughter, Ann, was 
educated in the Grantham boarding school and 
was a woman of fine mind. She died in 1886, 
when nearly ninety years of age. Of her ten 
children six sons attained manhood. Christopher 
M., the eldest, graduated from Andover Theo- 
logical Seminary and entered the Congregational 
ministry in Massachusetts, dying while pastor at 
Lawrence, that state. James, who is a manu- 
facturer of organs, resides in Crawford Countj^ 
Pa. John died in Ann Arbor. William, a 
teacher, died in Michigan, and Charles died at 
the old homestead. 

Dr. Cordley was born in Nottingham, England, 
September 6, 1829. He was a child of four years 
when the family came to America. From boy- 
hood he was ambitious to acquire knowledge, 
and, by his personal efforts, he secured the 
money necessary for his college education. In 
1850 he entered the University of Michigan, from 
which he graduated with the degree of A. B. in 
1854. Three years later he received the degree 
of A. M. Immediately after leaving the univer- 
sit3' he entered Andover, where he took the com- 
plete course, graduating in 1857. From that 
time until 1875 he was in charge of the church in 
Lawrence, Kan. In 1875, being overworked 
here and feeling the need of a change, he 
accepted a call to Flint, Mich., where he 
remained for three years. He then spent six 
years as pastor of the church at Emporia, Kans. , 
and while there superintended the building of 
a handsome stone edifice. From Emporia he 
returned to Lawrence, it being understood that it 
was to be only a vacation, but he has continued 
here to the present. Since his return here the 
parsonage was built, at a cost of almost $5,000. 
In 1873 he received the degree of D. D. from the 
University of Kansas. 

May 19, 1859, in Hamburg, Mich., Dr. Cordley 



138 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



married Mary Minta Cox, who was born in Not- 
tingham, England, a daughter of John and Eliza- 
beth (Minta) Cox. Her father was a business 
man of Nottingham, where he died. He had 
ten children, of whom two daughters alone sur- 
vive. When fourteen years of age Mrs. Cordley 
came to the United States with relatives. She 
was educated in the Ypsilanti Ladies' Seminary, 
where she completed the course. In all the work 
started by her husband she lias been ready to 
assist and her counsel and sympathy have been of 
the greatest encouragement to him. They had 
an adopted daughter, who married \V. E. GrifiSth 
and died at Lawrence when thirty years of age, 
leaving two sons, Richard Cordley and Alfred 
M., who were left by their mother with their 
grandparents. 

For twenty years Dr. Cordley was a member of 
the school board of Lawrence, and from 1885 to 
1891 he served as its president. He was a mem- 
ber of the building committee at the time of the 
erection of the high school and Central school, 
and has always been interested in educational 
work. The University of Kansas, too, received 
the impetus of his support in the early days, when 
its friends were far less numerous than now. Pie 
was one of the founders of Washburn College, 
Topeka, he and the three other young men of the 
Andover- Kansas band having conceived the idea 
of such a school and aiding in starting it in 1858. 
From that time to this he has been a trustee. In 
1 87 1 he was elected president of the college, but 
declined, preferring to remain in the ministry. 
From 1867 to 1872 he was a regent of the State 
Agricultural College at Manhattan. He was also 
president of the board of trustees of Dunlap 
Academy, and a member of theboard of directors 
of Chicago Theological Seminary. During the 
war he was mustered into the Third Kansas 
Militia and served at the time of Price's raid, 
after which he was mu.stered out. He is now a 
member of Washington Post No. 12, G. A. R., 
of which he held the office of chaplain for many 
years. His wife is a charter member of the 
Ladies' Circle, G. A. R. Several times he has 
been moderator of the Congregational Association 
in Kansas, of which he is the oldest member now 



living. During 1891 he was one of six hundred 
delegates to the International Council of the Con- 
gregational Church in London, where he read a 
paper on the liquor traffic. His wife accompanied 
him on this trip and they spent three months 
abroad, visiting Great Britain, France and Bel- 
gium, and returning via Antwerp to New York. 



"3 EN. JOHN N. ROBERTS, a resident of 
— Lawrence for the past thirty j-ears, was born 
^ at Mecca, Trumbull County, Ohio, July 3, 
1838, of parents who in early life moved from 
near Hartford, Conn., to Trumbull County, 
Ohio. He is of Scotch descent, and traces his lin- 
eage to a Scotch Highlander, Major Roberts, an 
officer in the British army, who came to this 
country in the seventeenth century. His grand- 
father served in the Revolutionary war as a mem- 
ber of a body of dragoons known as the Scotch 
Highlanders. Mr. Roberts is skilled in the man- 
ufacture of engines and machinery, having learned 
his trade in his father's factory in Ohio. This 
knowledge of machinery he has turned to good 
account as a manufacturer, to which occupation 
he has given his entire business life, and in which 
he has met with gratifying success. 

In April, 1861, in response to Lincoln's first 
call for troops, he enlisted as a private in the 
Nineteenth Ohio Infantry, and with this regi- 
ment was mustered into the army at Columbus, 
Ohio, for ninety days. This regiment was as- 
signed to the army under command of General 
McClellan, and served in western A'irginia, taking 
part in the battles of Rich Mountain and Beverly 
Ford, where the Confederate General Garnett was 
killed and his army captured. Upon being mus- 
tered out by reason of expiration of term of serv- 
ice he assisted in organizing the Sixth Ohio Cav- 
alry, which in October, 1861, was mustered into 
service for three years. In this regiment he was 
commissioned first lieutenant of Company G. In 
August, 1S63, he was transferred and promoted 
to be captain of Company D, same regiment, and 
in November, 1864, was commissioned major of 
the regiment. 

Upon the organization of the Cavalry Corps, 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



139 



Army of the Potomac, commanded first by Gen- 
eral Stoneman, then by General Pleasanton, and 
during the last eighteen months of the war, by 
the matchless Phil Sheridan, the Sixth Ohio 
Volunteer Cavalry was assigned to that organi- 
zation and served therein until the close of the 
war, taking part in the many battles and raids 
which have made that organization famous and 
the name of Phil Sheridan immortal. June 21, 
1863, Mr. Roberts was very severely wounded 
while taking part in a cavalrj^ charge at Upper- 
ville, Va. , but remained in the army until the 
winter of 1864-65, when, by reason of the expira- 
tion of his term of service, and on account of the 
trouble he was having with his wound, he retired 
from the arm3^ 

About two years after leaving the army he was 
married at Warren, Ohio, to Miss Emily S. Sut- 
liff, the daughter of an attorney. Mr. and Mrs. 
Roberts have one child, a daughter, Belle Bran- 
don, now the wife of H. 1,. Armstrong, who re- 
sides at Topeka, Kans. 

Mr. Roberts was elected as the candidate of the 
Republican party to the legislature and served 
during the regular session of 1885 and the special 
session of 1886. In 1889 he was appointed adju- 
tant-general of Kansas and held that oflSce for four 
years. He is a member of the Masonic order, a 
charter member and first commander of Washing- 
ton Post No. 12, G. A. R., Department of Kan- 
sas, and a companion of the first class of the mil- 
itary order of the Eoyal Legion of the United 
States. 



HON. DUDLEY C. HASKELL, deceased, 
was long one of the most conspicuous figures 
in the public life of Kansas. Thoroughly 
conversant with political economy and the social 
problems of his age, his recognition as a political 
leader was a tribute to his intelligence and ability. 
In 1872, 1875 and 1876 he was elected to the 
Kansas house of representatives, and during the 
last session served as speaker, for which difficult 
position he was peculiarly adapted. While always 
adhering with steadfastness to the fundamental 
principles of the Republican party, he never dis- 
played narrow partisanship, but was broad and 



liberal in his views, and impartial in his rulings. 
In the fall of 1876 he was elected to congress 
from the second congressional district, receiving 
a majority of forty-six hundred and eighty. In 
1878 he was re-elected by a larger majority than 
before. Again in 1880 and 1882 he was returned 
to his seat in congress, in which body he was 
serving at the time of his death, December 16, 
1883. Though participating in general legisla- 
tion, his most lasting service as congressman was 
in connection with his work as a member of the 
committee on Indian affairs. It was due to his 
efforts that an Indian school was established in 
Lawrence. This school, known as Haskell In- 
stitute, bears his name and is a permanent monu- 
ment to the forethought of its projector. 

Born in Springfield, Vt., March 23, 1842, Dud- 
ley C. Haskell was a sou of Franklin Haskell 
and a brother of John G. Haskell, of Lawrence. 
At the age o£ thirteen he came to Kansas with 
his mother. He was of heroic mould, showing 
from earliest boyhood a fearless spirit and a love 
for his country, and hence he was fitted for life 
on the frontier, during the period days of border 
warfare. In Lawrence he could have few advan- 
tages, for the town was new and its schools poor, 
being provided with none of the facilities of the 
present day. He first studied in a building where 
Miller's hall now stands and afterward attended 
the first public school in Lawrence, held in the 
basement of the Unitarian Church. His father 
died in January, 1857, and in the fall of that year 
he entered school in Springfield, Vt., but re- 
turned in 1858 and began in business. In the 
spring of 1859 he went to Colorado, where he 
prospected and rained, meeting with many rough 
experiences, and finding but little gold. At the 
opening of the Civil war he returned to Kansas 
and enlisted in the service, being for a year 
master of transportation in the quartermaster's 
department and spending most of the time in 
southwestern Missouri, western Arkansas, south- 
eastern Kansas and the Indian Territory. Owing 
to the presence of bushwhackers, for whom the 
timbered regions afforded excellent protection, 
the most constant vigilance was required, and as 
master of transportation his position was a most 



140 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



responsible one. He was also chief of forage 
parties whose duty it was to scour the countrj^ 
for supplies, a very hazardous service. He was 
present in the battles of Newtonia, Mo., Cane 
Hill and Prairie Grove, Ark. In positions of 
danger he was as calm and collected as when at 
home. 

Upon the completion of a long campaign, in 
January, 1863, Mr. Haskell left the service and 
entered Williston Seminary, at East Hampton, 
Mass., where he completed his education. Later 
he entered Yale College, where he completed the 
scientific cour.se in November, 1865. On his re- 
turn to Lawrence he engaged in the mercantile 
business, continuing until the fall of 1876, when 
he began his life as a public official in the lower 
house of congress. He was a man possessing 
many attractive traits of character. His sym- 
pathies were always on the side of the people, 
hence he was popular with them. ' Nor did he 
ever betray a confidence reposed in him or prove 
himself unworthy of his high office. When the 
occasion demanded public speech it proved him 
the possessor of eloquence, that "gift of the gods" 
so desirable to one in public life. As a speaker, 
he was strong, forcible and convincing, and the 
effect of his logical arguments was heightened bj' 
his commanding presence and fine physique. 

At Stockbridge, Mass., in December, 1865, 
Mr. Haskell married Miss Hattie M. Kelsey, 
who, with their two daughters, survives him. 



P^ELSON O. STE\'ENS. Among those who 
yj have acted in the capacity of traveling audi- 
I Isi tor of the southern Kansas division of the 
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad system, 
few have filled the position so efficiently and none 
has held it so long as did Mr. Stevens. It was 
in 1884 that he became connected with the com- 
pany in this office, which he held for eight years 
and four months, a much longer period than it 
has ever been held by any other man. The posi- 
tion was one of great responsibility, and taxed 
both the mental and physical powers of a man. 
The division included, at the time he resigned, 
eleven hundred miles, and during the entire time 



of his service there were three days and three 
nights of every week that he never took his 
clothes off, but had to snatch a little rest and sleep 
now and then as he had a moment's leisure. 
Four times he presented his resignation to the 
company, feeling that the work was a heavier 
burden than he could bear, but each time they 
refused to part with him, believing him to be too 
valuable an officer to lose. Finally, however, 
his fifth resignation was accepted, January i ,1893, 
since which time there have been four traveling 
auditors in his former division. 

A son of Capt. James T. Stevens, late of Law- 
rence, the subject of this .sketch was born in 
Princeton, 111., May 11, 1854. He was thirteen 
years of age at the time the family left Illinois for 
Kansas, settling in the city of Lawrence. He 
graduated from the high school in 1873 and later 
from McCauley's Commercial College. After- 
ward he became local editor and business man- 
ager of the Spirit of Kansas, which position he 
held until he was elected county clerk in 1879. 
He filled this office with such efficiency that, in 
1881, he was re-elected by double the majorit}^ • 
he had ever received, and continued in office until 
January, 1884. Just prior to his election as 
county clerk, in September, 1879, ^^ ^^'^s elected 
secretarj' of the Kansas Valley Fair, and filled the 
position until after the fair held that fall, when he 
resigned. Shortly after he retired from the 
county clerk's office he became traveling auditor 
of the Santa Fe road. Since his retirement from 
the latter position he has given his attention to the 
supervision of his various propertj- and moneyed 
interests, and has recently been devoting consid- 
erable attention to the oversight of the building 
of his elegant residence, a fine structure with 
modern appointments, on the corner of Louisiana 
and Pinckne}' streets. At this writing he is treas- 
urer of the Lawrence Commercial Club, and sec- 
retary and treasurer of the Lawrence Vitrified 
Brick and Tile Companj'. 

In politics Mr. Stevens has alwaj's been a mem- 
ber of the Republican party, and believing in its 
principles, he has always zealously advocated 
them. He is identified with the Plj-mouth Con- 
gregational Church and a member of its choir. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



141 



His marriage, in Lawrence, March 22, 1882, 
united him with Miss Lucetta Duncan, who was 
born in this city, daughter of Wesley H. Duncan, 
a poineer of 1855 in Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Stev- 
ens have two children, Lois E. and Myra. 



HON. G. R. GOULD, mayor of Lawrence, 
was born in Kenosha, near Racine, Wis., 
September 10, 1843, and was the only son 
among three children, whose father died when 
the son was three years of age. Left an orphan 
at a very early age he was obliged to become 
self-supporting at a time when most boys are at- 
tending school. He was reared on a farm near 
Brighton, Rock County, and began to work as 
soon as he was large enough to push a plow. 
During two winters he attended school, but with 
that exception he had no educational advantages 
whatever, and the broad knowledge he has ac- 
quired is the result of self-culture. 

In 1861, at Janesville, he enlisted as a private 
in Company A, Thirteenth Wisconsin Infantry, 
and was at once ordered west, going to Fort 
Leavenworth, Fort Scott, Lawrence and Fort 
Riley. In 1862 he joined the army of the Cum- 
berland, and served successivel}- under Sherman, 
Logan, McPherson and Thomas. He took part 
in the battle of Lookout Mountain and the sec- 
ond engagement at Fort Donelson, and, being 
sent to head off Hood, fought in the three daj's' 
battle at Decatur, Ala. , where the regiment saw 
some hard service. Later he took part in various 
campaigns. Finally he was sent to Indianola, 
Tex., and remained there until 1865. He was 
mustered out in January, 1866, after a service of 
four and one-half years. 

Returning to Lawrence in the spring of 1866, 
Mr. Gould became identified with this growing 
town. At first he was a member of the firm of 
Wilson & Gould, which set out a nurser>' west 
of town. After two years he was employed as 
manager of Fish Brothers' wagons, and in time 
became a partner of A. C. Fish in the wholesale 
and retail wagon business, which he conducted 
prosperously for six years. He then embarked 
in the agricultural implement business, at the 



same time handling wagons and carriages, and 
representing the Mitchell & Lewis Wagon Com- 
pany, the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Com- 
pany, and also carrying Moline plows and Janes- 
ville machines. At Nos. 924-926 Massachusetts 
street he erected a two-story building, 50x117, 
which he now occupies. In point of years of 
business experience he is the oldest implement 
and wagon dealer in the city. 

In Rock County, Wis., in November, 1866, Mr. 
Gould married Miss Mary A. Macomber, who 
was born in Pennsylvania, but was reared in 
Wisconsin. They have three children, G. R., 
Jr. , who is engaged in the agricultural implement 
business at Baxter Springs, Kans. ; Ada S., wife 
of E. S. Meade, of Lawrence; and Grace, who is 
with her parents. 

Politically Mr. Gould has always been a Re- 
publican. For four terms he represented the 
third ward in the common council, for four years 
served as a member of the school board, and for 
a similar period was city treasurer. In 1897 he 
was elected mayor by seven hundred majority, 
taking the oath of office in May, 1897, for two 
years. He was re-elected in April, 1899. Dur- 
ing his administrations many improvements, es- 
pecialh' in curbing, have been made. In the fall 
of 1S66 he became a member of Lodge No. 4, 
I. O. O. F., with which he is still connected, and 
he is also a past officer in the encampment. He 
is a member of Washington Post No. 1 2, G. A. R. 
His wife is identified with the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, and he is a Sunday-school teacher 
in the Lutheran Church, toward which denom- 
ination he inclines. 



HENRY JANSEN, a resident of Leavenworth 
since 1866, is in charge of an insurance and 
steamship agency at No. 210 South Fourth 
street, and represents the North American, Com- 
mercial Union, New Hampshire and Manchester 
insurance companies. He was born November 
29, 1839, under the Danish flag, in Schleswig- 
Holstein, now a part of the German empire. He 
was the younger of two children born to the 
union of Hans J. and Tepke (Pahl) Jansen, the 



142 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



former a native of Schleswig-Holstein and a 
farmer and gardener there, where he died at sev- 
enty-two years of age. In religion he was of the 
Lutheran faith. His older son, Prof. Christian 
H. Jansen, was a school teacher in the old coun- 
try and died there. 

At si.Kteen years of age Henry Jansen began to 
teach school and continued teaching until 1862, 
when he enlisted in the Second Company, Fif- 
teenth Danish Infantry, and continued to serve 
in it for two years, when he was honorably dis- 
charged. In the fall of 1865 he came to America 
and settled in Scott County, Iowa, where he re- 
mained until the following year. The year 1866 
found him in Leavenworth, his present home. 
He became manager of the Turner Hall, which 
position he held for five years, and then turned 
his attention to the insurance business, in which 
he has since engaged. In national politics he is 
a Democrat. From 1889 to 1893 ^^ served as 
city treasurer, and in 1S94 he was president of 
the board of police commissioners of Leaven- 
worth. Since 1866 he has been identified with 
the Turn Verein, and for a time was its secretary. 
Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of 
Pythias. 

In Leavenworth Mr. Jansen married Mi.ss 
Emily Kumm, who was born in Germany and 
died in this city in 1888. Afterward he was mar- 
ried in Fort Worth, Tex., to Mrs. Mary F. Joyce, 
of Toledo. By his first marriage he has two 
daughters and a son, viz.: Mrs. Augusta Feller, 
of Leavenworth; Mrs. Mamie Cerletti, also of 
this city; and Harry, who in 1898 enlisted in 
Company C, Twentieth Kansas Infantry, and has 
since served as corporal, being now stationed at 
Manila, in the Philippine Islands. 



EOL. THOMAS MOONLIGHT. During 
the Civil war, when Kansas, by virtue of its 
position and previous history, became the 
centre of an exciting train of incidents, simultane- 
ous, yet not directly connected, with the con- 
flicts in the east, one of the principal figures in 
military circles was Colonel Moonlight, who, 
through his valor and mastery of the art of war. 



rose to the rank of colonel and was made a brevet 
brigadier-general. His name is inseparably as- 
sociated with the war hi.story of Kansas, and he 
did much to secure for the Union a success in 
arms that contributed toward the fall of the con- 
federac}'. 

A Scotchman b)- birth (born in Forfarshire, 
near Arbroath), the subject of this sketch was 
early thrown upon his own resources, and, being 
obliged to earn his own livelihood, he developed 
qualities of self-reliance and determination that 
were noticeable in his subsequent militarj" career. 
At the age of fourteen he came to America, where 
he worked for his board while he attended school. 
In 1854 he enlisted in the Fourth Artillery and 
served as an orderly sergeant in the Florida war. 
He fought Indians in Florida, Texas and Kansas, 
and was mustered out at Fort Leavenworth in 
1858. Afterward he engaged in farming in 
Kickapoo Township. When the Civil war began 
he raised a battery and was assigned to Lane's 
brigade. In time he was commissioned colonel. 

The name of Colonel Moonlight is written on 
nearly every page of the histor}- of the war in 
Kansas, Missouri and the trans-Mississippi coun- 
try. One incident, which shows his bravery in 
battle, is as follows: When Price, with about 
fifteen thousand men, made his last raid in south- 
western Missouri in 1864, Colonel Moonlight, 
with one regiment, marched to Mound City, Lynn 
County, just within the Kansas border. Early 
one morning he hastened out of Mound City and 
found Price and his army stretched out in line. 
Forming his regiment on a mound, disobej'ing 
orders, he launched it at the enemy, himself at 
the head of his men. It was apparently a reck- 
less thing to do, yet it accomplished its object and 
proved his wisdom and foresight. Price's army 
was cut in two and was so demoralized that it 
lost heart and soon became disintegrated. 

After the war was over Colonel Moonlight be- 
came prominent in the politics of Kansas. In 
1868 he was elected secretary of state. He had 
hitherto been a Republican, but, dissatisfied with 
the action of the Republican part}' in the impeach- 
ment of Andrew Johnson, he transferred his al- 
legiance to the Democracy. However, the Demo- 





iZ. 



'C?^777777^^ 




PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



145 



crats were in the minority in Kansas, and he was 
therefore defeated in his candidacy for offices on 
that ticket, with the exception of an occasional 
election to the legislature. He was the Demo- 
cratic candidate for governor and was defeated 
when John A. Martin ran for a second term. He 
was also defeated for congress in the first district 
by Case Broderick. He was offered the candida- 
cy for governor in 1882 but refused, and George 
Glick was nominated. At the election Glick was 
successful, being the first Democrat who was ever 
elected governor of Kansas. Colonel Moonlight 
was appointed adjutant-general under that ad- 
ministration. When Cleveland became president 
in 1884 he was appointed governor of Wyoming, 
and under the second administration of Cleveland 
he was chosen minister to Bolivia. On his return 
from South America, in March, 1898, he settled 
upon a ranch near Leavenworth. He passed away 
February 7, 1899, at Leavenworth. His wife 
died March 7, 1894. They left three daughters 
and a son. The oldest daughter is the wife of 
Bennett Brown, of Huntington, Ark., superin- 
tendent of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Coal 
Company there. Another daughter is the wife 
of E. E. Murphy, of Leavenworth; and the third 
is the wife of J. C. Haussermann, first lieutenant 
in the Twentieth Kansas Volunteers, now at 
Manila. The son, Walter Moonlight, is also a 
member of the Twentieth Kansas Volunteers, in 
service in Manila, during the Spanish- American 
war. 



ipOL. D. R. ANTHONY. From the time of 
I C his settlement in Leavenworth, in June, 
\J 1857, to the present day. Colonel Anthony 
has been inseparably connected with the history 
of the city. In fact, it would be impossible to 
give an accurate account of the one without fre- 
quent allusion to the other. As mayor during 
the exciting days of the war, he was placed in a 
peculiarly trying position, and one which called 
for courage, determination, thorough familiarity 
with state and city laws, and a wise judgment. 
These qualities he has possessed in an unusual 
degree. Of later years (since May, 1871,) he 



has been best known as the owner and editor of 
the Leavenworth Times, which is one of the most 
influential dailies in the state. 

Daniel Read Anthony was born in Adams, 
Mass., August 22, 1824, a sou of Daniel and 
Lucy (Read) Anthony, and a brother of Susan 
B. Anthony, widely known through her connec- 
tion with the cause of woman's suffrage. His 
paternal grandfather, Humphrey Anthony, was 
a Quaker, and a descendant of John Anthony, 
who came from Wales to Massachusetts in 1646. 
The maternal grandfather, Daniel Read, was a 
soldier in the Revolutionary war, serving in the 
division that, under Arnold, marched in midwin- 
ter from New England to Quebec, suffering 
untold hardships. He also fought under Stark 
at Bennington, Vt.,where Burg oyne was defeated. 

At thirteen years of age the subject of this 
sketch attended an academy at Union village in 
New York. Afterward he worked in his father's 
cotton mill and store at Battenville, and later in 
his flour mill. When twenty-three years of age 
he removed with the family to Rochester, N. Y., 
where he taught for two winters and then en- 
gaged in the insurance business. In July, 1854, 
he visited Kansas with the first colony sent out 
by the New England Emigrant Society, under 
the leadership of Eli Thayer. During that visit 
he assisted in founding the city of Lawrence, 
which at that time contained only one house. 
Returning to Rochester in the fall of 1854, he 
remained there until his removal to and settle- 
ment in the new and growing town of Leaven- 
worth. 

When the Civil war began he was commissioned 
lieutenant-colonel of the First Kansas Cavalry, 
and commanded his troops at the battle of the 
Little Blue, in November, 1S61, in which he won 
a victory over a force of guerillas of four times 
his number. During the following year he was 
principally on duty in Tennessee, Kentucky, 
Mississippi and Alabama. On resigning his com- 
mission he resumed the duties of his office as 
postmaster at Leavenworth, to which he had 
been appointed by President Lincoln in April, 
1 86 1, and which he filled for five years. In 1863 
he was elected mayor by a large majority. His 



146 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



rule was characterized by a vigorous policy that 
brought him both friends and enemies. Many 
of the most permanent improvements in the city 
were made during his term, and the growth in 
population was never so marked as then. 

At Edgartown, Mass., January 21, 1864, oc- 
curred the marriage of Colonel Anthony to Miss 
Annie E. Osborn, daughter of one of the leading 
whaling merchants of Massachusetts. They 
have two children living: Maude, wife of Capt. 
L. M. Koehler, U. S. A., now stationed at Fort 
Grant, Ariz.; and Daniel R., Jr., postmaster at 
Leavenworth, having been appointed to the office 
by President McKinlej'. 

In 1868 Colonel Anthonj' was president of the 
Republican state convention and served as presi- 
dential elector, casting one of the three votes of 
Kansas for General Grant. In 1870 he was 
elected to the city council by a large majoritj-, 
and during 1870 and 1871 was chairman of the 
Republican state central committee. In 1871 he 
was re-elected to the council and took a very 
prominent part in the "railroad war," which 
finally was compromised by the agreement of the 
railroad to build a union depot in Leavenworth 
and make certain improvements on the levee. 
From 1872 to 1874 he served as mayor of Leaven- 
worth, and in the fall of 1873 was elected to the 
legislature. April 3, 1874, President Grant 
appointed him postmaster at Leavenworth, which 
office he held under that administration, and also 
under President Hayes, having been again ap- 
pointed March 22, 1878. 

Perhaps it is as a journalist that Colonel An- 
thony is best known to the people of Kansas. In 
January, 1861, he established the Leavenworth 
Coiisen'aliic, the first issue of which contained 
the news of the admission of Kansas into the 
Union, and with these papers he rode on horse- 
back to Lawrence, where (that citj' having uo 
telegraph lines then) he was the first to bring the 
great news to the members of the legislature in 
session. He sold the paper in Jul}-, 1862, and in 
March, 1864, purchased the Bullelhi, which he 
sold in 1868. In May, 1S71, he bought the 
Times, with which the Coiisc>i.'ativf had previously 
been united, and in November of that year he 



again purchased the Bulletin, which he merged 
into the Times. In Januar}', 1876, he purchased 
the Commercial, which he united with the Times, 
thus acquiring complete control of all the morn- 
ing papers of Leavenworth. He has since given 
his attention principallj- to journalistic work, a 
field in which his vigorous mind finds abundant 
scope for activity. 

For the last thirty years Colonel Anthony has 
been one of the leaders of the Republican partj- 
of Kansas, and it is said of him that he has exer- 
cised a more potential influence in the ranks of 
his party than any other man in the state. Prob- 
ably the strongest point in his character is his 
intrepid courage, in both public and private 
integrity. He has never truckled to anything he 
believed to be wrong, and therefore stands to-day 
in a unique position among the great men of 
Kansas. In the various political whirlwinds that 
swept over the state he was among the very few 
men who .stood firm and steadfast for the princi- 
ples of the Republican partj- and sound money. 



NGN. THOMAS J. STERNBERGH. The 
life history of this citizen of Lawrence is 
one of interest. Full of incidents, it pos- 
sesses the fascination which attaches to all lives 
that present the spectacle of small beginnings 
and large achievements, of success wrested from 
adverse circumstances, and of a high and noble 
character maintained both in peace and in war. 
He has always been strong jn his attachment to 
the Republican party, yet he has never shown 
any partisan narrowness, and has endeavored in 
every official position to exemplify the maxim, 
' ' He serves his party best who serves his coun- 
try best." 

Born near Rochester, Monroe County, N. Y., 
October 25, 1836, the subject of this review is a 
son of William and Margaret (Schuyler) Stern- 
bergh, both natives of New York state. His 
mother was a granddaughter of Gen. Philip 
Schuyler, who served as one of the colonial gov- 
ernors of New York, and also gained fame in the 
Revolutionary war. William Sternbergh was a 
farmer and also a large contractor on the Erie 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



H7 



canal, and died in 1863. Twice married, by his 
first wife he had five children, all deceased, while 
by his second marriage he had twelve children, 
four of whom are living, viz. : Anna S. , who is 
eighty-nine j^ears of age, and resides near Roch- 
ester; Mrs. Maria Quinby, of Rochester; James 
H., a wealthy manufacturer of Reading, Pa.; 
and Thomas J., the youngest of the entire fam- 
ily. The last-named was reared in Saratoga 
Springs from the age of nine years, and attended 
the common schools and academy there. His 
studies were directed toward civil engineering, 
and he was fortunate in having excellent pre- 
ceptors in this occupation. When he was nine- 
teen years of age he had charge of the laying of 
the plans for the Hoosac tunnel, which he built 
at North Adams, Mass. About the same time 
he did the engineering for the Troy & Boston 
road, and ran the Saratoga & Sacket's Harbor 
Railroad. 

During the year 1857 Mr. Sternbergh arrived 
in Lawrence, Kans. , and here he engaged in the 
surveying of the town site, after which he became 
cashier of Ed Thompson's bank. At the opening 
of the Civil war he balanced up all the accounts in 
the bank and closed the books. Then, having 
adjusted his business affairs, he prepared for 
service in the army of the Union. He assisted in 
raising Company D, Second Kansas Infantry, 
and was offered the captaincy, but refused it, ac- 
cepting, however, a commission as first lieutenant. 
At the expiration of four and a-half months the 
regiment was honorably discharged, and he then 
became an aide on General Mitchell's staff, with 
the rank of captain of engineers. He was pres- 
ent at the battle of Springfield, Mo., as a member 
of the Second Kansas Regiment. In June, 1863, 
he resigned and returned home, where he bought 
a one-half interest in the hardware store of A. 
Storm & Co. Shortly after his return occurred 
the memorable massacre by QuantreU's men. 
His store was burned and he suffered heavy 
losses. He had rooms at the Eldredge house 
and surrendered to Quantrell, whom he knew 
personally. With Mr. Sternbergh were former 
acting governor Hugh Walsh, Messrs. Spicer, 
Babcock, Horton and R. S. Stevens, the latter 



afterward a member of congre.ss from New York. 
Ouantrell told them to keep together and he 
would put a guard around them. This he did, 
marching them to the City hotel. While on 
the way Bill Anderson rode up and shot twice at 
Mr. Sternbergh, but missed him both times. On 
reaching the City hotel the party were in safety, 
as that hotel was not burned. 

After the raid Mr. Sternbergh rebuilt the store 
and resumed business. At the time of the Price 
raid he was captain of the rifle company that 
aided in protecting Lawrence. In 1863 he was 
elected to the state legislature, and during 1864 
received an appointment as United States assessor 
of internal revenue for the entire state of Kansas, 
which position he held until 1869. In 1868 he 
was elected mayor of Lawrence, and during his 
term instituted a number of important improve- 
ments. He also served for one term as council- 
man from the third ward. On selling out his 
business in Lawrence he opened in northern 
Franklin County some of the first coal mines in 
the state, and also opened mines in the Indian 
Territory. In 1872 he was on the plains engaged 
in government surveying. In 1873 he went to 
Texas, where he helped to build fifty miles of the 
Sunset route. Later he was a contractor for 
public works in Galveston, where he remained 
until 1876, and then returned to Lawrence. 
From 1878 to 1880 he served as county surveyor, 
and from 1880 to 1882 was deputy county clerk. 
In 1880 he had charge of the engineering work 
on the Central Kansas Railroad from Leaven- 
worth to the Jefferson County line. From 1882 
to 1886 he acted as general manager of the plant 
in Reading, Pa., owned by his brother. On his 
return to Lawrence he resumed contract survey- 
ing and engineering, and at the same time held 
the ofiSce of city engineer. The latter position 
he still holds, having filled it for some years with 
efficiency, and he also served as street commis- 
sioner for two years. He is the owner of consid- 
erable property in Lawrence, including the resi- 
dence which he built in 1866 and has since 
occupied. At one time he owned Oak Hill, but 
disposed of it to the city for a cemetery. In ad- 
dition to his other positions, he served as justice 



148 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



of the peace for two terms. Fraternally he is 
identified with the blue lodge, chapter, command- 
ery and Scottish Rite degrees of Masonry. He 
is a charter member of Washington Post No. 12, 
G. A. R., and his wife is connected with the 
Ladies of the G. A. R. 

November 16, 1864, in Lawrence, occurred the 
marriage of Mr. Sternberg]! to Miss Emma R. 
Enos, who was born in Middlebury, Vt., a 
daughter of Horace and Mary (Conant) Enos, 
natives respectively of Leicester and Brandon, 
Vt. Her father, who was a son of Perley Enos, 
a tanner in Addi.son County, himself engaged in 
tanning for some years. In March, 1855, he be- 
came one of the fir.st settlers in Lawrence and en- 
gaged in farming, also in dealing in furs, etc. 
He died in 1870. His wife, who was a daughter 
of Luther Conant, a farmer of Brandon, died in 
1879, at the age of sixty-three. They had two 
children, Mrs. Emma R. Sternbergh and Mrs. 
Helen Marsh, of Omaha. Mrs. Sternbergh was 
reared in Lawrence and is identified with the 
Episcopal Church of this city. By her marriage 
to our subject one son was born, Horace Enos 
Sternbergh, a student in Lafayette College at 
Easton, Pa., class of 1901. 



HON. HENRY M. GREENE. The record 
of this family in America is a most honora- 
ble one, and the present representatives have 
done much to add to the prestige of the name. 
The subject of this sketch is a direct descendant 
of Gen. Nathaniel Greene, of Revolutionary re- 
nown, and Roger Williams, the founder of Prov- 
idence, R. I., and is in the seventh generation in 
collateral descent from Nathaniel Greene, one of 
the most distinguished representatives of the fam- 
ily in America. His grandfather, Rowland 
Greene, who was a Quaker preacher, about 1806 
began making itinerant journeys to the wilder- 
ness of Ohio, and afterward aided in establishing 
Quaker churches and missions on the frontier. 
His ministerial and missionary work was done 
without thought of recompense or remuneration; 
he supported himself by the practice of medicine, 
in which he was more than ordinarily successful. 



Elisha Harris Greene, our subject's father, 
was born in Scituate, R. I., in 1800, and devoted 
a large part of his life to the cause of religion, 
working particularly as a colporteur and lecturer, 
meantime supporting himself and family by the 
cultivation of his farm. In 1837 he became a 
pioneer of Illinois. Twenty years later he came 
to Kansas, having been led by his devotion to 
the anti-slavery cause to ally himself with the 
free-state movement in Kansas. He settled near 
Twin Mounds, Douglas County, and took an 
active part in the exciting events connected with 
border warfare days. While in Illinois he was asso- 
ciated with such men as Owen Lovejoj- and Levi 
Spencer, and after settling in the west he became 
identified with other leading Abolition workers. 
His enthusiasm in the cause brought upon him 
hardships and persecution, but his ardor never 
diminished. Even in peril of his life he main- 
tained his firmness of principles. He took stock 
in the underground railroad, and in other ways 
endeavored to aid the cause of liberty. His life 
was spared to witness the triumph of the princi- 
ples he had espoused with such earnestness. He 
died at Lecompton in 1884. 

The ladj' who became the wife of Elisha Harris 
Greene was Lucy, daughter of John Stacey, who 
was a builder of ships engaged in the West Indies 
trade. She was born in Saco, York County, Me., 
and was given a good education, afterward teach- 
ing for several years in the schools of Providence, 
R. I. She possessed not only an amiable dispo- 
sition, but also great force of character and Chris- 
tian earnestness, and was a cultured vocalist, 
having studied under that eminent composer, 
Lowell Mason. The impress of her teachings 
has been felt in the lives of her children. She 
died in May, 1877. Of her sous, Henry M. was 
the oldest. The second, William W., a young 
man of great promise, died while serving as 
county clerk of Livingston County, 111. Thomas 
W., who graduated with honors from Shurtleff 
College, Upper Alton, 111., in 1857, and from 
Rochester Theological Seminary, held pastorates 
in Baptist churches at Litchfield and Bunker 
Hill, 111.; Fort Scott and Junction City, Kans.; 
and Denver, Colo. In 1876 he removed to Cali- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



149 



fornia and soon afterward was elected president 
of California College, but was obliged to resign 
the position on account of ill health, and died 
suddenly at a mountain resort in that state. 
Throughout the west he was known as an elo- 
quent speaker, able man and devoted minister. 
Albert R., who possesses ability as a writer, has 
written much for the press, and his articles have 
a general interest. Under President Harrison he 
was appointed United States in.spector of land 
offices, and when Cleveland was elected he was 
urged to remain, but resigned. On the inaugura- 
tion of President McKinley he was immediatelj^ 
re-appointed to the position, in which he is serv- 
ing with great credit, making his home at Le- 
compton. During the Rebellion he was a soldier 
in the Ninth Kansas Infantry. Three daughters 
and one son died in childhood and another daugh- 
ter, Anna, died in Lecorapton when a young lady. 
Born in Norwich, Conn., October 14, 1833, the 
subject of this sketch was only four years of age 
when the family removed to Illinois. In 1850 
thej' settled near Metamora, Woodford Count}^ 
that state, where he attended a few terms of com- 
mon school. His education, however, was mainly 
self- acquired. He was a diligent, ambitious and 
clever student. When eight years of age he was 
reading RoUin's history. In 1854 he went to 
Wisconsin and entered land on the site now occu- 
pied bj- West Eau Claire, surveying pine woods 
on the Eau Claire and Black Rivers, but return- 
ing to Illinois in 1856. During that year he 
canvassed his county for Fremont. He was .sec- 
retary of the first Republican organization in 
Woodford County and was active in local affairs. 
From the time of his immigration to Kansas, in 
1857, he has been prominent and interested in 
politics. During the Civil war he was lieutenant- 
colonel of the ill-fated Second Kansas Militia, 
which was overpowered by Shelby's advance near 
Westport, Mo., at the battle of the Big Blue. 
During the retreat of the command, while at- 
tempting to form a line to check the pursuers, 
he was severely wounded in the head and right 
hip, from the effects of which he never recovered. 
For seventy-two hours he lay on the field. Mean- 
time it was reported that he was dead and funeral 



services were held for him in Wyandotte. He 
finally, bj^ crawling slowly, managed to reach a 
farmhouse a mile distant, and there he asked for 
something to eat. He presented a melancholy 
sight, with face covered with blood and dust and 
hair matted with blood from the wound in his 
head. It happened that the farmer was a Union 
man, and he gave him the kindest treatment, 
conveying him to Westport, where he was taken 
to a .surgeon. On telling the surgeon who he 
was, he was told that Colonel Greene had just 
been buried, but he succeeded in convincing the 
man of his identity after a time. His wounds 
were treated, the balls extracted, and he was 
given the best attention possible. It was, how- 
ever, some time before he was able to resume his 
former activity in public affairs, and eventually 
the wound in the hip resulted in paralysis. 

In the spring of 1865 Colonel Greene was in- 
terested in the establishment of the Lane ITniver- 
sity, named in honor of General Lane, and situ- 
ated on the site of the old territorial capitol. He 
was a member of the first board of trustees and 
Rev. Solomon Weaver acted as the first president. 
He took an active part in promoting the welfare 
of the college and served as its financial agent for 
a time. For some years he was a minister in the 
United Brethren Church and one of the leading 
men of the denomination. In 1869 and 1873 he 
was a delegate to the general conferences of the 
denomination. At the latter meeting a discussion 
arose regarding secret societies. Believing that 
the members of the convention displayed a spirit 
entirel}" too narrow to be in harmony with the 
broad spirit of the Lord, he and others withdrew 
from the church. In the spring of 1880 he was 
admitted to the Topeka pre.sbytery, and during 
the same year accepted a pastorate at Lacj-gne, 
Kans., but resigned in July, 1881, in order to 
accept the appointment, tendered by Governor 
St. John, as superintendent of the asylum for 
imbecile children, recently started in Lawrence. 
Under his able supervision the school was estab- 
lished upon a firm basis. In 1886 it was removed 
to Winfield and a large building erected. He 
remained at its head until the fall of 1888, when 
he resigned, desiring to return to Lawrence in 



I50 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



order that his children might liave better school 
advantages. The institution had been made a 
success. A large addition had been built, but 
even with it there was scarcelj' room to accom- 
modate the children who were patients there. 

On returning to Lawrence Colonel Greene took 
editorial charge of the Daily Journal &\\A contin- 
ued at its head for eighteen months. At the 
same time he also preached in the Presbyterian 
Church at Perry for a year and the church at 
Media for six months. On resigning from the 
Journal he became editor of the Daily Record. As 
a journalist he has had few superiors. His keen, 
forcible and clear articles always attracted atten- 
tion. He brought the paper into prominence 
and made it a literary success. It was said of 
him that he was one of the most brilliant writers 
in Kansas. When the paper was sold in 1892 he 
retired from the field of journalism. 

In 1876 Colonel Greene was elected to the state 
senate, where he was chairman of the committee 
on education, and in 1879 cast the deciding vote 
for Ingalls as United States .senator. Much of his 
time in the senate was given to the upbuilding of 
the schools. As at that time there existed some 
schools-vvhere German only was used, he secured 
the passage of a bill making it compulsory to 
teach English in all district schools, thus forcing 
all the new settlers of the state to gain familiarity 
with the luiglish language. He became inter- 
ested in the free silver movement and stumped 
the county in its interests. Owing to the failure 
of the Republican party to declare for it, he 
identified himself with the People's party, and 
became active upon its committees. As a speaker 
he was one of the most prominent Populi.sts in 
the state and did much to arouse an interest in 
the currency question. In June, 1898, he at- 
tended the second congressional convention held 
in Olathe. At the Douglas County convention 
his name had been presented as a candidate for 
congress, and when the congressional convention 
met he and St. John were candidates, either one 
being willing to withdraw in favor of the other, 
and against Peters. St. John made a speech and 
was followed by Colonel Greene. The latter, at 
the close of his address, was seized by a paralytic 



stroke and sank to the floor. He was carried 
out of the hall and conveyed to his home, but 
many weeks elapsed before he recovered suf- 
ficiently to sit up. He is still an invalid, but 
passes his time cheerfully and quietly, and may 
be seen, on pleasant days, sitting on his porch 
overlooking the Kaw River and enjoying the 
society of his family and his friends. He is a 
member of Washington Po.st No. 12, G. A. R., 
and served on the national commander's staff 
one term. Fraternally he is connected with 
Halcyon Lodge No. 18, I. O. O. F.; Lawrence 
Lodge No. 6, A. F. & A. M.; and Lawrence 
Chapter No. 4, R. A. M. 

January 24, i860, in Osage County, Kans. , 
Colonel Greene married Miss Margaret Monogue, 
a native of New York. The^- became the parents 
of nine children, but suffered a deep bereavement 
in the death of their daughters, Lucy Harris, 
Caroline Harris, Florence and Henrietta B., 
within two months of one another. The sons 
are living and all but the j^oungest are engaged 
in business in Lawrence. They are named as 
follows: Edward E., Henry M., Jr.; Hiel B., 
Frederick H. and Charles K. 



HOMER CLIFTONOATMAN, Ph. G.,M.D., 
who holds the chair of diagnosis in the 
homeopathic medical department of the 
Kansas City University, is a talented and suc- 
cessful physician and surgeon of Lawrence, 
where he has been engaged in professional work 
since 1895. In 1896 he became connected with 
the Kansas City University as instructor of bac- 
teriology and histology in the medical depart- 
ment, but has since been transferred to the chair 
of physical diagnosis. For the purpose of broad- 
ening his professional knowledge and therebj' 
rendering his advice more valuable to his pa- 
tients, he went abroad in October, 1898, spending 
seven months in the University of Edinburgh 
and (at the same time) six months in the Royal 
Infirmary, where he did special clinical work, 
devoting himself principally to surgery and diag- 
nosis. Prior to his return to the United States 
he spent some time in the ho.spitals of London. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



151 



He is in touch with the latest developments of the 
science of medicine and few are better prepared 
for professional work than he. Under appoint- 
ment by Mayor Gould he served as city physi- 
cian of Lawrence in 1897 and 1898. He is a 
member of the Douglas County Medical Society 
and has been very active in the work of the Kan- 
sas State Homeopathic Medical Society, of which 
he was secretary in 1898. 

Dr. Oatman was born in Benton County, Mo., 
April 9, 1870. His father, Adolphus G. Oatman, 
a native of Dundee, 111., was first lieutenant in a 
company in the One Hundred and Eighth Illinois 
Infantry during the Civil war. Afterward he en- 
gaged in the cattle business in Benton County, 
Mo. In 1876 he removed to Denver, Colo., 
where he engaged in the manufacture of .soap. 
In 1880 he came to Lawrence and has since en- 
gaged in growing fruits, owning land that adjoins 
the city. He married Mary A. Ransom, who 
was born in Tecumseh, Mich., and was a daugh- 
ter of Rev. Halsey Ransom, a Methodist Episco- 
pal minister, who died in Bennington, Vt., in 
1867, aged fifty-six years. Dr. Oatman's pater- 
nal grandfather, James R. Oatman, was born in 
Indiana and became a pioneer lumber merchant 
of Dundee, 111., but after some years removed to 
Missouri, where he carried on a lumber and real- 
estate business. Later he followed mercantile 
pursuits in Denver, Colo. His death occurred in 
Lawrence in 1899, at eighty-four years of age. 

The next to the oldest of five children, our 
subject was educated in the schools of Denver 
and Lawrence. In 1886 he entered the Uni- 
versity of Kansas, where he first took a course in 
the arts and afterward in pharmacy, graduating 
in 1 891 with the degree of Ph. G. One year 
was devoted to special work, after which he was 
employed as a registered pharmacist. From 
boyhood it had been his ambition to become a 
physician, and in 1893 he entered the junior 
class in Hahnemann Medical College, from which 
he graduated in 1895, with the degree of M.D. 
During both years of his study at Hahnemann, 
he also acted as tutor in bacteriology and his- 
tology. After graduating he returned to Law- 
rence. Fraternally he is a member of Lawrence 



Lodge No. 6, A. F. & A M., the Modern Wood- 
men and Fraternal Aid, and is examining physi- 
cian for the two latter orders. In politics he is a 
Republican and in religion is identified with the 
Baptist Church. 

HON. MATTHEW RYAN, SR., who long 
held a position among Leavenworth's most 
honored and influential citizens, was a 
pioneer of 1857. His life was a very active one, 
filled with experiences of an exciting nature on 
the plains of the great west. Identified with the 
cattle industry, his business required his frequent 
presence at frontier posts, and in his long trips 
across the plains he encountered Indians, some of 
whom were hostile. He began life in the west 
under very difi'erent circumstances and conditions 
from those of the present day, but bravely over- 
came every obstacle that he encountered, and in 
time became independent and prosperous. Every- 
one who knew him at all intimately admired him 
for his many good qualities. He was especially 
helpful to struggling and penniless young men, 
and many a youth owed his start in life to him. 
Personally he was considerate, conscientious, 
trustworthy, and possessed a keen sense of honor. 
Born in Johnstown, County Kilkenny, Ire- 
land, August 30, 1S19, the subject of this memoir 
was a son of Michael Ryan, a merchant of Johns- 
town, who brought his family to America in 
1832, and settled in Maryland, but a few years 
later located in Cincinnati, Ohio. His active life 
was devoted to the mercantile business. When 
advanced in years he joined his son in Leaven- 
worth, and here his death occurred in 1872, at 
eighty-two years of age. Besides his son, he had 
a daughter, Mrs. Mary Draper, now living in 
Leavenworth. At the time the family came to 
the United States, Matthew Ryan was a boy of 
thirteen. From that time he was self-supporting, 
and had no opportunity to attend school; how- 
ever, in the great school of experience he gained 
a broad education, thereby becoming a well-in- 
formed man. When a youth he learned the 
butcher's trade in Cincinnati. At eighteen 
years of age he became a member of the firm of 
King & Ryan, butchers and stockmen, which 



152 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



connection continued almost tliree years. After- 
ward he engaged in the same hne of business for 
himself, shipping to southern ports. In 1856 
the death of his son, Richard, a bright boy of 
seven years, caused him to grow discontented 
with Cincinnati, and to desire a change of loca- 
tion. As soon as he could sell out his interests 
there he removed to Kansas. Here he started 
the first packing house in Leavenworth and was 
given the government contracts for supplying 
the forts with beef. He continued engaged in 
the packing business until 1876. Meantime, as 
a member of the firm of Ru.ssell, Ryan & Hens- 
ley, he carried on a wholesale mercantile busi- 
ness in Leavenworth for .several years. 

When the Pike's Peak excitement drew large 
crowds of emigrants to the mountain regions in 
1859, the firm of Rus.sell, Morehead, Ryan & 
Hensley opened a wholesale business in Denver, 
with which Mr. Ryan was connected for a num- 
ber of years. In early days he made several 
trips across the plains with oxen. At one time 
he went west as far as Salt Lake City, and during 
the journey encountered hostile Indians, but 
avoided a conflict. In 1S70 he bought several 
hundred acres in Leavenworth County, but this 
property he afterward sold. 

Accompanied by his sons, Matt and Jepp, in 
1876 Mr. Ryan went to the Pacific coast and en- 
gaged in trailing cattle extensively from Oregon 
and Washington to Cheyenne, Wyo., handling as 
many as thirty thousand head in a season. In 
this enterprise he was very successful. With his 
.sons, in 1883, he started a cattle ranch on the 
north side of the Yellowstone River in Montana, 
about seventy miles north of the Custer battle- 
field. Of the cattle company formed he served 
as the president, but the active management of 
the business devolved mainly upon his sons, who 
remained in Montana to superintend the work. 

Almost every enterprise for the benefit of 
Leavenworth and the development of its resources 
received the sympathy and active assistance of 
Mr. Ryan. His influence was felt in the 
development of the city's industries. He con- 
structed the Ryan and Richardson cold stor- 
age plant on Cherokee street, which was the 



first and is still the largest ice plant in the 
city. His last work was in 1892, when he built 
the Ryan block, on the corner of Fourth and 
Cherokee streets; this is the largest and one of 
the finest business buildings in the place. For 
some years he acted as president of the German 
National Bank, and after it was consolidated 
with the First National Bank he became a di- 
rector of the latter institution, with which he 
was connected until his death, and since then one 
of his sons has represented the family in the bank. 
He was one of the organizers and promoters of 
the Leavenworth Coal Company, and in time 
became the largest stockholder and president of 
the company, with which he was connected as 
such until his death. His family still own and 
operate the coal mine. An active promoter of the 
Leavenworth Glucose Company, he was its presi- 
dent for some years. 

Having been so intimately identified with 
business affairs, Mr. Ryan had little time for 
participation in public affairs, and, while he served 
for one term in the state legislature, he refused 
further nomination, preferring to give his atten- 
tion wholly to private pursuits. However, he 
did not lack in public spirit. No one was more 
desirous than he to promote the welfare of his 
city and state, but his method of doing this was 
by the advancement of business interests, rather 
than by the formulation of laws or participation 
in politics. During the war he was a member of 
a company of militia that was called into service 
at the time of the Price raid in Kansas. From 
the organization of the Catholic Church in 
Leavenworth he was identified with it, and took 
a leading part in its work, remaining one of its 
most liberal and prominent members until he 
passed from earth, in its faith, June 20, 1893. 

The marriage of Mr. Ryan was solemnized in 
Cincinnati in 1844 and united him with Miss 
Mary Beresford, who was born and educated in 
that city, and is an estimable lady, and a faithful 
member of Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church. 
The family of which she is a member is connected 
with that of Lord Beresford, of England. Her 
grandfather, Richard Beresford, emigrated from 
England to America in 18 19 and settled in Cin- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



155 



cinnati, where he became owner of a large shoe 
store. Her father, Samuel Beresford, had one of 
the largest packing houses in Cincinnati and was 
a leading business man of that city, where he 
died in 1876, aged eighty-two; his wife was 
Elizabeth Bestwick, born in Lancashire, Eng- 
land, and died in Cincinnati in 1849, at fifty-four 
years of age. Of their eleven children, only three 
are now living. Mr. and Mrs. Ryan became the 
parents of the following-named children : Samuel, 
who died in Leavenworth, in 1859, when thir- 
teen years of age; Richard, who died in 1856, at 
seven years; Matthew, Jr., decea.sed; Kate, Mrs. 
Dennis Sheedy, who died in Denver in 1895; 
Jephtha; Alexander, who died at twenty-four 
years; Mrs. Mary Loftus, of New York City; 
Thomas and Ethan, of Leavenworth. 



HON. ALEXANDER CALDWELL. In 
presenting to the readers of this volume the 
biography of Mr. Caldwell, we are perpetu- 
ating the life work of one of the most honored 
and influential residents of Kansas. Throughout 
a long and honorable career, both in public life 
and private business affairs, he has maintained 
the energy and integrit}- characteristic of him 
from earlj' years. Alike in every office he has 
held, from a local position of minor responsibility 
to the important ofiice of United States senator, 
he has sacrificed personal interests for the general 
welfare and has ever striven to promote the pros- 
perity of the people of his state. In business 
circles, too, he has wielded an important influ- 
ence, and, as president and manager of the Kan- 
sas Manufacturing Company, for years stood at 
the head of one of the most important enterprises 
of the west. Upon the organization of the First 
National Bank of Leavenworth he became a de- 
positor of the new institution and later was inter- 
ested as a stockholder. In January, 1897, he 
was chosen president of the bank, and this oSice 
he has since efficiently filled, his business ability 
and conservative spirit fitting him for its man- 
agement. As a financial institution, this bank is 
one of the oldest and largest in the countrj", 
ranking as the one hundred and eighty-second in 

3 



the list of national banks in the United States, 
and as the first among those west of the Missouri 
River. 

The Caldwell family was founded in America 
by Alexander Caldwell, Sr. , a native of Ireland, 
who brought his family to New Jersey, where he 
cultivated a farm and operated a stone quarry. 
He was accidentally killed in his quarry. His 
son, James, was born in County Donegal, Ireland, 
and settled in Huntingdon County, Pa., where 
for years after 1830 he was proprietor of the 
"Matilda" furnace, a charcoal furnace named in 
honor of his wife. During the Mexican war he 
enlisted, and became captain of Company M, 
Second Pennsylvania Volunteers. During the 
battle in front of the City of Mexico, in Septem- 
ber, 1847, he was mortally wounded and died 
five days after the city was captured. He was 
forty or more years of age. His wife, who had 
died in 1842, was Jane Matilda Drake, a native 
of Huntingdon County, Pa., and daughter of 
James Drake, who was proprietor of Drake's 
Ferry across the Juniata River, ten miles below 
Huntingdon. The family descended, in collat- 
eral line, from Sir Francis Drake, of England. 

The subject of this sketch was the oldest of 
four children, of whom he and one sister alone 
survive. He was born in Huntingdon County, 
Pa., March i, 1830, and had only limited ad- 
vantages in his boyhood. When his father en- 
listed in the Mexican war he was a boy of 
seventeen, living in Columbia, Lancaster Count}-, 
Pa. He left his position in the store where he 
was clerking and, overtaking his father at Pitts- 
burg, Pa., prevailed upon him to take him into 
Company M as a private. With the other sol- 
diers he marched to the front, and participated 
in various battles with the Mexicans, among 
them those of National Bridge, Pueblo, Contreras, 
Cherubusco and Castle of Chapultepec, and skir- 
mishes adjoining the City of Mexico. For a 
time he was a clerk in the commissary depart- 
ment. On his return to Pennsylvania he was 
employed in a bank in Columbia. During the 
years that followed he gained a thorough knowl- 
edge of the banking business and rose to a posi- 
tion of influence in local financial circles. 



156 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



The spring of 1861 found Mr. Caldwell in 
Leavenworth, Kans., where he took contracts for 
the transporting of arinj' supplies to the military 
posts west of the Missouri River. His business 
was very large and was conducted under the 
name of A. Caldwell & Co. To carry on the 
work he employed five thousand teams, sixty 
thousand head of oxen, and gave employment to 
more than five thousand men. He continued in 
the transportation of military supplies until 1870, 
after which, the railroads having been built, the 
teaming business declined. Meantime, he had 
become interested in railroad building. In 1866 
he had the contract for the building of the Mis- 
souri Pacific from Kansas City to Leavenworth. 
In 1869 he extended the line to Atchison, and 
afterward served as president of the road until it 
was .sold. He and his associates organized the 
Kansas Central Railroad Company and built its 
line from Leavenworth to Miltonvale, Kans. 
Afterward he served as vice-president of the com- 
pany. The road was originally narrow gauge, 
but was afterward changed to the standard 
gauge, and was one hundred and seventy miles 
long. It was sold to Commodore Garrison, who 
in turn sold it to the Missouri Pacific Railroad 
Company, by whom it was sold to Jay Gould, and 
finally to the Union Pacific. 

In 1 87 1 Mr. Caldwell was elected to the United 
States senate to succeed Senator Ross, the suc- 
cessor of Senator Lane. He served in the ses- 
sions of 1872 and 1873, but resigned his seat in 
1874. In politics he was originally an old-line 
Whig, and upon the disintegration of that party, 
became a Republican. It was through his influ- 
ence that a bill was passed requiring that one 
term annually of the United States court should 
be held in Leavenworth. He was also instrumen- 
tal in securing an appropriation for the estab- 
lishment of the United States military prison 
(now the United States penitentiary) at Fort 
Leavenworth. 

From 1874 to 188S the Kansas Manufacturing 
Company, with Mr. Caldwell as its president and 
manager, ranked among the most important 
business establishments in the west, and furnished 
employment constantly to almost four hundred 



men. The annual products of the factory aggre- 
gated nearly seven thousand wagons, and these, 
known as the Caldwell wagons, were sold over 
the entire western country, from the Mississippi 
River to the Pacific coast. After 1888 the busi- 
ness was gradually closed down, although the 
company is still in existence, its affairs not hav- 
ing been entirely settled. 

During his residence in Columbia, Pa., Mr. 
Caldwell married Miss Pace Heise, member of a 
family that has been identified with the history of 
that city since 1728. They are the parents of 
two children, Mrs. Minnie Taylor, of Leaven- 
worth, widow of Dr. S. F. Taylor; and Emily, 
wife of H. C. Graef, of New York City. Mr. 
Caldwell is still a stockholder in the Columbia 
(Pa.) National Bank. He is identified with the 
Aztec Association that was organized in the City 
of Mexico in 1847 and whose few surviving mem- 
bers, in their meetings, dwell with pleasure and 
pride upon those days long ago, when they 
assisted in protecting the interests of the United 
States from the encroachments of Mexico. 

Mr. Caldwell has spent almost his entire active 
life in Kansas and is imbued with the spirit of 
western push and progress. The success with 
which he has met may be attributed to his wise 
judgment and force of character that has never 
been daunted by obstacles. Withal, he has been 
essentially a progressive, loyal jcitizen, stanch in 
his support of movements for the benefit of his 
fellow-citizens or for the development of his 
home citj', in whose growth and progress he 
has taken just pride. 



EOL. FRANKLIN EYRE HUNT. The life 
which this narrative sketches began at 
Hunt's Mills, N. J., January i, 1809, and 
closed at Leavenworth, Kans., February 2, 1881. 
The intervening years were filled with experi- 
ences that fall to the lot of an army oificer, some 
of which (especially incidents during the Civil 
war) were exciting and thrilling, and proved that 
he possessed the mettle of a soldier. During his 
long and active life he met many of the greatest 
men of our country. Appointed to the United 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



157 



States Military Academj' at West Point from New 
Jersey, he was a student in that school from July 
I, 1824, to July I, 1829, and was a classmate of 
Gen. Robert E. Lee and Gen. Joseph E. John- 
ston, while in the class of 1828 was Jefferson 
Davis. Upon graduating he was breveted second 
lieutenant of the Fourth Artillery. He served in 
the garrison at Fort Columbus, N. Y., in 1830- 
31; at Fort Hamilton, N. Y., 1831-32; in the 
Black Hawk expedition in 1S32; again at Fort 
Columbus 1832-33; Fortress Monroe, Va., 1833; 
in Creek Nation, 1833-34; back at Fortress Mon- 
roe, 1834; upon engineer's duty from September 
I, 1834, to June 8, 1836; again in the Creek Na- 
tion, in 1836; commissioned first lieutenant of the 
Fourth Artillery August 15, 1836; in the Florida 
war 1836-38; in the Cherokee Nation, 1838, 
while the Indians were being removed west; in 
garrison at Fort Columbus, 1838; again in the 
Florida war, 1838-39; back to Fort Columbus 
and then in the Camp of Instruction near Tren- 
ton, N. J.; in northern territory during the Can- 
adian border disturbances of 1839-41; at Buffalo, 
N. Y., in 1841-42; at Fort McHenry, Md., 1842- 
44; Carlisle Barracks, Pa., 1844-45; Fort Mc- 
Henry, 1845-46; at Fortress Monroe, in 1846, 
and then in the Mexican war, 1846-48. 

From January 18, 1846, to March 2, 1855, he 
was captain of the Fourth Artiller)'. • Meantime, 
from 1848 to 1850, he engaged in frontier duty at 
Fort Brown, Tex. The year 1850 found him at 
Fort Leavenworth, Kans., where he remained 
until 1855. March 2, 1855, he was commissioned 
major and paymaster in the army. About the 
same time he was transferred to Fort Snelling, 
Minn. , where he remained for two years. Re- 
turning to Fort Leavenworth in 1857 ^^ took 
part in the Utah expedition, and was in the de- 
partment of Utah until 1861 as chief paymaster. 
During the Civil war he was chief of the pay dis- 
trict embracing Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado and 
the Indian Territorj', and was aide-de-camp to 
Major-General Curtis, in charge of the artillery 
and defense of Fort Leavenworth during the 
Price raid in 1864. For faithful and meritorious 
service during the war he was breveted lieutenant- 
colonel March 13, 1865. In 1877 he was pro- 



moted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and dep- 
utj^ paymaster-general and was serving as chief 
paymaster of the department when, in 1879, he 
was placed on the retired list of the army, after a 
service of fifty years. 

From the time of the first sale of lots in Leav- 
enworth, Colonel Hunt was interested in this city, 
buying land here and improving real estate. His 
residence on Twenty-first and Shawnee streets 
stood on a ten-acre tract. At Cambridgeport, 
Mass., August 23, 1830, he married Ann Maria 
Noble, who was born in Boston, Mass., October 
14, 1809, a daughter of George Noble, and a 
descendant of George Noble, an Englishman, 
who was an ofiicer in the British army during the 
Revolutionary war. In 1843 Colonel Hunt and 
his wife embraced the Catholic faith. He was 
baptized in the archbishop's home, March 8, 1843, 
by Rev. H. B. Coskery, and was confirmed in 
the Baltimore Cathedral June 8, by Archbishop 
Eccleston. His wife was baptized in the same 
faith at Fort McHenry, June 27 of that year. 
She died in Leavenworth, June 7, 1889, and was 
buried in Mount Muncie Cemetery. 

Of the children of Colonel Hunt we note the 
following: Franklin Eyre, Jr., in 1859 became 
connected with his father as paymaster's clerk of 
the Utah department. Two years later he re- 
turned to Leavenworth, where he was similarly 
employed until the retirement of his father in 
1879; he is now engaged in the real-estate 
business in Leavenworth. Mary Ellen married 
Edward Carroll and died in this city September 
8, 1892. Frederick Ralph, who was a business 
man of Leavenworth, died here December 15, 
1891. James John McCown, the youngest of 
the family, is represented on another page. 

In recognition of his long and honorable con- 
nection with the United States Army, when Col- 
onel Hunt passed away it was ordered that he 
should be given a military funeral and that 
military honors should be paid to him, as the 
last tribute of respect to his memor}-. The 
funeral services were held in the family resi- 
dence Sunday morning, February 5, 1881. The 
handsome casket was draped with national flags, 
while floral decorations in profuse abundance 



158 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



proved the affectionate esteem in which the dead 
officer had been held. The services were con- 
ducted bj' Lieutenant Dodge, and were attended 
by General Pope and several others who were 
high in the army, 'while the honorary pall- 
bearers were Majors J. D. Bingham, D. L. 
Magruder, George Bell, William R. Gibson, J. J. 
Coppingerand Charles McClure. From the fam- 
ily home the remains were conveyed to Mount 
Muncie Cemetery for interment, where the last 
rites were performed and the last bugle-call 
sounded over the new-made grave. 



RIPLEY W. SPARR. It would be impossi- 
ble to write a complete history of Lawrence 
and omit mention of Mr. Sparr, whose con- 
nection with the city commenced in the early 
period of its settlement. His long life of useful- 
ness and industry has had a direct bearing upon 
the progress of his citj', and his voice has been 
heard, directly or indirectly, upon many of the 
questions affecting the administration of local and 
national affairs, while his unflinching integrity 
has secured for him the full and complete confi- 
dence of all who know him. He is a man of 
broad information and intelligence, possessing 
clear and concise opinions upon all important 
questions, and having, under all circumstances, 
the courage of his convictions. 

A resident of Kansas since March 25, 1857, 
and of Lawrence since 1859, Mr. Sparr was born 
in Rush County, Ind., July 6, 1832, a son of John 
and Mary Ann (Guthrie) Sparr, natives of Bote- 
tourt County, Va. His paternal grandfather, 
John Sparr, was born in Baden, Germany, in 
1748, and on coming to America first settled in 
Pennsylvania, but afterward removed to Virginia, 
where he engaged in farming. In 1778 he en- 
listed in the American army, and continued in 
service until the close of the Revolution. The 
Guthrie family was founded in America in 1775 
by William Guthrie, a native of Scotland, born 
in 1752, who, after crossing the ocean, settled 
upon a farm in Maryland. From there he went 
to Virginia. He, too, was a Revolutionary sol- 
dier, serving from 1779 to 1783. His son, John 



Guthrie, who was a farmer in Virginia, also ren- 
dered valiant service in defense of his country. 
Mary Ann Sparr, the daughter of John Guthrie, 
was a woman of noble character and gentle dis- 
position, a faithful member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, and exemplifying in her life 
the depth of her religious experiences. Her death 
occurred in November, 1872, when she was 
eighty -two. Of her eleven children all but two 
attained maturity, and one son and two daugh- 
ters are now living. 

During his residence in Virginia the father of 
our subject was sherifif of his county, and also 
proved himself a true patriot by his valor in the 
war of 1812. In 1829 he removed to Indiana and 
began to clear a farm in Rush County. In addi- 
tion to agricultural pursuits he had the contract 
for building a part of the national road from 
Columbus to Indianapolis. In 1833 he traveled 
on horseback through the southwestern territo- 
ries into Texas, then a province of Mexico, and, 
without a single companion, explored those re- 
mote wilderness regions, occupying one year in 
the trip. In 1837 he moved to Delaware Coun- 
ty, Ind., settling seven miles from Muncie, where 
he died March 21, 1843, at fifty-eight years of 
age. 

When a boy the subject of this sketch had few 
advantages. His attendance at the public school 
did not exceed one year altogether. In 1854 he 
entered the Iowa Wesleyan University at Mount 
Pleasant, where he was a student for eight 
months, and later taught school during one 
winter term. Afterward he engaged in the manu- 
facture of brick in Iowa. On coming to Kansas 
he took up a claim in Franklin County and gave 
his attention to its improvement for two years. 
May, 1859, found him in Lawrence, where he 
engaged in the maimfacture of brick until 1867, 
meantime manufacturing almost all of the brick 
used in the early building of the town, and hav- 
ing the largest and most important plant here. 
During the war, at the time of Price's raid, he 
.served in the Third Kansas Militia. 

In 1867 Mr. Sparr turned his attention to rail- 
road contracting, and continued mostly in that 
business until 1887 — making it a financial sue- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



159 



cess. During 1887 he retired, to a large extent, 
from the contracting business. The following 
year he started the Douglas County State Bank 
with a capital of $50,000, of which he continued 
to be president until 1896, when it was merged 
into the Lawrence National Bank. On the con- 
solidation of the two banks he was made vice- 
president and manager of the consolidated inter- 
ests, and has since given his attention largely to 
the financial interests of the bank. As vice- 
president and manager of the Lawrence National 
Bank, he is closely identified with one of the 
strongest financial institutions in the state, a bank 
that has a capital stock of $100,000, with depos- 
its aggregating more than $700,000. 

In politics Mr. Sparr is a free-coinage Demo- 
crat, believes in tariff for revenue only, is opposed 
to trusts of all kinds, condemns the oppression of 
the masses by the greed of ambitious capitalists, 
and holds mankind to be superior to money. He 
is a consistent member of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, with which he has been identified 
for many years. He is connected with Washing- 
ton Post No. 12, G. A. R. , of Lawrence, also the 
orders of Masons and Odd Fellows in this city. 
From 1864 to 1866 he served as a member of the 
town council. However, the nature of the busi- 
ness in which he so long engaged required his 
presence in different points and prevented him 
from accepting local offices in his home town. 
He is vice-president of the board of trustees of 
Baker University in the town of Baldwin, and a 
member of the executive committee of the board. 

The fir,st marriage of Mr. Sparr united him 
with Mary, daughter of Jesse Critchfield, of 
Leavenworth, Kans. , in April, 1862. She was 
born in Fulton County, 111., January 25, 1840, 
was a woman of culture, a faithful member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, and died in Law- 
rence, April 19, 1877. Her parents were Jesse 
and Elizabeth (Bass) Critchfield, the latter' s 
mother being a member of the celebrated Spen- 
cer family in Harrison Couutj^ Ind. Jesse 
Critchfield was born in Sono County, N. C, 
April II, 1793, and was a son of Richard Critch- 
field, whose father was John Critchfield, of Berk- 
shire, England. The only child born of Mr. 



Sparr's first marriage, C. W. Sparr, was born in 
Lawrence August 5, 1864, and is employed in 
the Lawrence National Bank; in 1886 he married 
Alice Miller, of Wisconsin, by whom he has one 
child, Helen, born August 5, 1890. 

December 20, 1883, Mr. Sparr married Mrs. 
B. W. Milton, daughter of Mortimer and Mary 
A. (Washington) Mcllhany. Her father was a 
son of Maj. James Mcllhany, of Loudoun County, 
Va., a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Her 
mother, a woman of fine culture and noble bear- 
ing, was a daughter of Edward Washington, of 
Fairfax County, Va., who was a cousin of Gen. 
George Washington. Mrs. Sparr was born in 
Loudoun County, Va., January 10, 1839, and in 
girlhood accompanied her parents to Montgom- 
erjr County, Mo., where she became the wife of 
Dr. George R. Milton, of Winchester, Va. Dr. 
Milton joined the Confederate army with the 
rank of major, and was promoted to be colonel 
after the battle of Lexington, Mo., but was soon 
afterward obliged to resign his commission on 
account of poor health; he died in 1865, leaving 
two sons, Herbert and Fairfax Milton. After 
the death of Dr. Milton his widow taught music 
in several colleges in Missouri. A sincere Chris- 
tian, she is actively identified with the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, and has always been foremost 
in works of charity. Refined and cultured, gen- 
erous and kind-hearted, she is respected and loved 
by all who know her, and shares with her hus- 
band in the esteem of the people among whom 
they have so long made their home. 



(TASON POWERS RICHARDSON. The 
I life record of this pioneer of 1855 in Leaven- 
worth is full of interest. He was born in 
Woodstock, Vt., February 22, 1822, and de- 
scended from the Powers and Richardson fami- 
lies who crossed the ocean in the "Mayflower," 
and was also related to Israel Putnam, of Revo- 
lutionary fame. The first of the Richardson 
family to settle in America were Thomas and 
Samuel Richardson, and their older brother, 
Ezekiel, the last-named having come with Gov- 
ernor Winthrop, while the others crossed in 



i6o 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



1635. Lots were assigned them in Maiden in 
1638, and in 1642 they were among the seven 
who settled Woburn. Thomas died in Woburn 
in 1650. He and his wife, Mary, had a son, 
Nathaniel, who was born in Woburn in 1650 
and died there in 17 14. He fought in King 
Philip's war and was wounded in the great 
swamp fight in 1675. His son, Nathaniel, Jr., 
was born in Woburn in 1673 and died there in 
1728. By his wife, Abigail, daughter of Israel 
Reed, he had a son, Israel, who was born in 
Woburn in 1710 and died in Brookfield, Mass., 
in 1740. Capt. Israel Richardson, a son of 
Israel, St., was born in Brookfield (Spencer), 
Mass., in 1736, and was a gunsmith and black- 
smith by trade. In 1781 he moved from New 
Salem, near Hard wick, to Vermont, and bought 
si.x hundred acres near the present site of Wood- 
stock. It is said that he was a captain in the 
Revolution and fought at White Plains and 
Monmouth. He died near Woodstock in 1800. 
By his marriage, in 1759, to Susanna Forbush, 
he had a son, Ja.son, who was born at New 
Salem in 1761, and removed in 1781 to Vermont, 
where he had a blacksmith's shop, hotel and 
large farm. In 1784 he married Mary, daughter 
of Dr. Stephen Powers, who moved from Middle- 
boro, Mass., to Wood.stock, Vt., in 1774. Jason 
Richardson died in Woodstock in 1805. His 
wife died in Pontiac, Mich. Their oldest child, 
Susanna, born in 1785, became the wife of a 
cousin, Israel Putnam Richardson, and they had 
three daughters and one son, the latter of whom. 
Gen. Israel Bush Richardson, was killed during 
the Civil war. The second daughter, Lydia 
Drew Richardson, was born in 1786, married Dr. 
Lyman Paddock, of Barre, \'t., and died in 1867. 
The third child and eldest son was Noah F. 
Richardson, born in 1788. The other sons were 
John Drew (born 1790), John Powers (1792), 
Origen Drew (1795) and Israel Bush (1800). 
Origen Drew was the most prominent member of 
the familj'. Settling in Michigan when young, 
he became one of its earlj' lieutenant-governors. 
In 1854 he removed to Nebraska, where he was 
a successful attorney and the compiler of the 
statutes of the state. By his marriage to Sarah 



P. Hill, of Rhode Island, he had .six children, 
viz.: George, who died at two years; Sarah, 
who married Z. B. Knight, of Pontiac, and now 
lives in Omaha; Lyman, who lives in Omaha; 
Origen and Julia, who died in Pontiac; and Cor- 
nelia, wife of George Ingersoll Gilbert, a lawyer 
of Omaha. 

The children of Noah F. and Polly Richard- 
.son were Mary, Jason Powers, George, Ann, 
Jane, Charles, Ellen, Lyman, Edward, Susan 
Annette, Lydia, Ellen and Marcella. Of these 
Charles was drowned in Lake Superior, and 
Lyman was shot and burned to death by rebel 
raiders. Jason Powers, who was the oldest son, 
forms the subject of this article. When he was 
nineteen years of age, in 1841, he accompanied 
his parents to Michigan and settled with them 
on a farm, where they remained until their death. 
At an early age he studied civil engineering and 
assisted in surveying the copper regions of Lake 
Superior. In 1849 he went to California via 
Cape Horn, and from San Francisco proceeded 
up the American, Feather and Yuba Rivers, 
where he engaged in mining for a number of 
years. He also carried on a general store in 
San Francisco, but a disastrous fire caused the 
loss of his entire stock of goods and left him with 
only $5.00. However, his mining enterprises 
were more successful. In 1853 he returned to 
Michigan via Panama and New York City, and, 
settling in Pontiac, engaged in the agricultural 
implement business with H. W. Lord. 

In Pontiac, August 2, 1855, occurred the mar- 
riage of Mr. Richardson to Miss Mary King, 
who was born in Hinckley, Medina County, 
Ohio, August 5, 1832. The wedding trip of the 
young couple was made, via St. Louis, on the 
steamer "New Lucy," to the city of Leaven- 
worth, Kans. In this then frontier town Mr. 
Richardson opened a wholesale grocery, on 
Main street, between Delaware and Cherokee, 
where he carried on general jobbing until he 
.sold out in 1861. During the perilous times of 
border warfare, he, while being conservative, 
believed thoroughly in the free-state cause. His 
support of these principles brought upon him the 
wrath of .some of the pro-slavery advocates, who 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



i6i 



took him from Leavenworth to Weston in a boat 
in chains; however, he had influential friends 
among the pro-slavery men, and through their 
assistance he was released and afterwards left 
unmolested. While he was held bj' southern 
sympathizers, his wife remained in Leavenworth, 
in spite of threats, and took care of their 
property. 

After 1 86 1 Mr. Richardson engaged in farm- 
ing. He owned a section of land near Lawrence, 
which he operated for some years and then sold 
at a good profit. Afterward he bought and im- 
proved a farm of three hundred and twenty 
acres in Salt Creek Valley. In 1872 he pur- 
chased two hundred and fort}' acres six miles 
south of Leavenworth and upon this place he set- 
tled, afterward giving his attention to its im- 
provement and cultivation. He identified him- 
self with local interests and held a prominent 
position among the agriculturists of Leaven- 
worth County. In the various enterprises in 
which he engaged he was unusually successful; 
this, too, in spite of hardships and obstacles of 
many kinds. His early life in the far west and 
his pioneer experiences in Leavenworth were of 
a stirring nature, but his later years were quietly 
spent, in the enjoj'ment of the comforts his in- 
dustry rendered possible. Prior to the war he 
identified himself with the Democrats, but after- 
ward adhered to Republican principles. In re- 
ligion he was a Universalist. His death occurred 
June 23, 1882, from the effects of sunstroke. 

Mrs. Richardson is a daughter of Henry and 
Jane (Dunlap) King, natives respectively of 
Wyoming Count}^ N. Y., and Connecticut. 
Her grandfather King, a soldier in the Revolu- 
tionary war, married a sister of Hon. Stephen 
Hopkins, the famous Quaker who signed the 
Declaration of Independence. He was a pioneer 
in the western part of New York and planted the 
first orchard there. Later he went to Ohio and 
then to Indiana, where he entered land for all of 
his fourteen sons. Henry King, who served in 
the war of 18 12, afterward engaged in farming 
in Medina County, Ohio, and from there moved 
to Milford, Mich., where he died at fifty-seven 
years. His wife, whose parents died soon after 



they settled in Ohio, died in Fulton, Stark 
County, when forty-three years of age. They 
were the parents of five daughters and one son, 
of whom all are dead except two daughters. 

After the death of her husband, Mrs. Richard- 
son left the farm in the care of one of her sons 
and established her home in Leavenworth, where 
she resides on Walnut street, between Sixth and 
Seventh. She is a member of the First Presby- 
terian Church of Leavenworth and a contributor 
to charitable enterprises, one who is kind and 
helpful to the poor and needy. Nine children 
were born of her marriage to Mr. Richardson, 
namely: George C, who is engaged in the fruit 
and cold storage business in Leavenworth ; Mrs. 
Anna R. Davis, of Saginaw, Mich. ; William K. 
and Frederick H., who are now in Alaska; 
Helen, who died at three months of age; Charles 
L., who has charge of the old homestead near 
Leavenworth; Jason Powers, Jr., who resides 
upon and cultivates- the farm in Salt Creek Val- 
ley; Martha L. and Mary (twins), the former 
residing with her mother, the latter deceased. 



(lESSECONNELL PETHERBRIDGE. The 
I record of the Petherbridge family, both in 
Q) America and in England, is one that is re- 
markable for the honesty, uprightness and 
ability of its members. The first to settle in the 
new world was John Petherbridge, who came 
from Nottingham, Devonshire, about 1787 and 
established his home in Philadelphia, Pa., where 
for many years he carried on a large and prosper- 
ous business as ship-builder. He was noted for 
his large-hearted generosity. He gave the lot on 
which old Ebenezer Church in Philadelphia was 
built and contributed liberally to the erection of 
the edifice. The deed specified that the lot must 
always be used for church purposes, and if at any 
time it was perverted to other uses, it should be- 
come the property of his heirs. In time the lot 
was utilized for other purposes, but the then head 
of the family, his son Richard, never claimed it. 
The records also show that he collected almost 
all the funds used in the building of the First 
Methodist Church in Camden, N. J. 



1 62 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Twice married, the eldest son of John Pether- 
bridge was John, Jr., the first dentist in Balti- 
more. Md., where he built up a large practice. 
He was well known, not only as a successful 
dentist, but also as an active worker in the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. He had four sons 
and two daughters. The oldest son, John (3d), 
as a prominent phj-sician of Trappe, Md., was 
known throughout his entire section of the state, 
not only for his skill in ministering to the sick 
and suffering, but also for his earnest labors 
as a local preacher. He was a man of brilliant 
intellect and deep piety, and left a son who fol- 
lows in his father's footsteps. One son, Richard, 
died in early manhood; another, Edward, who 
was major in an artillery regiment during the 
Civil war, died in Baltimore, Md. ; Charles, who 
carried on a boarding school in Richmond, was a 
man of cosmopolitan knowledge and a local 
preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
The Petherbridge family have been identified 
with the Methodist Church ever since it was 
.started by John Wesley, and an Englishman 
once remarked that "You cannot find a Pether- 
bridge in England who is not a Methodist." 

John Petherbridge (ist) had two sons. Of the 
older, John, mention has been made. The 
younger, Richard Whatcoat Petherbridge, was 
born in Philadelphia, and named for one of the 
first bishops in the Methodist denomination. He 
was a man of broad culture and deeply interested 
in eastern educational institutions, especially 
that of Pennington Seminary. In his family 
there were three sons and six daughters: Odell, 
Annie, John, R.E., Emily, vSarah, Mary, Hen- 
rietta and Helen. Odell, Annie and Helen died in 
early childhood. John was a surgeon in the 
Civil war with the rank of brigadier-general, 
but died soon after its close. Emily is the wife 
of Dr. A. M. Cory, of New Providence, N. J., 
who as acting assistant surgeon during the Civil 
war, rendered heroic service on the general medi- 
cal staff; Sarah resides in Trenton, N. J., with 
Henrietta (now Mrs. Caminade) ; and Mary (now 
Mrs. A. G. Cox) lives in Middletown, Del. 

The younger son of Rev. R. \V. Petherbridge,. 
and the father of our subject, R. E. Petherbridge, 



was born in Pemberton, N. J., and educated at 
Pennington Seminary, Pennington, N. J., and 
Fort Edward Institute, N.J.; he chose farming 
as an occupation, and after i860 became a resi- 
dent of Kansas. For some time he made his 
home in Atchison County, but after a few years 
moved to Leavenworth County and bought land 
in High Prairie Township, where he continued 
to reside until his death in November, 1895, at 
the age of fifty-eight years. Politically he was 
a Republican. He married Theodosia Connell, 
who was born near Lexington, Ky., the oldest 
daughter of Hon. Jesse Connell, a native of Ken- 
tucky. Coming to Leavenworth Countj' in the 
early '50s Mr. Connell was one of the first to im- 
prove a farm here; he took an active interest in 
political affairs and for several terms was a mem- 
ber of the state legislature. He was a stanch 
Democrat and fraternallj' a member of the 
Masonic order. His death occurred in Bates 
County, Mo., in February, 1892. His daughter, 
Mrs. Petherbridge, is living near Boling, Leaven- 
worth County. Of her five children, Mary is the 
wife of John F. Hull, of Winchester, Kans. ; 
Jesse Connell, the subject of this sketch, is the 
oldest son;L- C. is engaged in mining in Boze- 
man, Mont.; R. M. is a farmer and school 
teacher at Boling; and Nellie R. is the wife of 
Louis P. Jennins, of High Prairie. 

In Kansas, where he was born March, 30, 
1866, the subject of this sketch received a com- 
mon-school education. At the age of eighteen 
he began to teach school, and spent five years 
teaching in Leavenworth and Jefferson Counties. 
In 1889 he entered the law department of the 
Universitj' of Michigan, from which he gradu- 
ated June 25, 1 891, with the degree of LL.B. 
Locating for practice in Leavenworth, Kans., he 
was for one year deputy county attorney under 
Hon. John H. Atwood, after which he served 
as police judge of Leavenworth City for six 
months. Since then he has given his attention 
closely to the practice of law. Within the past 
few years he has made remarkable progress in 
his profession. He is recognized as one of the 
most scholarlj^ men and best lawyers in his town. 
At the Leavenworth bar he is rapidlj' taking a 




<2^ 



£^yTZ 




PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



165 



front rank. Gifted by nature with energy, 
ability and keen perceptive faculties, coupled 
with an excellent constitution and fine physique, 
he has added to these gifts by diligent study, and 
hence his success has been constant. In all of 
his professional work he is keenly alive to the in- 
terests of the people, and has been a stanch 
friend to them in every movement affecting their 
welfare. 

In Tonganoxie, this county, Mr. Petherbridge 
was made a Mason and is now a member of 
Leavenworth Lodge No. 2, A. F. & A. M.; 
he also belongs to Ivauhoe Lodge No. 14, K. P., 
and the Turn Verein. In the Democratic party he 
is a favorite campaign speaker and does much in 
behalf of his party and its candidates throughout 
the state. He is connected with the alumni of 
his alma mater, the University of Michigan. 



HON. HORACE J. SMITH. It would be 
impossible to write a history of Ottawa and 
omit prominent mention of the name of 
Smith. Not without justice he holds an influential 
position among the business men and financiers 
of his city. To his discrimination in business is 
added a high character as a man, a progressive 
spirit as a citizen, and a philanthropy that has 
stamped his life indelibly upon the pages of the 
history of his home town. Necessarily, a man 
of such attributes will be a power for good in his 
community and will stand foremost among his 
fellow-citizens. 

Of Scotch-Irish descent, the family of our sub- 
ject has long been connected with American his- 
tory, and his grandfather, on his mother's side, 
Jeremiah Meacham, a native of Connecticut, re- 
moved to Susquehanna County, Pa., in 1800, 
where he died. Horace, son of Silas Smith, was 
born in Cooperstown, N. Y., and engaged in the 
practice of the dental profession in Montrose, 
Pa., where he died; he married Marilla Meacham, 
a daughter of Jeremiah Meacham. She was born 
in Litchfield, Conn., and died in Montrose, Pa. 

The youngest of five children who attained 
mature years, our subject was born near Mont- 
rose, Pa., January 27, 1838. His boyhood years 



were spent in Susquehanna County. In 1856 he 
settled in Oregon, Ogle County, 111., where he 
took one course of study in Mount Morris Semin- 
ary. For four years he served as deputy circuit 
clerk under his brother, Mortimer W. Smith. In 
i860 he was elected county treasurer, assuming 
the duties of the ofl&ce in January, 1861. The 
following year he raised a company for the war 
and was made first lieutenant of Company K, 
Ninety-second Illinois InfantrJ^ Later the regi- 
ment was mounted and after six months he was 
made captain of Company B, serving under Gen. 
Smith D. Atkins, of Freeport, 111. Among the 
battles in which he bore a part were Chickamau- 
ga. Mission Ridge, the campaign from Resaca 
to Atlanta, including the battles of Macon and 
Waynesboro, Ga. , and with Sherman to the sea; 
thence north to Bentonville and Greensboro, wit- 
nessing the surrender of Johnston. During the 
'Georgia campaign and the march to the sea he 
served as assistant-adjutant-geueral on the staff of 
Gen. Smith D. Atkins. After the surrender he re- 
turned to his company and with them proceeded 
to Concord, N. C, remaining there until ordered 
home at the close of the war. He was mustered 
out July 4, 1865, and honorably discharged in 
Chicago, 111. After a short visit in Ogle Countj' 
he went to Chicago and for six months was em- 
ployed there. 

In the spring of 1866 Captain Smith came to 
Kansas, settling in the then new town of Ottawa 
and opening the first hardware store in Franklin 
County. He continued in this business for four 
years. In 1872 he organized the Ottawa sav- 
ings institution, of which he was cashier for 
three years. In 1S75 Mr. Smith and A. M. Blair 
bought the stock of the First National Bank and 
he was chosen cashier of the institution, and in 
1884 was promoted to the presidency, which po- 
sition he has since held. The bank is on the 
corner of Second and Main streets, and is not 
onl}"^ the oldest, but also the largest capitalized 
bank in the county. The conservative policy 
adopted by its president has added much to its 
strength and its reputation as a safe and solid 
financial institution. 

On the Republican ticket, in 1889, Captain 



i66 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Smith was elected a member of the lower house 
of the legislature, in which he served as a mem- 
ber of the banking committee and as chairman of 
the committee on cities of the second class. Sev- 
eral times he has been a member of the city 
council and once held the office of mayor. He 
is a member of the Kansas Commandery of Loyal 
Legion and George H. Thomas Post No. i8, 
G. A.R. In Ma.sonry he belongs to Ottawa Lodge 
No. 128, A. F.' & A. M.; Franklin Chapter, 
R. A. M., and Tancred Commandery No. 11, 
K. T. , in which he served as eminent commander 
for four terras. 

In Ottawa, in 1867, occurred the marriage of 
Captain Smith to Miss Mary F. Ward, who was 
born in Muskingum County, Ohio, and came to 
Franklin County, Kans., in 1859. They are the 
parents of five children: Minnie E.; Ella W., 
wife of Charles B. Voorhis; Grace L. ; Jay 
Ward, a student in Phillips Academy at An- 
dover, Mass.; and Horace Eugene, all of whom 
are now living in Ottawa. 



EOL. JOHN GIDEON HASKELL. The 
Haskell family, which has been represented 
in Douglas County ever since the days of 
the free-state colonization, was founded in Amer- 
ica by Roger Haskell, who was born in England 
in 1813, and settled at Beverly, Mass., in 1632. 
From that place his son, Roger (2d), removed to 
Norwich, Conn., in 1708, accompanied by Roger 
(3d), who at the time was a small boy. Elijah, 
son of Roger (3d), removed from Norwich to 
Tolland, Conn., in 1781, and there died, leaving 
his widow, Sarah (Read) Haskell, with the care 
of thirteen children, the youngest only four years 
of age. During the Revolutionary war four of 
her sons enlisted in the colonial service, and two 
died in defending our country. After the close 
of the war she removed from Tolland to Weth- 
ersfield, Windsor County, Vt. , accompanied by 
five sons and three daughters. In that place her 
son, Gideon, resided at the time our subject's 
father, Franklin, was born. The latter married 
Almira Chase, daughter of John Chase, of 
Wethersfield, a soldier in the Revolution, and 



originally from Sutton, Mass. He descended 

from Aquilla Chase, who settled in Newbury- 
port, Ma.ss., with the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 
about the time that the Ha.skells came to Ameri- 
ca, and whose descendants have .since been 
prominent in public affairs. 

When the city of Lawrence, Kans., was found- 
ed in September, 1854, by the first free-state 
company, one of the party who came west was 
Franklin Haskell. He settled upon a quarter- 
section of land adjoining the citj', and there he 
died January 27, 1857. His wife continued to 
make the place her home until she passed from 
earth in 1876. Of their children. Charles A., 
who was master of transportation in the quarter- 
master's department during the Civil war, died 
in Lawrence in 1868: Elizabeth P., Mrs. French, 
al.so died in Lawrence; and Hon. Dudlej- C, 
who was a member of congress and a man of 
great influence in public life, died in December, 
1883. 

In Milton, Chittenden County, Vt., the sub- 
ject of this sketch was born February 5, 1832. 
His education was begun in the common schools 
of\'ermont. In 1849 he entered the Wesleyan 
Academy at Wilbraham, Mass., where he con- 
tinued (with the exception of the period devoted 
to labor for his support) until 1854. Afterward 
he was a student in Brown University at Provi- 
dence, R. I. In 1855 he entered an architect's 
office at Boston, Mass., where he remained for 
two years, meantime preparing himself for his 
chosen profession, architecture. The death of 
his father made it necessary for him to come 
west. At the time his necessitated change of 
plans seemed fatal to his prospects, as a prosper- 
ous career was opening up to him in the east, 
and Kansas, a new and undeveloped country, 
could, he thought, offer but little to one in his 
line of work. Contrary to his expectations, he 
was successful from the first. For a time he had 
the only office in the then territory of Kansas, 
and from that date to this, excepting during the 
Civil war, he has practiced his profession, first 
in Lawrence, later in Topeka. During this en- 
tire period his connection has been close with all 
work of an important public nature. The major- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



167 



ity of the state buildings have been constructed 
under his oversight and from his plans, and more 
than once he has been called to neighboring 
states upon work of a responsible nature. The 
original plans for the state capital were drawn bj- 
him, and he has since been in charge of changes 
made in the building, including the construction 
of the senate chamber in 1885. He was also en- 
gaged as architect of the State Universit}' of 
Kansas, the insane asylums at Topeka and Osa- 
watomie, the reform school at Topeka and the 
reformatory at Hutchinson. Besides these, he 
has been architect for, and connected with the 
construction of, schools, colleges, churches, 
court-houses, hotels, opera houses and business 
buildings in this and other states; also has exe- 
cuted a large number of commissions for the 
government, mainly schools and agency build- 
ings in Indian reservations. The United States 
court-house and postofiice at Topeka, which was 
planned at Washington, was erected under his 
supervision. In 1874 and 1875 he had charge of 
the building of agency and public buildings at 
Tallequah and Grand Saline for the Cherokee 
nation. 

When the Civil war began Mr. Haskell was 
made deputy quartermaster-general of Kansas, 
under Gen. G. W. Collamore, and in this capac- 
ity outfitted the First, Second and Third Kansas 
Regiments with such supplies as the state fur- 
nished, until ready to be mustered into the 
United States service._ He was commissioned 
first lieutenant and regimental quartermaster of 
the Third Regiment. In the spring of 1862 the 
Third and Fourth were consolidated and called 
the Tenth Regiment, of which he was retained as 
quartermaster. In June, 1862, he was made 
captain and assistant quartermaster of volunteers 
under commission of President Lincoln, and was 
assigned to duty on the staff of Brigadier-General 
James G. Blount. As chief quartermaster of the 
army of the frontier he was with Gen. James H. 
Lane, General Blount and Gen. John McNeil, 
ending his field service on the frontier at Fort 
Smith, Ark., December 31, 1863, by an order 
from General Schofield to report for duty at St. 
Louis. In February, 1864, he was assigned to 



duty at Little Rock, Ark., as chief purchasing 
agent of the department of Arkansas and the 
Fifteenth army corps, at the same time being 
given charge of the supplies at Little Rock. In 
addition to his other duties, while at Little Rock 
he built a hospital with accommodations for one 
thousand beds, also erected recuperating stables, 
army repair shops, warehouses, and a pontoon 
bridge acro.ss the Arkansas River at Little Rock. 
After having been in service, without furlough, 
for four jears and five months, he was honorablj' 
discharged in November, 1865. In June, 1866, 
he was commissioned by President Johnson 
brevet major and quartermaster United States 
volunteers, for ' ' efficient service during the 
war," the rank dating from March, 1865. Dur- 
ing the administration of Governor S. J. Craw- 
ford he was quartermaster-general of Kansas, 
with the rank of colonel. In 1866 he was 
elected architect of the state house, and in this 
capacity designed the capitol, and during the 
next four years erected the east wing. When 
the office of state architect was created in 1891 
he was elected to the position, and continued in 
charge during the existence of the board with 
whom he served. In 1895 he was appointed 
architect of the board of trustees of the state 
charitable institutions, and held the office during 
the period of the then existing board. By reason 
of long-continued membership in the American 
Institute of Architects, he will, after 1900, be- 
come a life member of the organization. He is 
a member of the board of directors of the State 
Historical Society. 

In the work of the Plymouth Congregational 
Church of Lawrence Colonel Haskell has been 
deeply interested, and its various organizations 
receive his assistance. For many years he has 
been a member and secretary of the executive 
committee of the State Home Missionary Society 
of the Congregational denomination, and has 
frequently served as delegate to its state and na- 
tional conventions. Three times he was elected 
president of the State Sunday-school Association, 
and for many years served upon its executive 
committee. 

The marriage of Colonel Haskell, December 



1 68 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



22, 1859, united him with Mary Elizabeth Bliss, 
daughter of Luther Burt Bliss, of Wilbrahani, 
Mass., a descendant, through her mother, of 
John Adams, of Wilbraham, and Aseph King, 
who was a Revolutionary soldier from Enfield, 
Conn. The two daughters born of this union 
are Harriet Bliss, wife of William McDonald, 
professor of history in Bowdoin College, Me., 
and Mabel Bliss, who resides with her parents. 

All enterprises having for their object the good 
of Lawrence or Douglas County find in Colonel 
Haskell an advocate and friend, ready to give 
.substantial aid and influence to the movement. 
His entire life has been marked by the deeds of a 
patriotic, public-spirited citizen; and, not only as 
an early settler of the county and a man whosc 
energies were devoted to its development, but 
•Still more as a leader in public affairs and the 
promoter of large business projects, his name is 
entitled to remembrance in history. 



HON. JOHN P. HARRIS, president of the 
People's National Bank of Ottawa and post- 
master of this city, was born in Marietta, 
Ohio, July 24, 1839, being a .son of Asa and 
Eliza (Fulcher) Harris, natives respectively of 
Dutchess County, N. Y., and Pennsylvania. 
His grandfather, George Harris, a native of York 
state, and a cooper by trade, removed with his 
family to Ohio, settling near Marietta in 18 17, 
and followed his chosen occupation there until 
his death. At the time of the removal of the fam- 
ily to Ohio, Asa Harris, who was born in 181 1, 
was a child of six 3'ears. In boyhood he learned 
the wagon-maker's trade, and this occupation he 
followed in Marietta. Coming west to Iowa in 
1853 he established his home on an unimproved 
farm near Centreville, Appanoose County, where 
he remained for six years. In 1859 he came to 
Kansas, and located a claim near Centropolis, 
Franklin County, where for many subsequent 
years he carried on farm pursuits. Finally retir- 
ing to Ottawa, he died in this city in 1884. He 
was a Republican and an Abolitionist, and dur- 
ing the days of the underground railroad he had 
a station at his place in the village of Marietta. 



His sympathies were on the side of the Union, 
and no one was more gratified than he at the 
downfall of slaverj-. After coming to Kansas he 
identified himself with the growing interests of 
this state, and always lent substantial assistance 
to enterprises for the benefit of his county. He 
was chosen to occupy the offices of county treas- 
urer and count}' superintendent of public instruc- 
tion, in both of which positions he di.scharged 
every duty with promptness and fidelit}-. In 
religious connections he was a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. By his marriage 
to Miss Eliza Fulcher, who died in Marietta, 
Ohio, he had three sons: John P.; Milo R., who 
was a soldier in the Civil war and is now engaged 
in the lumber business in Ottawa; and Asa, who 
died in boyhood. 

When a boy our subject became familiar with 
frontier life in the west. His life iu Iowa gave 
him a taste of existence in newly settled locali- 
ties, where comforts were few and harships many. 
In May, 1859, he accompanied the family to 
Kansas, and has since made his home in Frank- 
lin County, of which he is a pioneer. Two years 
after his arrival here the Civil war began, and 
the entire nation was darkened by the cloud of 
strife. Nowhere was there more excitement than 
in Kan.sas, which had for years been one of the 
centres of the struggle between the north and the 
.south. With the zeal of youth and the ardor of 
a patriot, Mr. Harris resolved to offer himself to 
his country's cause. In November, 1861, his 
name was enrolled in the First Kansas Battery, 
and for eighteen months he engaged in duty on 
the frontier, taking part in numerous engage- 
ments in the west. In 1863 he was transferred 
to Tennessee, where much of his subsequent 
service was spent. With General Thomas he 
took part in the battle of Nashville in the fall of 
1864. At the expiration of his term he was 
mustered out, as a non-commissioned officer, at 
Nashville, in December, 1864. 

At the time of entering the army Mr. Harris 
had no thought that on his return he would find 
a city had sprung up on the present site of Otta- 
wa; but so he found it, and iu 1866 he settled 
here. For some time he engaged in the freight- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



169 



ing business, but the completion of the railroad 
to the west in 1868 rendered freighting unprofit- 
able, and he abandoned it. When his father re- 
tired from the county treasurer's office he suc- 
ceeded him, serving from 1868 to 1872. In 1874 
he settled on a farm ten miles southwest of Otta- 
wa, where, with his brother, M. R., he owned 
thirteen hundred and twenty acres, and engaged 
in the stock business for three years. Returning 
to Ottawa in 1877 he became president of the 
People's National Bank, and he has since been 
at the head of this institution. The bank was 
organized in 1874, and has since been one of the 
solid financial institutions in the county. Much 
of his success is due to his business judgment 
and the conservative policy he has pursued in the 
matter of investments, etc. 

A man of versatile ability, Mr. Harris is not 
only able to engage in the banking business suc- 
cessfully, but he has also wielded an iniiuencein 
public affairs. Few Republicans in Franklin 
County have been more prominent than he, and 
his services to his party have been invaluable. 
In 1876 he was elected to the state senate, and 
during the four years that he served he repre- 
sented the interests of his constituents with abil- 
ity, at the same time taking a deep interest in 
general state legislation. He was not a candidate 
for re-election, but retired at the close of his first 
term. He has several times been a member of 
ihe city council of Ottawa, and once served as its 
mayor. In 1896 he was the Republican candi- 
date for congress, but, owing to the fusion of 
the free silver tickets, he was defeated (as was 
also the state ticket), though he lest by only 
three hundred votes. As a partial return for his 
services to his party he was tendered the office 
of postmaster in December, 1898, and accepted 
the position, his son, Ralph A., being deputy 
postmaster. Public-spirited and progressive, he 
is disposed at all times to aid worth}' enterprises. 
By his intelligence and force of character he has 
not only advanced his personal success, but has 
aided in the progress of the city with whose 
progress his own life has been inseparably con- 
nected. 

Mr. Harris is a charter member of George H. 



Thomas Post No. 18, G. A. R., and in 1895 was 
department commander of Kansas, with the rank 
of general. He is a member of Franklin Lodge 
No. 18, A. F. & A. M., Ottawa Chapter, 
R. A. M., and Tancred Commandery No. 11, 
K. T. His marriage took place in Farmington, 
111., and united him with Sarah E. Zook, who 
was born in Pennsylvania, and removed to Illi- 
nois with her father, David Zook. Mr. and Mrs. 
Harris are the parents of two sons. The older, 
Ralph A., who was educated at the Northwestern 
University at Evanston, 111., was for ten years 
teller of the People's National Bank. The other 
son, Fred M., is a graduate of the University of 
Kansas, and is a practicing attorney at Ottawa, 
this state. 

HON. WILLIAM CYRUS HOWARD has 
made his home upon a farm in Palmyra 
Township, Douglas County, since 1868, 
and is the owner of four hundred and forty acres 
of valuable, well-improved land here, besides 
three hundred and twenty acres in Miami Coun- 
ty, Kans. He is a man of prominence in public 
affairs, wielding an influence in behalf of meas- 
ures for the public good. While he has been 
active in the Republican party he has displayed 
no narrow partisanship, but has been inclined 
toward liberal views. From 1888 to 1892 he 
represented his district in the state senate, dur- 
ing which time he drafted and presented the bill 
providing for the present interest laws of the 
state; also the law authorizing Chancellor Snow 
to distribute the material necessary to kill the 
pest known as the chinch bug; the primary elec- 
tion laws of the state, and laws relative to official 
bonds for a given sum opposite the name of the 
signer. 

Near Ripley, Brown County, Ohio, Mr. How- 
ard was born July 24, 1840. His father, Cyrus, 
was born in the same place December 9, 1812, 
and in early life was a boatman, but from middle 
age devoted himself to farm pursuits. Though 
he started in the world for himself without means, 
and had not even the assistance of a good educa- 
tion, yet such was his energy and ability that 
at the time of his death he left property worth 



170 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



$60,000. In politics he was first a Whig, later 
a Republican, and was active in local affairs, al- 
though he never desired office for himself. When 
he was sixty-four years of age he was clubbed to 
death near his home bj' robbers who wanted to 
secure his money. His wife, who bore the 
maiden name of Mary Stephenson, was born in 
Brown County, Ohio, in 1814, and died there at 
seventy-two years of age. Both were members 
of the New Light or Christian Church. They 
were the parents of four children, one of whom 
died in infancj', Alfred at fifty years of age, and 
Louisa when twenty-three. 

The paternal grandfather of our subject, Abner 
Howard, was born at Briar Ridge, Va. , and 
migrated to Kentucky about 1800. During the 
war of 1812 he served under General Harrison. 
Though he had no education, he was a shrewd, 
smart, capable man, quick to avail himself of 
favorable opportunities. He owned the first 
horse-tread mill in his section of country. His 
occupation was farming, in which he met with 
success. In religion he was a Methodist, and 
politically voted with the Democrats until the 
formation of the Republican party. His death 
took place at eighty -three years of age. Our 
subject's mother was a daughter of James and 
Isabelle (Kirkpatrick) Stephenson. The latter 
was born in \'irginia, and was one of two daugh- 
ters, whose father was killed by the Indians in 
1791, while on his way from Wheeling, W. Va., 
to Kentucky. James Stephen.son was born in 
Delaware, of English descent. Fort Stephenson 
was named in honor of his brother, Col. Mills 
Stephenson, who was colonel of a regiment. The 
latter was a brave soldier, and served in the war 
of 1812; also was present at the defeat of St. 
Clair in 1791, when he was only eighteen years 
old. His father, a native of Delaware, served as 
a captain in Washington's army during the 
Revolutionary war, and some years afterward, 
about 1790, settled in Kentucky. James Ste- 
phenson's father, a captain in Washington's 
army, witnessed the surrender of Cornwallis at 
Yorktowu. 

The education of our subject was obtained in 
country schools and Ripley high school. The 



descendant of patriotic soldiers, it was but natural 
that the opening of the Civil war should find him 
fired with enthusiasm in behalf of the LTnion. 
July 9, 186 1, he enli.sted in the Fourth Inde- 
pendent Ohio Cavalry, and was with McPherson 
as body guard for two years, remaining in the 
service for three years. He was slightly wound- 
ed at Utica, Miss., May 12, 1863, during the ad- 
vance on Vicksburg. Shortly after his return 
home he was elected sheriff, being the first Re- 
publican that ever held the office in his native 
county. He had never been in court until he 
went as sheriff, consequently had a very dim 
conception of the duties of his office, but, al- 
though he lacked experience, he soon proved 
himself a capable officer. At the expiration of 
his term, in 1867, became to Kansas and bought 
the farm where he has resided since 1868. 

May 12, 1866, Mr. Howard married Miss 
Lizzie M. King, of Brown County, Ohio. She 
died in 1883, leaving two sons, James Harvey, a 
farmer in Miami Countj', Kans. , and Alfred Ste- 
phen.son, a student in the Kansas law school in 
Lawrence. In 1890 Mr. Howard married Mi.ss 
Katie Grow, of Brown County, Ohio. To this 
union three children were born, one of whom 
died in infancy, the others being William Te- 
cumseh and Lannes Dassaix. Fraternally Mr. 
Howard is connected with the Masons and Odd 
Fellows. He is a public-spirited citizen, and has 
done much to promote the welfare of the people 
of his community, where he rightly ranks as an 
honorable and able man. 



30HN W. PARCELS, president of the Jewett 
Milling Company of Eudora, Douglas Coun- 
ty, was born in Wabash County, Ind., May 
13, 1843, ^ ^'On of Rev. James and Lucj' (East- 
man) Parcels, natives respectively of Virginia and 
Vermont. His father settled in Indiana in 1842, 
and continued to make his home in that state 
until 1863, when he moved toFairbury, Living- 
ston Countj', 111., spending the remainder of his 
life there. While he supported himself and fam- 
ily by means of farming, he gave much of his 
time to ministerial and missionary work in the 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



171 



Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he was a 
licensed preacher. However, while he traveled 
considerably and labored with the greatest self- 
sacrifice for the cause of Christ, he never asked 
any remuneration for his services, but was con- 
stantly giving from his private means for the sup- 
port of churches in which he was interested. He 
died at eighty j^ears of age and his wife when 
seventy-six. They were the parents of eight 
children, of whom five are living, namely: John 
W.; Martha, wife of William H. H. DeLong; 
Julia, Mrs. Clark Cozzens; Frank, ofTopeka, 
Kans. ; and Edward M., of Littleton, Colo. 

When a boy our subject became familiar with 
milling. While working at his trade in Mont- 
gomery County, Ind., in 1863, he enlisted in 
Conipan)' B, One Hundred and Sixteenth In- 
diana Infantry, in which he served for nine 
months, meantime receiving promotion to the 
rank of sergeant. His regiment was assigned to 
the Fourteenth Army Corps and served under 
General Thomas in the army of the Cumberland. 
At the expiration of his term of service, in 1864, 
he went to Fairbury, 111., where he followed his 
trade for six years. In 1870 he came to Kansas 
and accepted a situation as head miller with the 
Smucker Milling Company of Lawrence, and later 
with the Pierson Milling Company. Associated 
with S. S. Jewett, in 1894, they purchased the 
property of the Kaw Valley Milling Company 
and organized the Jewett Milling Company, of 
which he is president and general manager. Hav- 
ing made a thorough study of the milling busi- 
ness from his youth, he is familiar with all of its 
details and is equipped with the scientific and 
practical knowledge so indispensable to success 
in his occupation. 

On the Republican ticket Mr. Parcels was elec- 
ted to the city council of Eudora, in which capa- 
city he was a supporter of all measures for the 
public good. For six years he was a member of 
the board of education , during which time he took 
an active part in the management of the schools 
of his home town. Fraternally he is past grand of 
Halcyon Lodge, I. O. O. F. , of Lawrence, and 
is connected with Washington Post No. 112, 
G. A. R. He is a member of the English Luth- 



eran Church of Lawrence. December 24, 1881, 
he was united in marriage with Elizabeth, daugh- 
ter of Daniel Miles, of Indiana. One child blesses 
their union, a son, Byron M. 



cjEORGE W. KAUFMANN. The prosperity 
— of a place is dependent upon the growth and 
^ development of its business interests, and it 
is consequently a matter of the highest impor- 
tance that these should be in the hands of reli- 
able, efficient business men, who will use their 
influence, not alone for their personal advantage, 
but also for the benefit of the city. It may safely 
be said of the subject of this sketch that he has 
acted his part as a citizen of Leavenworth and 
has done all within his power to promote local 
interests. While much of his time is given to 
the management of his grocery, he has found 
time, as a member of the city council, to aid in 
enterprises that will promote Leavenworth's 
progress. 

The entire life of Mr. Kaufmann has been 
spent in Leavenworth and he is now engaged in 
business at No. 222 West Seventh street, on the 
site where stood the house in which he was born 
in 1867. His father, William Kaufmann, emi- 
grated from German}' to America and settled in 
Joliet, 111., but after a short time, in 1858, came 
to Leavenworth, Kans., where several years later 
he opened a grocery. He was the incorporator 
of the National Soap Company, which he carried 
on for seven years. From the time of his re- 
moval to this city until his retirement a few years 
ago, he was actively identified with the interests 
of the place, and took a leading part, not only 
in business matters, but also in politics. He 
married Mary Kauffmann, a native of Germany, 
but a resident of Leavenworth from girlhood. 
They are still living in this city, and are now 
advanced in years. They have but two children, 
Anna and George W. 

When a young man, our subject served an ap- 
prenticeship to the machinist's trade, but did not 
follow the occupation. For several years he was 
a partner in the National Soap Company. In 
1891 he opened a grocery business, which he has 



172 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



since successfully carried on. Besides his store, 
he is the owner of considerable real estate, in- 
cluding a residence on Chestnut street. In 1887 
he married Ida, daughter of J. H. Rothenberger. 
They have two children, Henry William and 
Edith. 

In politics a Republican, Mr. Kaufmann was 
elected on this ticket in 1897 to represent the 
third ward in the city council and two years later 
he was re-elected for another term. He has 
taken an active part in the work of the council 
and has served as chairman of the fire and 
market committees and a member of other com- 
mittees. His service in the council has been en- 
tirely satisfactory to the people of the third ward. 
Every matter for the benefit of the city receives 
his aid, and all public-spirited projects find him 
at the front. Fraternally he is connected with 
King Solomon Lodge No. 10, A. F. & A. M., 
and Leavenworth Court No. 10, F. of A., in 
both of which lodges he has held offices. 



pQlLLIAM HUGHES. During the entire 
I A / pc^'io'l since the earliest settlement of Kan- 
YY sas, Mr. Hughes has been identified with 
its history. Fond of the stirring and adventurous 
scenes of pioneer life, he was fitted to aid in the 
task of transforming the uninhabited prairie with 
its raw, undeveloped land, into the home of a 
busy, industrious and contented people. When, 
in 1855, he came to Kansas, he secured employ- 
ment in Lawrence. The next year he bought a 
team and began freighting over the plains to 
Fort Union, N. M., but after having made two 
trips he turned his attention to other work. In 
1858 he rented forty acres from Captain Parks, 
chief of the Shawnee Indians, and four years later 
he commenced to buy land from Indians, his first 
purchase being two hundred acres of raw land. 
Afterward he continued to add to his property 
until at one time he was the owner of eleven hun- 
dred acres, but he has disposed of six hundred 
acres, and now owns five hundred, on which he 
has for years engaged in raising stock and feed- 
ing cattle for the market. He is a lover of good 
horses and has several head on his place. In 1867 



he built a substantial brick residence, which was 
the finest farm house built up to that time in 
Douglas County, and which is still one of the 
best in Eudora Township. 

Born in Wales, April 9, 1833, our subject is a 
.son of Samuel Hughes, a native of Wales, who 
crossed the ocean in 1839 and settled near Pitts- 
burg, Pa., there engaging in farm pursuits. He 
met with an accident in 1844 and died from its 
effects at the age of sixty years. His wife, who 
bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Edwards, was 
born in Wales and died in Pittsburg in 1S44. 
They were the parents of ten children, seven of 
whom are living, viz.: Samuel, of Arizona; Will- 
iam; Sallie, widow of Charles Taylor; Elizabeth; 
Annie; Lewis C, who was governor of Arizona 
under President^Cleveland and is now editor of the 
Arizona S/a^; and Thomas, also of Arizona. 

At the time the family emigrated to America 
our subject was six years of age. Left an orphan 
at an early age, he became a w^ard of the wife of 
Gen. William Robinson, a wealthy citizen of 
Pittsburg. He remained in the east until after 
attaining his majority, when, at the opening of 
Kansas for settlement, he cast in his lot with the 
pioneers of this then territory. He arrived in 
Lawrence March 15, 1855, with fifty cents in his 
pocket; but, though lacking money, he did not 
lack perseverance and determination, and subse- 
quent j'ears brought him a large degree of pros- 
perity, -as well as considerable prominence. Dur- 
ing the border wars he was associated with John 
Brown in the battles of Black Jack and Osawato- 
mie and was also with Captain Vigerrton at Fort 
Saunders and Titus. At the time oftheQuan- 
trell raid he was one of the party that captured 
Skeggs, one of the most daring of the raiders. 
His sympathies were strongly on the side of the 
Union and he never hesitated to declare his opin- 
ions openly without fear of consequences. Ac- 
tive in Republican local politics, he a.ssists the 
campaigns in Eudora Township and works for 
the party candidates. Believing firmly in the 
advantages of a good education, he has given his 
family liberal advantages, besides helping several 
orphans, and has also aided the schools of his 
township. 




FRANCIS HrNTINGTON SNOW, Ph. D., LL. D. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



175 



August 28, 1858, Mr. Hughes married Ellen J. , 
daughter of Alexander and Jane (McWilliams) 
Robinson, of Sharpsburg, Pa. They have two 
.sons: William R., ex-count}' clerk of Custer 
Count}', Okla., and now clerk of the district 
court; and Thomas J. , a stock-raiser of that county. 
Fraternally Mr. Hughes is connected with Law- 
rence Lodge No. 4, I. O. O. F. He has been 
prominent in connection with fairs, aiding the 
Bismarck and the Kansas state fairs, and he has 
also given liberal contributions to other worthy 
enterprises. He organized the first Sunday- 
school in the Kaw Valley and maintained it per- 
sonally for ten years. 



^RANCIS HUNTINGTON SNOW, Ph. D., LL. D., 
yis chancellor of the University of Kansas, 
I » has been connected with this institution 
during the entire period of its history, and 
the record of his life is, in its vital points, a his- 
tory of the university. No one has labored more 
untiringly than he to promote its advancement 
and broaden the scope of its influence. When, 
in 1 866, he was elected a member of the faculty 
and came west to accept the chair of mathematics 
and natural science, he found himself one of a 
faculty of three, in charge of a school of fifty-five 
students. As the years passed by he contributed 
to the rapid growth of the school, to the success 
of which his reputation as an instructor added 
not a little. In 1870 he was transferred to the 
chair of natural history, the university having 
increased by that time to an attendance of two 
hundred and twenty-seven, while the faculty had 
nine members. He occupied three rooms in the 
main building, soon after its erection in 1872, 
continuing there until 1886, when Snow Hall 
was completed, and for four years he had charge 
of recitations in that building. When, in 1889, 
he was elected president of the facultj' and placed 
in charge of the educational work, there was an 
attendance of five hundred and eight students, 
with thirty-three instructors. In 1890 he was 
made chancellor, which responsible position he 
has since filled with the greatest efficiency. The 
subsequent growth has been most gratifying. In 

4 



1891 the preparatory department was cut off, 
since which time the number of accredited high 
schools has increased from sixty- four to one 
hundred and forty-seven. During the last term 
C 1 898-99) there was an attendance of one 
thousand and eighty-seven students, and the 
faculty now numbers .sixty-nine members, 
among whom are many instructors of national 
reputation. 

The work of Chancellor Snow has been not 
onlj' in the direction of increasing the attendance 
at the university, but he has endeavored to en- 
large the facilities and broaden the advantages 
offered to the students. Realizing the need of 
suitable buildings for various purposes, he has 
striven to secure the funds necessary for their 
erection, and in this work he has been remark- 
ably successful, having enlisted the sympathy of 
manj' men of large means and philanthropic 
spirit. In 1895 the Physics building was erected 
by a state appropriation, and three years later 
the Fowler building, with every facility for in- 
struction in engineering, was erected, a gift from 
George A. Fowler, of Kansas City. The most 
valuable private endowment was one of $95,000, 
given by an uncle of Chancellor Snow, William 
B. Spooner.a wealthy merchant of Boston, whose 
wife was Lucy Huntington. This generous gift 
rendered po.ssible the magnificent Spooner library, 
a modern, fire-proof building, provided with 
every facility and containing a fine collection of 
books. 

For a period of twenty-five years Dr. Snow 
devoted his vacations to the collection of material 
for the museum of natural history which is now 
a part of the university. In 1885 the state leg- 
islature, in appreciation of his labors, appropri- 
ated the sum of $50,000 to be expended in the 
erection of a building in which this splendid col- 
lection might be preserved. This building was 
completed in 1886 at an expense of $50,000 and 
named Snow Hall, in honor of Chancellor Snow. 

As many as eighty lineal ancestors of Chancel- 
lor Snow came to America between 1620 and 
1640. Three ancestors took part in the Revolu- 
tion and many participated in the colonial wars. 
His father, Benjamin Snow, was born in West- 



176 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



moreland, N. H., and became a merchant and 
manufacturer of paper at Fitchburg, Mass., also 
president of a savings bank there and a director 
in the Rollstone National Bank. He died in that 
town when seventy-five j-ears of age. His 
father, Benjamin Snow, .Sr., was a native of 
Lunenburg, Mass., and for some years engaged 
in the mercantile business at Westmoreland, 
N. H., but, when his son was eleven years old, 
removed to Fitchburg, Mass. , where he died in 
his eighty-ninth year. He married Alfreda Hall, 
a descendant of Richard Warren, who came in 
the "Mayflower," and also of George Hall, who 
came from Devonshire, England, in 1636, settled 
in Taunton, Mass., was one of the proprietors of 
the first iron works in this country, served as 
chairman of the board of selectmen and was one 
of the founders of the Pilgrim Congregational 
Church. The father of Benjamin Snow, Sr., was 
Lieut. Silas Snow, who was born in Lunenburg, 
Mass. , and became an early settler of Fitchburg. 
His father, William, was asonof Zerubabel, who 
was the son of John, and grandson of Richard 
Snow, who emigrated from England in 1640 and 
three years later settled in Woburn, Mass. 

The mother of Chancellor Snow was Mary, 
daughter of David and Ruth Baldwin (Hunting- 
ton) Boutelle, and a member of the family to 
which belonged ex-Governor Boutwell, of Massa- 
chusetts. David Boutelle, who died at ninety- 
three years, was a son of David, Sr., whose father, 
James, was a son of James (4th). The latter' s 
father, James (3d), was a son of James (2d), the 
son of James Boutelle (ist), the founder of the 
family in America, and one of the original set- 
tlers of Reading, Mass. David Boutelle, Sr., en- 
listed from Leominster, Mass., in the Revolu- 
tionary war; he married a daughter, of Lieut. 
Luke Richardson, who enlisted in the colonial 
army as a private and was promoted to the rank 
of lieutenant. 

Dr. Christopher Huntington, father of Ruth 
Baldwin Huntington, was a descendant of Simon 
Huntington, who was born in Norwich, Eng- 
land, and started with his wife and three children 
to America, but died on the ocean. His wife, 
Margaret (Baret) Huntington, came on with the 



children and settled at Norwich, Conn., where 
their homestead is in the hands of their descend- 
ants. Her son, Christopher (ist), was the first 
town clerk of Norwich, Conn., and, with the ex- 
ception of two terms, the ofBce has since been 
held by descendants. Deacon Christopher Hunt- 
ington (2d) was the first white male child born 
in Norwich, Conn. His son, Christopher (3d), 
was the father of Christopher (4th), a physician, 
whose son, Christopher (5th), also a physician, 
was the great-grandfather of Chancellor Snow. 
Christopher Huntington (ist) married Ruth 
Rockwell, from whom Gen. U. S. Grant was a 
direct descendant. 

Chancellor Snow also traces his lineage to 
Capt. James Leonard, of Pontypool, Wales, who 
settled in Taunton, Mass., in 1652 and died in 
1691. His descendants were iron workers, and 
also took an active part in the Indian wars. 
One of the ancestors was John Prescott, a native 
of Yorkshire, England, a noted Indian fighter, 
of Lancaster, Mass. Other ancestors were Capt. 
Nathaniel Wilder, who was killed by Indians at 
Lancaster; Capt. Peter Joslin, whose first wife 
and four children were massacred by savages; 
and Rev. Thomas Carter, who came from Eng- 
land in 1635, and was the first minister at Wo- 
burn, Mass.; his son, Samuel Carter, graduated 
from Harvard College in i66o. 

Of the family of Benjamin Snow, Jr., compris- 
ing six children, only two are living. One son, 
Benjamin, died in Lawrence when twenty-eight 
years of age. Francis Huntington Snow was 
bom in Fitchburg, Mass., June 29, 1840, and 
graduated from the high school of his native 
town. In 1858 he matriculated in Williams Col- 
lege, from which he graduated, as valedictorian 
of the class of 1862, with the degree of 
A. B. While in college he was president 
of the Lyceum of natural history and the 
Philologian Literary Society. In 1865 the 
degree of A. M. was conferred upon him by 
his alma mater. In 1862 he accepted the 
principal-ship of the Fitchburg high school, and 
later was his father's chief clerk for a year. In 
1864 he entered Andover Theological Seminary, 
at Andover, Mass. , from which he graduated in 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



177 



1866, and was licensed to preach in the Congre- 
gational denomination. Immediately afterward 
he accepted a chair in the University of Kansas, 
then being established, and at once began his 
long and honorable connection with one of the 
greatest institutions of the west. 

At Andover, Mass., July 8, 1868, Chancellor 
Snow married Miss Jane Appleton Aiken, who 
was born in Lowell, Mass., and was a namesake 
of her aunt, the wife of President Franklin Pierce. 
Her father, John Aiken, descended from Edward 
Aiken, who was born in the north of Ireland, of 
Scotch lineage, and settled in Londonderry, 
N. H. Her mother, Mary M., was a daughter of 
Jesse Appleton, D.D., president of Bowdoin Col- 
lege, whose ancestry can be traced to 1414 
in England. The first of the Appletons in this 
country was Samuel Appleton, who came from 
Waddingfield, England, in a very early day. 
The family took an honorable part in the Revo- 
lutionary and Indian wars. One of the ancestors 
was Samuel Symonds, an early governor of 
Massachusetts colony. Mrs. Snow received an 
excellent education, attending Abbot Female 
Academy in Andover. Of her marriage six 
children were born, five of whom are living. The 
eldest, William Appleton Snow, graduated from 
the University of Kansas with the degree of B. S. , 
later received the degree of M. S., and is now an 
instructor in Leland Stanford, Jr., University in 
California. The oldest daughter, Martha Boutelle 
Snow, graduated from the University of Kansas 
in 1898, and is the wife of William Harvey 
Brown, a graduate of the University of Kansas, 
class of 1888, a pioneer of Salisbury, South 
Africa, and a participant in many of the exciting 
events in Rhodesia, concerning which he has 
written in his "On the South African Frontier," 
published by Scribner in 1899. The second 
daughter, Mary Margaret, who was educated in 
the University of Kansas, is the wife of Ermine 
C. Case, a professor in the Wisconsin State Nor- 
mal at Milwaukee. The youngest children are 
Edith Huntington and Frank Lawrence Snow. 
The former is a student in the university, and 
the latter is now in South Africa with his sister, 
Mrs. Brown. 



Since 1889 Chancellor Snow has been an ex- 
officio member of the state board of education. His 
interest in educational work is broad and endur- 
ing, and the high standing of Kansas as an educa- 
tional centre is not a little due to his wise efforts. 
Frequently he has contributed to scientific jour- 
nals, about one hundred articles from his pen hav- 
ing been published, mainly in Kansas. He is a 
member of the Cambridge Entomological Society 
and has acted as an editor of "Psyche," the organ 
of that societ)-. The university educational exhibit 
at the World's Fair, which attracted considerable 
notice and revealed the high standing of Kansas 
in educational work, was made under his super- 
vision. He is a director of the Museum of Natu- 
ral History and a director of the University Ex- 
perimental Station established for the destruction 
of chinch bugs. He was one of the founders of 
the Kansas Academy of Science, of which he is 
a life member. The National Educational Asso- 
ciation numbers him among its members, and he 
is also connected with the North Central Asso- 
ciation of Colleges and Secondary Schools. He 
is a fellow of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science, and a member of the 
Delta Ypsilon, of the national society of which 
he was recently president. 

In 188 1 the degree of Ph. D. was conferred 
upon Chancellor Snow by Williams College. At 
the time of his inauguration as chancellor, in 
1890, announcement was made that the degree 
of D. D. had been conferred upon him by Prince- 
ton College. While he was ordained to the 
ministry, his work has been mainly in the line of 
educational effort, although during the first two 
years of his residence in Lawrence he preached 
every Sunday for Congregational Churches 
in Lawrence and vicinity. For twenty-five years 
he has been the teacher of a Bible class in Ply- 
mouth Congregational Church, and during much 
of the time he has served as a trustee and dea- 
con. He is in sympathy with the principles of 
the Republican party and usually votes that 
ticket. His descent from pioneer fighting stock 
entitles him to admission in the Society of 
American Wars and he is a prominent member 
of the same. 



178 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



In summing up the life and character of Chan- 
cellor Snow, it may be said that he is one of the 
best-known educators in the United States. His 
mental powers are of an unusually strong and 
vigorous order. His wide experience, his habits 
of comprehensive reading, his insight into human 
nature and his love for the young, qualify him to 
stand at the head of an institution that is accom- 
plishing -SO much in the moulding of the charac- 
ters of the 3'oung men and women of Kansas. 



(lOHN H. JOHNS, chief engineer and super- 
I intendent of construction at the National 
(2/ Military Home, Leavenworth, was born in 
Cincinnati, Ohio, June 5, 1847, a son of James 
H. and Elizabeth (Fetters) Johns. His father, 
who was born in Philadelphia, removed from 
there to Cincinnati in 1838, and in the latter city 
he began carpentering and building. After a 
time he was recognized as one of the leading 
architects of the place and was employed in the 
construction of many important buildings. His 
death occurred in Cincinnati in 1876, when he 
was seventy-four years of age, having survived 
his wife eight years. He was a son of David 
Johns, who was a soldier in the war of 1812, and 
whose father served in the colonial army during 
the Revolution. In the family of James H. 
Johns there were eight children, but only four 
of these are now living, one, William H., being 
a civil engineer in Silver Star City, Mont., and 
Samuel F. , a builder and contractor in Cincin- 
nati, while the only daughter living is the wife 
of Maj. William Thompson, of the National 
Soldiers' Home at Hampton, Va. 

For years, during his early manhood, the sub- 
ject of this sketch was engaged in civil and me- 
chanical engineering in Cincinnati, and he con- 
tinued to reside in that city until 1885, when he 
accepted his present position as chief engineer 
and superintendent of construction at the Na- 
tional Military Home in Leavenworth. When 
he was seventeen years of age he enlisted in 
Company C, One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Ohio 
Infantry, and served on detached duty until the 
close of the Civil war, having charge of the guard 



of prisoners in southern Marj'land. He has al- 
ways been a patriotic, public-spirited citizen, and 
in politics has been identified with the Republican 
party. By his marriage, in 1869, to Miss Mary 
Porter, of Cincinnati, he has three children, viz.: 
Elizabeth, wife of George Williams, of Kansas 
Citj'; Ruth and Grace. 

Fraternally Mr. Johns is a member of Leaven- 
worth Lodge No. 2, A. F. & A. M., and is past 
grand of Cincinnati Lodge No. 3, I. O. O. F. 
For years he has been connected with the Grand 
Army and interested in its welfare and reunions. 
He is, in point of years of active connection with 
the Soldiers' Home, the oldest employe here, 
having accepted his present position when the 
Home was first established, and has since had 
charge of the construction of all the buildings. 



(Joseph H. HARRISON, a retired farmer of 
I Wakarusa Township, Douglas County, 
(2/ w-as born in Alabama, December 22, 1828. 
He is descended from one of five brothers who 
came to America prior to the Revolutionary' war 
and settled in different parts of the country, his an- 
cestor going to the south. His father, Jesse, who 
was a millwright and for some years worked in 
cotton mills, removed to Missouri in 1829 and 
engaged in carpentering. As the locality in 
which the family settled was on the frontier, 
whither as yet few pioneers had made their way, 
the advantages for obtaining an education were 
very meagre, and hence our subject had few op- 
portunities to attend school. Most of his time 
was given to assisting in the clearing of the farm. 
At the time of the Mexican war he volunteered 
under Col. N. B. Holden, but he was so young 
that the officers refused to accept him. For a 
time he was employed in freighting for the gov- 
ernment. 

In 1854 Mr. Harrison came to Kansas and 
took up one hundred and sixty acres where he 
now resides, and he has a government patent for 
the land. When he arrived in Lawrence June 4, 
the first cabin in the town was being built, and 
this building stood until very recently. He has 
witnessed the growth of the place from a hamlet 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



179 



with one house to a large, prosperous city, the 
seat of the state university, the home of an intel- 
ligent people, and the center of wide commercial 
interests. After building a log house on his 
land he began to improve the place, and engaged 
in general farming here. With a few colts and 
cattle he embarked in the stock business, and in 
time became the owner of valuable stock. After 
he had accumulated some means he bought an 
eighty-acre tract south of his original quarter- 
section, and built a neat farm house, which, 
standing on an elevation, occupies a fine location. 
The land is improved with all the accessories of 
a modern farm, and he has a garden and vine- 
yard, in addition to other improvements. 

Prior to the war Mr. Harrison was a stanch 
free-state man. He incurred the dislike of pro- 
slavery advocates and twice his horses were 
stolen from him, but each time he recovered 
them. Formerly a Democrat, he now votes 
with the Populists. He has filled the offices of 
road overseer and school director. During the 
Civil war he engaged in freighting for the gov- 
ernment between Kansas and New Mexico. 
At one time he was a member of the Grange. 
By his marriage to Mrs. Martha A. Randolph 
eight children were born, but only two are now 
living, viz.: Joseph M., who since his father's 
retirement has had charge of a portion of the 
home farm; and Lucy J., who married Seigel 
Rose, and lives on a part of the old homestead. 



^USTAV A. GRABBER, member of the firm 
I— of Graeber Brothers, of Lawrence, is a man 
\^ of striking and original personality, and for 
years has been a conspicuous figure in his home 
town. A resident of Lawrence from boyhood he 
started the first boat house here, and continued 
its keeper for fourteen years, during which time 
not a single accident occurred. During the ex- 
istence of the Lawrence Boat Club he was also 
employed as its keeper. He was instrumental in 
getting the first racing shell on the river. As a 
swimmer and diver he has no superior, and in 
boating he is also an expert. On three after- 
noons in succession he shot over the dam in a 



boat, a most hazardous undertaking, and one 
which no one else has ever attempted. Often he 
dived for the large fish that came up to the foot 
of the mill race, and in this he soon excelled. 
He constructed a hook attached to a short line, 
and with this he would dive and feel his way to 
the place he knew the large fish to be. When 
he touched the fish, he would, quick as a flash, 
with a downward stroke, hook it usually down 
from the top of the back; then would come the 
struggle, which always ended fortunately for 
him, although he had some narrow escapes. In 
this way he caught fish weighing from twenty- 
five to eighty pounds each, his best record as to 
number being nine fish in twelve minutes. His 
boat house was a fine one, furnished with an 
equipment of row boats and sail boats. In addi- 
tion to this work he started the first mandolin 
club and the second skating rink in Lawrence. 
In his rink he employed steam power for grind- 
ing the skates, and had other improvements of a 
modern nature. Upon selling out his boat busi- 
ness, in June, 1895, he engaged with his broth- 
ers, Albert and Carl, in the plumbing, heating 
and gas-fitting business, under the firm name of 
Graeber Brothers. They have their office and shop 
at No. 728 Massachusetts street, and are prepared 
to do thorough work in their line, the two broth- 
ers being practical plumbers (while our subject 
gives his attention to the general management of 
the business). The firm had the contract for the 
plumbing system at Haskell Institute, the Fow- 
ler building in the University of Kansas, as well 
as some of the finest residences in the city. 

Carl Graeber, our subject's father, was a son 
of Johan Graeber, a shoemaker, who served in the 
war of 1812-15, taking part of the battles of Leip- 
sic and Waterloo, and died in Germany May 5, 
1866, at the age of seventy-four. The latter's 
father was a soldier under Frederick the Great. 
In Bartenstein, East Prussia, Germany, where 
he was born in 1825, Carl Graeber learned the 
trade of a shoemaker. For three and one-half 
years he was a member of the Thirty -fifth Regu- 
lar Infantry, serving his time mostly on the 
French line. May 19, 1852, he set sail from 
Hamburg for America, landing on the loth of 



i8o 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



July. He proceeded via Chicago to LaSalle, 111. , 
where he followed his trade. In 1857 he came 
to Kansa.s and secured a claim, after which he 
returned for his family. His first home in Kan- 
sas was eight miles south of Clinton. In 1861 
became to Lawrence to work at his trade, leaving 
his family at Franklin. August 20, 1863, cir- 
cumstances arose which made it necessarj' for 
him to return home for a short time. Thus he 
fortunately escaped the Quantrell massacre of 
the next day, in which his employer was shot. 
Shortlj' afterward he brought his family to Law- 
rence, and here he has since followed his trade. 
While in Illinois he was married, at Chicago, to 
Miss Apolonia Braun, who was born in Hesse- 
Darmstadt, and came with her mother to Ameri- 
ca. They became the parents of six children: 
Gustav A., who was born in Illinois February 
27, 1855; Otto, of Pueblo, Colo.: Albert and Carl, 
of Lawrence; Laura and Minna, at home. Dur- 
ing the Price raid the father served as a member 
of Company B, Seventeenth Kansas Militia. 

Our subject is a charter member of the Frater- 
nal Aid As.sociation. He was married in St. 
Joe, Mo., to Miss Margaret Eyre, who was born 
in England, and by whom he has one son, 
Arling. 

QROF. GEORGE B. PENNY. There is no 
L/^ department connected with the University of 
fS Kansas more popular than the school of fine 
arts, which was organized under the immediate 
supervision of Professor Penny, and of which he 
is the dean. He was called to the university in 
1890, having been elected dean of the school of 
music, a department for which his long and thor- 
ough course of preparation, as well as natural 
gifts, admirably qualified him. Two years after 
taking this chair he organized the school of fine 
arts, which now has an attendance of two hun- 
dred and twenty-five students. This school is 
not the result of a spasmodic effort, but of calm, 
deliberate and intelligent thought. Teachers 
have been selected with the greatest care, differ- 
ent courses have been established and made self- 
sustaining, and the work placed upon a practical 
and .systematic basis. Instruction is given in 



pianoforte, pipe organ, voice and violin, drawing 
and painting, elocution and oratorj-. Besides his 
other work, he gives lectures on the history of 
the fine arts, acts as instructor on the pipe organ, 
and superintends the four years' theoretical 
course in harmony and composition. Concerts 
are frequentl}' given in the city of Lawrence, the 
high character of which shows the advance made 
by the pupils. 

At Haverstraw on the Hudson, N. Y. , the 
subject of this sketch was born June 30, 1861, a 
son of Rev. Joshua and Sarah Janet (Barlow) 
Penny. His father was born at Moriches, L. L, 
March 17, 1815, the oldest of the ten children of 
Joseph and Sally (Moore) Penny, the latter 
the daughter of a prominent merchant of River- 
head, L. I. In a very early day the Penny fami- 
ly settled in Connecticut and later removed from 
thereto Long Island. Rev. Joshua Penny, who 
was a Protestant Methodist minister, continued 
active in the work of his profession until his 
voice failed, while he was filling a pastorate at 
Tompkins Cove, N. Y. He then engaged in the 
lumber business at Haverstraw, after which he 
was interested, successively, in general merchan- 
dising and the manufacture of brick. At the 
time of his death, in 1890, he was residing in 
New York City. During his entire life he con- 
tinued prominent in his denomination, and at 
Garnerville, near his home, he erected a Method- 
ist Episcopal hou.se of worship from his private 
funds and supplied the pulpit. 

The mother of Professor Penny was born in 
Haverstraw, N. Y., in 1840, and was the third 
child of Jonathan and Melissa (Gumee) Barlow, 
the latter a daughter of Hon. Abraham Gumee, 
who served his state as representative and sena- 
tor. Jonathan Barlow was born in Delaware 
County, N. Y., in 1811, became a manufacturer of 
the Es.sex sewing needle, and died at Haver- 
straw. His father, William Barlow, was born at 
Sackville, N. B., in 1782, but spent his life 
principally as a farmer in New York state. He 
was a man of splendid physique and attained a 
great age. His wife bore the maiden name of 
Abigail Robertson. The genealogy of the Bar- 
low familj' is traced to Jonathan Barlow, who 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



i8i 



crossed the ocean in the ship, ' ' Thomas and 
William," to Halifax, settling in New Bruns- 
wick in 1774. He was closely related to Rev. 
Samuel Rogers, of Rhode Island. During the 
Revolution or shortlj' afterward he moved to 
Walton, Delaware County, N. Y., his sympathy 
with the colonial cause having led him to remove 
from a British province; for, although he was of 
English birth, born twenty miles from York, he 
did not side with England in the war, but was a 
stanch patriot and a believer in independence. 
He became the owner of one of the finest farms 
in Delaware County and a prominent man in its 
early history. Mrs. Sarah J. Penny is still liv- 
ing and makes her home in New York. She is 
the mother of five children, viz.: George B.; 
Alice, wife of Gustav Oberlander, of Indianapo- 
lis, Ind.; Laura, of New York; William, who is 
connected with the Shoe and Leather Bank in 
New York; and Charles, a lumber merchant of 
that city. 

The education of our subject was begun in the 
private school of Lavalette Wilson, A. M., at Hav- 
erstraw and the Hackettstown (N. J.) Collegiate 
Institute. He entered Cornell with the class of 
1884, remaining until the sophomore year, when 
he left school for a year and devoted himself to the 
study of music, which he had previously pursued 
for several years. From boj'hood he had 
evinced musical talent and had made rapid prog- 
ress in the art. When nineteen years of age he 
began to give concerts, in which much of the 
best work was done by himself. In 1885 he 
graduated from Cornell with the degree of B. S., 
and was one of the commencement orators. 
After graduating he became professor of music in 
Girton College and Dalhousie University, Hali- 
fax, N. S. , but after two years resigned and re- 
turned to New York City, becoming a member 
of the faculty of Metropolitan College of Music 
on Fourteenth street. Soon he was called from 
there to the chair of music in the State Normal 
School at Emporia, Kans., and in 1890 he re- 
signed this position in order to become a profes- 
sor in the University of Kansas. He has had the 
advantage of study abroad, as well as under the 
best masters in tliis country. In 1886 he studied 



in England and France, and again in 1888. In 
April, i8g6, accompanied by his wife, he sailed 
for Europe, where he studied Greek and Roman 
art, and in Greece and Italy, archaeology, and 
made a special study of the galleries of Europe. 
His visit to the Island of Sicily, rich in its speci- 
mens of Greek art, was especially interesting and 
profitable. During the winter of 1899-1900, 
Professor Penny will conduct the Egyptian sec- 
tion of an oriental party of about three hundred 
persons, principally from New England. The 
tour will include all of the Mediterranean coun- 
tries. He is identified with the National Educa- 
tional Association, holds membership with the 
Psi Ypsilon of Cornell, also with the Knights of 
Pythias, and is a vestryman in Trinity Episcopal 
Church of Lawrence. 

In Tarrytown, N. Y., January 6, 1891, Profes- 
sor Penny married Miss Beulah Ray White, who 
was born in that city and educated in the Ladies' 
Institute there. Her father was Judge Robert 
F. White, of Tarrytown, and her mother was a 
member of the old and prominent family of 
Dixons there. Professor and Mrs. Pennj- have 
two sons, Carl and Vernon. 



EAPT. THOMAS L. JOHNSON. As a rep- 
resentative of the intelligence and integrity 
of the people of Leavenworth, the subject of 
this sketch occupies no ordinary position. He 
is favorably known in his home city, and is 
especially prominent among the pioneers, of 
whom he is one. In recognition of his ability 
and trustworthiness, he has frequently been 
called upon to fill local positions of trust and re- 
sponsibility, and the duties of these positions he 
has discharged with fidelity and to the satisfac- 
tion of all. In politics a Republican, he has for 
many years been a strong believer in, and advo- 
cate of, the course adopted by his party, and 
among its members in Leavenworth he has long 
wielded an important influence. 

Born in Somerset County, Pa., February 15, 
1834, the subject of this sketch is a sou of James 
and Julia Ann (Graham) Johnson, natives of 
Pennsylvania. When he was three years of age 



l82 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



he was taken to Illinois by his parents, and his 
father was afterward engaged extensively in the 
shipment of merchandise bj' flat boats to St. Louis 
and New Orleans. The family of which he is a 
member consisted of seven children, namely: 
Isabella G. , now the widow of Martin Eichelber- 
ger, and a resident of Pennsylvania; Robert, de- 
ceased; Catherine, Mrs. Shafer, who died in 
Illinois; George G., an artist, who died in Cleve- 
land, Ohio; Thomas L.; James J., amajorofthe 
First Arkansas Cavalry in the Civil war and now 
a resident of Lewiston, Fulton County, 111.; and 
Capt. W. S. , who was wounded seriously during 
his service in the First Arkansas Cavalry and is 
now living in Washington, D. C. 

The education acquired by our subject was 
such as the common schools of Illinois afforded. 
After leaving school he learned the printer's 
trade, which he followed for some years. March 
20, 1857, found him in Kansas, with whose sub- 
sequent history he has been identified. He wit- 
nessed the struggle for supremacj* between the 
free-state party and the pro-slavery men, and 
aided the former in its efforts to gain the victory. 
For a long time he was connected with the press, 
being for years local editor of the Herald in 
Leavenworth, as well as local editor of the paper 
started by United States Senator Ross. After- 
ward he was employed as mail agent from Kansas 
City to Ellis on the Union Pacific and from 
Leavenworth to Miltondale on the narrow gauge. 

The Republican party has always had in 
Captain Johnson a stanch advocate and friend. 
Upon the ticket he was three times elected to 
represent the third ward in the council, and for 
four years he held the office of clerk of the 
criminal court, also served as deputy clerk of 
the district court for two years. Recognizing his 
ability to fill positions of responsibilitj-, his part}- 
in 1872 elected him to the state senate of Kansas 
and for two years he held the office, which he 
filled with credit to himself and to the satisfaction 
of his constituents. At one time he was a can- 
didate for probate judge. For two terms he was 
president of the town council and acting mayor 
of the cit)-. In 1897 he was nominated unani- 
mously for mayor by the Republican party in its 



convention, but, owing to an independent Repub- 
lican running, he failed to be elected. Since 
1893 he has been justice of the peace. Governor 
Humphrey appointed him police commissioner, 
but he returned the commi.ssion, not desiring the 
office. The same governor appointed him notarj' 
public August 26, 1892, and Governor Morrill 
re-appointed him to the office four years later. 
January 9, 1897, he was chosen to succeed to the 
office of police judge upon the death of Judge 
AUer, and this office he held until the Populists 
came into power. He usually attends the county 
and state conventions of his party, and his influ- 
ence is felt among its leaders throughout the 
state. It is doubtful if there are manj^ citizens 
who take a keener interest in public affairs than 
does he, and certainly no one is more deeply in- 
terested in the success of Republican principles. 

For more than thirt}- j'ears he has been identi- 
fied with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
and has been presented with the veteran's badge 
in recognition of his many years of membership 
in the order. He is the sole survivor in Leaven- 
worth of those who organized the Leavenworth 
Typographical Union No. 45 in 1858. By de- 
scent and education, he is a believer in the Pres- 
byterian faith. During the Civil war he was in 
Illinois. With an intense desire to assist the 
government, he at once threw his energies into 
securing the enlistment of men. He raised a 
company of one hundred and fifteen men and re- 
ceived from Governor Oglesby the commission 
as captain of Company B, One Hundred and 
Fift3'-.sixth Illinois Infantry, also acted as ranking 
captain of the regiment. From Chicago, where 
he was mustered in, the command was ordered 
to the south, and served principally in Missouri, 
Arkansas and Tennessee. During his term of 
service he was once wounded; this, however, was 
but a slight wound. Since the estabUshment of 
the Grand Army of the Republic he has been 
one of its members and interested in its work. 

February 18, 1864, occurred the marriage of 
Captain Johnson to Miss Mary Margaret Piper, 
of Canton, Fulton County, 111. Seven children 
were born of their union, four of whom are living, 
viz. : Paul B., proprietor of the Bell steam laundry 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



185 



in Leavenworth; Thomas Lee, a graduate of the 
United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, now 
an ensign in the navy and on the "Massachu- 
setts" during the siege of Santiago in 1898; 
Edith E., a teacher in the Oak street school; and 
Ortha Belle, who is librarian in the high school. 
All are graduates of the Leavenworth high 
school. 



HON. SAMUEL A. RIGGS, judge of the 
fourth district of Kansas, has resided in 
Lawrence since the spring of 1859, and has 
been one of the influential attorneys and public 
men of this city. He traces his aucestry to Miles 
Riggs, who came from Wales to America, and 
settled at Plymouth, Mass., crossing the ocean 
in the "Mayflower," or one of the boats that fol- 
lowed shortly afterward. He died at Roxbury, 
Mass. His sons removed to Connecticut, and 
later one of them, Edward, settled in what is now 
New Jersey. From him the line is traced through 
Miles, Edward and Joseph, to Joseph (2d), who 
located in Washington County, Pa., prior to 
1790. His son, Stephen, in 1795 married Annie 
Baird, of Fayette County, Pa., and in 1799 
moved to Mercer County, Pa., thence in 1806 to 
Franklin County, Pa., and in 1809 settled on a 
farm four miles west of Steubenville, Jefierson 
County, Ohio. 

Of the eleven children of Stephen Riggs, 
Joseph was born in Washington County, Pa., 
July 2, 1796. He went to Ohio in 1809, when 
Jefferson County was a wilderness and the sur- 
rounding country was wholly unimproved. 
Pittsburg, Pa, (then called Fort Pitt), had a 
population of only one thousand, including 
suburbs. After returning from service in the 
war of 18 1 2 he started out for himself. In 18 17 
he went down the Ohio on a flat boat as far as 
Manchester, Adams County, then walked to 
West Union, the county seat, where he secured 
employment as clerk in a bank. In 1824 he was 
elected auditor of the count}', to which he was 
three times re-elected. In 1831 he was elected 
state senator. In 1833, immediately after the 
close of the session of the senate, he removed to 
Hanging Rock, Lawrence County, Ohio, where 



he was engaged in manufacturing iron, and built 
the first rolling mill there. In 1835 he removed 
to Portsmouth, Ohio, where he was interested in 
rolling mills at first, but later engaged in the 
mercantile business, continuing the latter until he 
died, July 28, 1877. He had served as a member 
of the city council for many years, and also as 
surveyor of that city. He was a ruling elder 
in the Presbyterian Church more than thirty 
years. 

Decembers, 1819, Joseph Riggs married Re- 
becca G., daughter of Rev. William Baldridge. 
She was born near the Natural Bridge in Vir- 
ginia, February 18, 1801. Her father was the 
third son of Alexander Baldridge, who migrated 
from the north of Ireland to North Carolina. 
William was born March 6, 1763, and graduated 
with honors from Dickinson College at Carlisle, 
Pa. In 1 791 he was licensed to preach, and be- 
came pastor of two congregations in Rockbridge 
County, Va. In 1809 he took charge of congre- 
gations in Adams County, Ohio. He was one 
of the pioneer ministers in the Associate Re- 
formed (now the United Presbyterian) Church, 
which he assisted in founding. He died suddenly 
in 1830. His daughter, Mrs. Riggs, died April 
3, 1862. Of her twelve children, Mrs. Rebecca 
A. Kendall resides in San Francisco, Cal.; Mary 
died in infancy; Eliza, deceased, was the wife of 
L. N. Robinson, who commanded Battery L of 
the First Ohio Light Artillery; Mrs. Robert 
Dunlap, Jr., died in Pittsburg, Pa.; Martha, 
who resides in Florida, is the wife of Maj. J. V. 
Robinson, who was major of the Thirty-third 
Ohio Infantry during the Civil war; James W. 
was killed in a railroad accident in 1857; S. B. 
is engaged in the real-estate business in Emporia, 
Kans.; Samuel A. is the subject of this sketch; 
Joseph E. is also a resident of Kansas; Charles 
H. makes his home in Pittsburg, Pa. ; Alexander 
Brown, a highly cultured man, is a professor in 
Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati, Ohio, 
and pastor of a Presbyterian Church there; 
Emma, the youngest of the family, died at three 
years of age. 

The subject of this sketch was born in Law- 
rence County, Ohio, March i, 1835. I" 1851 



I.S6 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



he entered an academy at Marietta, where he 
prepared for Marietta College, and in the latter 
institution remained until the second term of the 
junior year. Next he studied in Washington 
and Jefferson College, from which he graduated 
in 1856 with the degree of A. B., later receiving 
the degree of A. M. Afterward he studied law, 
and in 1858 graduated from the Cincinnati Law 
School, and was admitted to the Hamilton Coun- 
ty bar. In the spring of 1859 he came to Kan- 
sas, where for twenty-five years he was a mem- 
ber of the firm of Riggs & Nevison. From 1859 
to 1 86 1 he was county attorney; from 1861 to 
1866 served as district attorney in a district of 
eight counties containing one-fourth of the entire 
population of the state. In 1866 he was elected 
to the state senate on the Republican ticket, 
where he was one of a committee of three that 
revised the statutes of the state, reporting what 
was called the general statutes of 1868, the same 
being adopted as reported. For one term he was 
a member of the house, and was the author of 
the Riggs railroad bill, placing railroads under a 
board of commissioners. In 1868 he was ap- 
pointed United States district attorney, which 
ofiice he held for three years. In 1870 he left 
the Republican party. Two years later he was 
a candidate for congress on the liberal Republican 
ticket, and in 1885 was the Democratic candidate 
to succeed Hon. Dudley Haskell, deceased. 
During the Greeley campaign he was a member 
of the liberal Republican national committee, 
and served as delegate to the convention that 
nominated Greeley for president. In 1896 he 
was a delegate to the convention in Chicago that 
nominated Brj^an for president, and during that 
convention he was a member of the committee 
on organization. In the fall of 1896 he was 
elected, on the Democratic ticket, judge of the 
fourth district of Kansas, embracing Douglas, 
Franklin and Anderson Counties. His election 
was remarkable, as the district usually gives a 
Republican majority of one thousand. In Janu- 
ary, 1897, he took the oath of ofiBce to serve for 
four years. He has been a member of the state 
Democratic central committee, and in various 
ways has promoted the success of his party. For 



some years he has been connected with the 
University of Kansas as a lecturer in the law 
department. 

In Pittsburg, Pa., December 31, 1861, Judge 
Riggs married Kate Doane Earle, daughter of 
Henry and Jane (Kirkpatrick) Earle. Her 
grandfather, William Earle, a native of New 
Jersey, was a merchant in Pittsburg. His 
father, Richard Earle, was a descendant of a 
nobleman of England. Her father, who was 
born in Pittsburg, was a wholesale and retail 
merchant, and a prominent citizen of Pittsburg. 
His wife was a daughter of David Kirkpatrick, 
who was born near Belfa.st, Ireland, of Scotch 
descent, and settled in Pennsylvania. Mrs. 
Riggs was one of ten children, four of whom are 
living. Three of her brothers, William, James 
and Albert, .served with distinction in a Pennsyl- 
vania regiment during the Civil war. She was 
educated in Pittsburg and Patapsco Institute at 
Ellicott's Mills, Md., from which she graduated. 
By her marriage to Judge Riggs, one child was 
born, Henrj' Earle Riggs, who graduated from 
the University of Kansas in 18S6, then for six 
years was chief engineer of the Toledo, Ann Ar- 
bor & North Michigan Railroad, and is now a 
successful sanitary engineer in Toledo. Judge 
Riggs is a Congregationalist, while his wife is 
identified with the Episcopal Church. They 
occupy a residence on Union avenue, which he 
built in 1864. 



~ LMORE W. SNYDER. Those public-spir- 
'e) ited citizens whose sound judgment has 
^ promoted the industrial gB»wth of their 
community and whose energy has brought an in- 
creased pro.sperity to every line of local activity 
deservedly occupy positions of prominence among 
their associates. Among the men to whom Leav- 
enworth is indebted for its high standing in the 
galaxy of western cities, mention especially be- 
longs to Mr. Snyder, who is president of the 
Manufacturers' National Bank and also president 
of the Leavenworth Terminal Railway and Bridge 
Company. While there are many reasons for 
which he is entitled to distinctive mention, doubt- 
less the greatest work of his life has been his 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



187 



connection with the planning and building of the 
bridge immediatelj' across the river from the cit}^ 
of Leavenworth. The building of such a struc- 
ture had long been realized to be a necessity, but 
it remained for him and Vinton Stillings, together 
with a few other progressive citizens, to project 
the plans and carry forward the movement to a 
successful completion, by which means new ter- 
ritory for commerce was opened up to Leaven- 
worth, and the importance of the city, from a 
business standpoint, greatl}' increased. 

A resident of Leavenworth since 1883, Mr. 
Snyder was born in Wayne County, N. Y., No- 
vember 23, 1850, and is the older of the two sur- 
viving sons of Col. James W. and Sarah A. 
(O'Neill) Snyder, natives of Wayne County, 
where they still reside. His only brother, Ches- 
ter W., is president of the Clifton State Bank at 
Clifton, Kans., but makes his home in Topeka, 
Kans. His father, a farmer by occupation, raised 
a company during the summer of 1862 and was 
mustered into the army as its captain, it being 
Company A, Ninth New York Artillery. He 
took part in various battles, among them those 
of Cedar Creek and Winchester, and served until 
the close of the war, retiring with a colonel's 
commission. Afterward he gave his attention 
to farming and the grain business. He is con- 
nected with the Masons and the Grand Army of 
the Republic. 

Mr. Snyder was educated in Union Seminary. 
His first position was that of bookkeeper for a 
manufacturing firm in Rochester, N. Y., where 
he remained for five years. The year 1878 found 
him in Kansas, where, with his brother, he en- 
gaged in the banking and grain business at Clif- 
ton, the firm being Snyder Brothers. In 1879 the 
firm established the Clifton State Bank, of which 
our subject became president and with which he 
remained identified until his Leavenworth inter- 
ests absorbed his entire attention. His first 
business enterprise in Leavenworth was as a 
member of the firm of Snyder & Denton, grain 
dealers. 

The Manufacturers' National Bank of Leaven- 
worth was organized in August, 1888, with J. C. 
Lysle as its first president. In December of the 



same year Mr. Snyder became connected with the 
bank, and at the same time he was made its pres- 
ident, which position he has since filled. Under 
his judicious and conservative management the 
institution has been placed upon a solid financial 
footing and has gained prestige among the banks 
of the state, as well as the confidence of its large 
list of depositors. The capital stock of the bank 
is $150,000, the surplus $30,000, and the depos- 
its average about $300,000; semi-annual divi- 
dends have been declared regularly since his 
presidency began. Under his supervision the 
Manufacturers' National Bank building was 
planned and erected in 1889; this is considered 
the finest office building in Leavenworth, and is 
as large as any in the cit}'. 

Through the efforts of Mr. Snyder the oft- 
discussed plan of building a bridge across the 
Missouri at Leavenworth was again taken up and 
agitated. In 1892 he interested Vinton Stillings 
in the movement, and a company was formed 
with a capital stock of $600,000, of which he was 
the president from the first, and in which he and 
Mr. Stillings were the principal stockholders. 
The bridge was completed and opened to the 
public January i, 1894. It is of steel, with two 
fixed spans and one draw span, and has a total 
length of eleven hundred and ten feet. Over it 
threeroadsenter the city, viz.: Chicago, Burling- 
ton & Qui ncy; Rock Island; and Great Western. 
There are also adequate accommodations for foot 
pa.ssengers and vehicles. In addition to the 
bridge itself, the company built a terminal depot 
and storehouses. The enterprise was one of great 
magnitude and required judgment, energy and 
ability on the part of its projectors. The capital 
stock proved none too large for so vast an under- 
taking, involving large expenditures of money in 
the pvtrchase of material and employing of men. 
The successful completion of the bridge speaks 
volumes for the ability of the men to whom its 
building was due. 

In Brandon, Vt., in 1877, Mr. Snyder married 
Miss Fannie M. Benson, daughter of Lafayette 
Benson, a merchant of Brandon, where she was 
born; but subsequently a merchant at Gardner, 
111., where he died. Mrs. Snyder was educated 



1 88 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



in the Evanston Female Seminary at Evanston, 
111. She is a refiued and cultured lady, and is 
popular in Leavenworth's social circles. She 
assisted in the organization of the Leavenworth 
Public Library Association, of which she was 
chosen the fir.st president. She is an active mem- 
ber and treasurer of the Art League. The two 
sons of Mr. and Mrs. Snyder are; Charles E., who 
is connected with the Manufacturers' National 
Bank; and Ira B. 

The business interests of Mr. Snyder have been 
of such a nature that he has had little leisure for 
participation in politics. He has always been a 
Republican in party principle and has served as 
chairman of the county central committee. For 
four years he represented the first ward in the 
city council, and was president of the council one 
year. The nomination for mayor, which has 
been offered him, he declined. He is interested 
in educational matters and has been a member of 
the school board. In 1896 he was his party's 
nominee for the state senate, and, although op- 
posed by a fusion ticket in which the opposing 
parties had combined, he came within one hun- 
dred and thirty votes of being elected. He is a 
member of the State Bankers' Association and 
was its vice-president in 1898. While living in 
Rochester, N. Y. , he was made a Ma.son, and he 
is now connected with Leavenworth Lodge No. 2, 
A. F. & A. M.; Leavenworth Chapter, R. A. M.; 
Leavenworth Commandery No. i, K. T. ; and 
Abdallah Temple, N. M. S. 



V yi ICHAEL D. GREENLEE, general secre- 
y tary of the Fraternal Aid Association, is 
(3 one of the most popular citizens of Law- 
rence, and has a host of friends throughout the 
west. He was born near Springboro, Crawford 
County, Pa., October 27, 1850, a son of Michael 
and Rebecca Howard (Couover) Greenlee, na- 
tives respectively of Crawford County, Pa., and 
Cayuga County, N. "V. His paternal ancestors 
were of Scotch lineage and were driven from 
their native land by the Catholics, five brothers 
coming to America and settling in different lo- 
calities. Robert Greenlee married a Miss Cham- 



berlain and they made their home on a farm in 
Spring Township, Crawford County, where he 
died at seventy-four years of age. His son, 
Michael, died October 11, 1850. Of his two 
children, the older, George W., died at fourteen 
years of age. The younger is the subject of this 
article. The mother was a second time married, 
by which union she had four children; of these 
two are living, both in California. She makes 
her home with her oldest son in Lawrence. She 
was a daughter of David Conover, who was born 
in New Jersey in April, 1797, and descended 
from Holland-Dutch ancestors, whose name was 
orginally Schoenhoven. David was a son of 
Andrew Conover, of New Jersey, whose wife, 
after his death, married a man who served as 
paymaster of the Colonial army during the Revo- 
lution, being .stationed at Philadelphia, where he 
died. David Conover settled in New York, 
thence moved to Crawford County, Pa., and later 
to the vicinity of Jack.son, Mich., but the malaria 
was so prevalent at the latter place that he re- 
turned to Pennsylvania. His trade was that of a 
coverlet weaver, but much of his time was given 
to farming. 

When a lad of sixteen, the care of his mother 
and her four small children devolved upon Mr. 
Greenlee. He reluctantly gave up his cherished 
hope of securing an education, and turned his 
attention to the support of the family. In No- 
vember, 1 87 1, he was forced by failing health to 
seek a change of climate, and came to Eudora, 
Kans. The first day the Missouri Pacific Rail- 
road Company opened its office there, January i , 
1872, he entered as a clerk, and as such contin- 
ued until the fall, when he was made agent at 
Eudora. During the years that followed his 
duties increased greatly. The Santa Fe coming 
through the town doubled his labors, while he 
was also appointed to act as agent for two ex- 
press companies and the Western Union Tele- 
graph Company. The work proved too heavy 
for him and his health became undermined by 
the strain. January i, 1878, he resigned his po- 
sition, and traveled for a time, visiting Colorado 
and his old home in Pennsylvania. Afterward 
he was employed as manager for a grain firm, 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



189 



later was bookkeeper and assistant postmaster at 
Eudora until March, 1884. His next position 
was that of deputy- county clerk, which he held 
for four years. In 1887, on the Republican 
ticket, he was elected county clerk by a majority 
of eleven hundred. At the expiration of his 
term, in 1889, he was again elected, ou an inde- 
pendent ticket, by a majority of about one 
thousand. He held the office from January, 
1888, to January, 1892, after which, not wishing 
to again become a candidate, he began to travel 
for the Fraternal Aid Association in Nebraska, 
remaining with the association at that time for 
eighteen months. Later he traveled in Oregon 
and Washington, in the interests of the Order of 
Knights and Ladies of Security, establishing so- 
cieties there, also in Kansas, Missouri, and the 
Indian Territory, and opening the work for the 
association in Illinois, where he established the 
first lodges of the order in the state. 

In 1897 ^^- Greenlee renewed his connection 
with the Fraternal Aid Association, becoming 
adjuster and organizer, and traveling in the in- 
terests of the order wherever needed. On the 
resignation of the general secretary, May i, 1898, 
he was tendered this position by the advisory 
board, without any solicitation on his part, a fact 
which proves that his promotion was due en- 
tirely to merit. In February, 1899, at the bien- 
nial session of the order, he was elected to the 
position, by acclamation, for two years, with an 
increase of salary. He has reorganized the entire 
system of keeping reports and cash accounts, and 
during the year 1S98 wrote more business, with 
less per capita cost to members, than had been 
secured any preceding year. Eleven states and 
two territories are now represented in the asso- 
ciation, namely: Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, 
Colorado, Iowa, California, Washington, Ore- 
gon, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Oklahoma and 
Indian Territory; of all of which field Mr. Green- 
lee, by virtue of his position as superintendent of 
organization, has charge. The number of mem- 
bers was more than doubled in 1898, the aggre- 
gate membership, January i, 1899, being twenty 
thousand five hundred and fifty-nine. At the 
beginning of 1898 there were but thirteen thou- 



sand three hundred and fifty-seven members. 
The order is beneficiary, with a graded assess- 
ment; $31,219,000 protection in force, January 

1, 1899; $132,500 paid losses in 1898; while the 
death rate showed a reduction from 4.29 to 2.74 
in 1S97. The office of the association is iu the 
Merchants' Bank building. 

The general officers of the association are: 
Lewis A. Ryder, M. D., North Topeka, general 
president, and M. T. Shearer, Abilene, Kans., 
general past president; S. H. Enyeart, Tulare, 
Cal., general vice-president; M. D. Greenlee, 
general secretary; C. O. Anderson, Arcadia, 
Kans., general treasurer; A. J. Anderson, M. D., 
Lawrence, general medical examiner; W. B. 
Wood, M. D., Orange, Cal., a.ssistant general 
medical examiner; Emily Mobley, Grand Island, 
Neb., general chaplain; Mrs. Cora Hoyer, Den- 
ver, Colo., general guide; C. F. Young, Los 
Angeles, Cal., general observer; and Duval 
Jackson, Newkirk, Okla., general sentinel. The 
trustees are: John Sullivan, Kansas City, Mo., 
J. R. Craig, Beatrice, Neb.; and Hon. H. E. 
Don Carlos, Vinita, I. T. The special features 
recommending the association are reliability, 
simplicity, reserve fund, restricted territory, and 
refusal to admit persons engaged in hazardous 
occupations. In addition to the death benefits, 
there are also sick and total disability benefits, 
which features recommend the order to many 
persons. 

As general secretary, Mr. Greenlee supervises 
the publication of the Fraternal Aid, the official 
paper of the organization, which is mailed to 
every member free of charge and is one of the 
most complete papers of its kind published. He 
assisted in instituting Athens Council No. 3, in 
Lawrence, which was the first council instituted; 
although on the reorganization at Topeka, the 
councils in that city were recorded as Nos. i and 

2, while the one in Lawrence was recorded as 
No. 3. Besides his connection with this order, 
Mr. Greenlee is identified with the Court of 
Honor, Knights and Ladies of Security, Modern 
Woodmen of America, Doric Lodge No. 83, A. 
F. & A. M., of Eudora, in which he is past 
master, Adah Chapter No. 7, Eastern Star, in 



I go 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



which he is past patron, and Zerbal Lodge of Per- 
fection No. 5, A. A. S. R. In national politics 
he is independent, supporting such principles as, 
after thoughtful consideration, seem for the best 
welfare of the country, rather than following 
blindly whatever doctrines may be promulgated 
by any party. He is a member of the Baptist 
Church, in which he serves as a deacon. En- 
dowed by nature with many winning attributes, 
with tact, a genial disposition, frank manner and 
sympathetic qualities, he has the faculty of gain- 
ing the friend.ship of all with whom he has busi- 
ness or social relations. Of polite and compan- 
ionable manners, he is the life of every social 
circle he enters. He is a man of generous im- 
pulses, sanguine in temperament, whole-souled 
and open-hearted. The confidence that he wins 
at the first is never abused by him. In action he 
has ever been honorable, in life upright. His 
integrity and worth as a man have won for him 
the respect of the people of his city and the mem- 
bers of the order with which his name is insepar- 
ably identified. 

<ySAAC L. HOOVER, a farmer and stock- 
I raiser of Marion Township, Douglas County, 
X was born in Willow Springs Township, this 
county, March 19, 1859, a son of Isaac B. and 
Mary Ann (Longnecker) Hoover, natives of Penn- 
sylvania. His paternal grandfather, John Hoover, 
who was born in Bedford County, Pa., was 
for years engaged in the ministry of the German 
Baptist (Dunkard) Church, and spent his active 
life in what was known as Morrison's Cove be- 
tween the mountains. In early days our sub- 
ject's father moved to Wayne County, Ind., 
where he took up a tract of unimproved land. 
From there, in 1855, he came overland to Kansas, 
settling on Cottonwood River in Lyon County, 
where he took up government land. Holding 
his claim there, the next year he moved to 
Douglas County and settled on Chicken Creek, 
in what is now Willow Springs Township. 
There he took up a claim of one hundred and 
sixty acres, which he cleared and improved, be- 
coming in time a successful farmer. He also 
purchased eighty acres in Marion Township, 



where he engaged in stock-dealing and farming. 
At the time of the slaverj' struggle he was in- 
tensely strong in his abolition sentiments. At 
the time of Quantrell's raid he saved his horses 
by hiding them in the woods, so that he incurred 
no heavy losses. Besides the management of his 
farm, he owned an interest in a threshing outfit, 
which he superintended. All during his life he 
was active in the work of the German Baptist 
Church, in. which for some years he officiated as 
a deacon. His death occurred August 21, 1866, 
and resulted from cholera, a disease that, then 
as now, was verj- uncommon in Kansas. His 
wife died of the same disease August 24, three 
days after his death. Thej^ had six children, 
viz.: Joseph C. ; Henry, of Ottawa; Isaac L. ; 
John L., a farmer of Douglas County; Benjamin, 
a merchant of Lawrence; and Anna Mary, wife 
of R. A. Willis. 

A life-long resident of Douglas County, our 
subject early became familiar with the work of 
farming in this part of the west. When seven 
years of age he was taken into the home of J. C. 
Metsker, with whom he remained until attaining 
his majority. In 1879 he purchased his present 
farm, which by degrees he has transformed into 
one of the best farms in the township, making 
desirable improvements and adding to the estate 
which now comprises three hundred and twenty- 
five acres. In addition to general farming he 
raises hogs and feeds cattle for the market. In 
1880 he donated land for School District No. 4, on 
which to build a new school building. Not only in 
educational, but in other matters, he has done his 
part. Kor several years he has been a deacon in 
the German Baptist Church and is now officiating 
as an elder, besides which he has for some time 
been superintendent of the Sunday-school. He 
has also been president of the Missionary board 
of the Northeastern District of Kansas for several 
years, and is .still serving in that capacity. In 
1879 he married Mary E. Stutsman, by whom he 
has eight children : Charles O. , Bert Onier, Wegie 
Malinda, Clarence Martin, Lloyd Emerson, Otis, 
Earl, Jesse Jason and CliiTord Carroll. 

Mrs. Hoover's father, John W. Stutsman, was 
born in Ohio in 1830 and in a very early day 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



191 



came to Kansas, but after a few years removed to 
Elkhart County, Ind. , where he remained for 
seven years. In 1870 he returned to Kansas, 
settling in Marion Township, Douglas County, 
where he followed farm pursuits. In religion he 
was a Dunkard. His ancestors were Germans, 
who settled in Pennsylvania at an early day and 
later migrated to Ohio. He died in Douglas 
County in 1898, aged sixty-seven. By his mar- 
riage to Malinda Weybright, who was born in 
Indiana, he had eight children, viz.: IdaL., wife 
of Samuel M. Miller; Mary E., Mrs. Hoover; 
William M., who carries on the home place; 
Sabina C; Elijah A.; Sarah E., wife of Edward 
Shively; Lucy M., who married Edward Brunk; 
and Zora Lucretia, wife of J. F. Metsker. 



Gl MOS G. HONNOLD is one of the veterans 
U of the Civil war now residing in Lawrence. 
I I He was born near Adamsville, Muskingum 
County, Ohio, in 1837, a son of John E. and 
Mary (Fell) Honnold, natives respectively of 
Loudoun County, Va., and Pennsylvania. His 
grandfather, Jacob Honnold, who was the son of 
a German, was born in Virginia, and removed to 
Ohio when his son, John E., was three years of 
age. Settling in Muskingum County he re- 
mained there until his death at an advanced age. 
John E. Honnold cleared a farm from the woods, 
and continued to reside on it until his death, dur- 
ing the Civil war. He was held in high respect, 
and held numerous local offices of trust. His 
wife, who was a daughter of Amos Fell, died 
in Lawrence, Kans. They were the parents of 
four children, of whom Gilbert died in boyhood. 
S. H., who served in the One Hundred and Six- 
tieth Ohio National Guard during the Civil war, 
is now living in Olathe, Kans. H. F. , who was a 
member of Company E, Ninety-seventh Ohio 
Infantry, was wounded, November 25, 1863, in 
the battle of Missionary Ridge, and was afterward 
transferred to the signal corps. He died at the 
hospital in Chattanooga in the spring of 1865. 

In September, 1862, the subject of this .sketch 
enlisted in Company E, Ninety-seventh Ohio In- 
fantry, to which his brother, H. F., belonged. 



Enlisting at Zanesville, Ohio, he was ordered to 
Covington, Ky., and was assigned to the army of 
the Cumberland. After the battle of Perryville 
his regiment followed Grant through Kentucky 
to Nashville, and participated in the battle of 
Murfreesboro, then crossed the mountains to the 
front of Chattanooga, and unfurled the first col- 
ors over Chattanooga. After the fight at Orchard 
Knob its proceeded to Missionarj' Ridge, where 
the division broke the line and crossed the ridge 
at Bragg' s headquarters, making a heroic dash 
some distance beyond. It was a desperate at- 
tempt. Bullets were hurled thick and fast in 
their midst. Mr. Honnold was wounded in the 
hip and the left arm, and while several other 
bullets passed through his clothing one shot 
penetrated his canteen, another his haversack, 
and still another struck his gun. His brother 
was with him at the time and was also wounded. 
About one o'clock that night Mr. Honnold 
was removed from the battlefield and taken to an 
unfinished church, but it was not until the fourth 
day after the engagement that his wounds were 
dressed. About a month later he was given a 
furlough of thirty days. His father came down 
for him and his brother and took our subject 
home, but the father contracted a cold on the 
journey and died from pneumonia soon after- 
ward. After his father's death Mr. Honnold 
rejoined his regiment at Charleston, Tenn., and 
soon entered upon the Atlanta campaign, although 
he was still disabled and really unfit for militar}' 
service. Under Sherman's orders those who 
were weak were sent to the rear, and he was 
therefore detailed as clerk and orderly for the 
ordnance officer of the division. He participated 
in the march through Georgia, where he was 
often in the thickest of the fights. From Atlanta 
he returned to Pulaski to hold Hood back while 
Thomas prepared to hold Nashville. He took 
part in the battle at Spring Hill and was at 
Franklin, where a fierce battle was fought from 
3:30 p. m. until dark. Later he was in the three 
days' battle at Nashville, where Hood's army 
was crushed and driven back to Alabama. Next 
he was ordered to Knoxville, then to Camp 
Nashville, and was mustered out June 10, 1865. 



192 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



During his service he had manj' hair-breadth 
escapes and was often in the hottest places of the 
battles. At Huntsville he was offered the rank 
of ordnance sergeant of the regiment, but de- 
clined, as he carried about an ounce of rebel 
lead and was hardlj* able to ride, much less per- 
form the duties of the office tendered him. 

After some j-ears on a farm in Ohio Mr. Hon- 
nold came to Kansas, in October, 1869, seeking a 
suitable location. January i, 1870, he located 
in Lawrence, where he engaged in the insurance 
business, then became clerk in the count)' treas- 
urer's office, serving for six years. In 1879 he 
was elected register of deeds, and bj- re-election 
served until 1886. For two j'ears he was deputy 
clerk of the district court. In 1887 he was ap- 
pointed city clerk by the mayor and council, and 
has held the office since, serving by appointment 
until it was made an elective office. In 1898 and 
1899 he was elected to the position. For some 
years he was a member of the school board. He 
assisted in organizing the Fraternal Aid Asso- 
ciation, to which he still belongs, as he does to 
the Ancient Order of United Workmen and 
Washington Post No. 12, G. A. R., in which he 
has been an aide on the staff of the department 
commander. In 1866 he married Miss Mary J. 
Domer, who was born in Ohio, and died in Law- 
rence in 1894. He has three children living. 
Arri B., Edna M. and Rosa B., the eldest of 
whom is a graduate of the Lawrence high school. 



(TUDGE JOHN CHARLTON, deceased, for- 
I merly a resident of Lawrence, was born in 
Q) Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England, 
January 20, 1827, a .son of Joseph and Jane 
(Winter) Charlton, also natives of that country. 
His father, who was a weaver of Brussels carpets, 
brought the family to America and .settled at 
West Farms, N. Y., where he followed his trade. 
Later he removed to Princeton, 111., and there 
carried on a grocery business until he retired. 
The last eleven years of his life were passed in 
the home of his son, John, at Lawrence, and he 
died, at eighty-four years of age, while visiting in 
Topeka. Of his five children, John was next to 



the oldest. He received in England an educa- 
tion that fitted him for the general business pur- 
suits of life. When he was eleven he began to 
assist his father, and thus became familiar with 
the weaving of Brus.sels carpets. At the time 
the family came to America he was seventeen 
years of age. He resided for a time in Phila- 
delphia. Later he took charge of a bank note 
establishment for the firm of Toppan, Carpenter 
& Co. (now the American Bank Note Company) 
in the Trinity building. New York City. 

In 1857 he went to Princeton, 111., where he 
successfully carried on a drug business for ten 
years. In 1867 he established his home in Law- 
rence, Kans., and engaged in the fire and life in- 
surance business, and from 1889 until his death 
served as justice of the peace. For eleven years 
he was president of the school board, but finally 
refused to serve longer and retired. In politics 
he was a Republican, and in religion an active 
member of the Plymouth Congregational Church. 
A lover of good books, much of his leisure time 
was spent in reading, and he was particularly 
fond of Charles Dickens, whom he considered in- 
imitable as a delineator of character. In Odd 
Fellowship he was prominent. He was one of 
the leaders in Lodge No. 4, at Lawrence, served 
as grand representative to the sovereign grand 
lodge several times, and at Wichita, in October, 
1876, was elected grand master of the Grand 
Lodge of Kansas, in which responsible position he 
won the confidence of the entire state member- 
ship. He was also connected with the encamp- 
ment. In Masonry he served as master and sec- 
retary of Acacia Lodge No. 9, A. F. & A. M., 
was past officer in Lawrence Lodge No. 4, 
R. A. M., and past eminent commander in 
DeMolay Coramandery No. 4, K. T. 

In Philadelphia, Pa., May 18, 1847, occurred 
the marriage of Judge Charlton to Miss Martha 
Curtiss, and fifty years later. May 18, 1897, they 
celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their mar- 
riage, at their pleasant home in Lawrence, where 
they were the recipients of the congratulations 
of relatives and friends. Less than two years 
after this memorable celebration, he pa.ssed away 
from earth, February 27, 1899. Mrs. Charlton 




HON. GEORGE T. ANTIIONV. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



195 



was born in Worcestershire, England, a daughter 
of Daniel and Ann (Allen) Curtiss. Her father, 
who was a weaver of Brussels carpets, settled in 
Philadelphia in 1831 and followed his trade 
there. His last years were spent in Connecti- 
cut, where he died at fifty years of age. His 
wife died in New York City. In religious be- 
lief they were Methodists, conscientious in the 
observance of all denominational doctrines. They 
were the parents of four children, two of whom 
are living. One son, Theodore, who enlisted in 
an Illinois regiment during the Civil war, died 
from the effects of the hardships and exposure 
of the campaign. Mrs. Charlton was the oldest 
of the four children and was reared in Phila- 
delphia, where she resided until her marriage. 
Like her husband, she is a devoted Christian and 
a member of Plymouth Church. She is a mem- 
ber of the Eastern Star and Rebekah Lodge, and 
is interested in various movements for the aid of 
the city and the welfare of the people. In her 
family there are seven children: Mrs. Emma J. 
Meade, of Kansas City, Mo. ; Mrs. Mary Stewart, 
of Lawrence; Mrs. Ada Good, of Topeka, Kans. ; 
Harry Curtiss, of Minneapolis, Kans. ; Mrs. Kate 
Ewing, of Decatur, 111.; Edwin L. , who is his 
father's successor in business; and Mrs. Margaret 
Forsythe, of Kansas City, Mo. 



HON. GEORGE T. ANTHONY. There 
are very few citizens of Kansas, either of 
the present or the past, whose names are 
more indissolubly associated with the history of 
the state than is that of Governor Anthony. In 
presenting to the readers of this volume a sketch 
of his life we are perpetuating the memory of 
one of the most noted men the state has ever 
had; and one who accomplished much in the ad- 
vancing of progressive measures and the devel- 
oping of agricultural resources. There are many 
reasons for which he is deserving of mention in 
the annals of the state. He was the first man in 
Kansas who ever dared to declare prohibition 
doctrines from a political ro.strum, his work in 
this direction antedating that of the famous tem- 
perance advocate, Governor St. John. While he 

5 



was a Republican in politics and a stanch sup- 
porter of party principles, he at the same time 
believed in the prohibition amendment and did 
all in his power to promote its success. Largely 
through his instrumentality the National Mili- 
tary Home at Leavenworth was established; he 
continued to agitate the measure until it was 
finally pas,sed. His connection with the Centen- 
nial Exposition at Philadelphia proved most 
helpful to the interests of his state. For about 
six months he gave almost his entire time to se- 
curing an adequate representation for Kansas at 
the Exposition; and, as president of the board of 
centennial managers, he succeeded in drawing 
the attention of people, not only of our own 
country, but of others as well, to the magnificent 
and diversified opportunities offered by our great 
western state, to the end that the population of 
the state was greatl}' swelled and its importance 
augmented. Then was begun that era of growth 
concerning which Senator Hoar of Massachu- 
setts, in a speech in the United States senate, 
said: "There is no other instance on the face of 
the earth, unless it be some neighboring state, 
where a territory has grown up in forty-two 
years containing such a population, such wealth, 
such value of agricultural lands, such vast agri- 
cultural products." 

The life herein sketched began at May field, 
Fulton County, N. Y., June 9, 1824, and closed 
at Topeka, Kans., August 5, 1896. Governor 
Anthony was a son of Benjamin and Anna An- 
thony, who were earnest members of the ortho- 
dox Quaker societj-. He was the youngest of 
five children and was only five years of age when 
his father died, leaving his family in straightened 
circumstances. Four years later he accompanied 
his mother to Greenfield, N. Y., where he at- 
tended school in the winter and worked for 
farmers in the summer. At the age of sixteen 
he began an apprenticeship to the tinner's trade 
under his uncle, who lived in Union Springs, 
N. Y. On the completion of his time he opened 
a small hardware store in Medina, N. Y., where, 
working from fourteen to sixteen hours a day, 
he laid the foundation of those industrious, self- 
reliant and determined traits so noticeable in his 



196 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



character in later 3'ears. In Park Church, Syra- 
cuse, N. Y., December 14, 1852, he married Miss 
Rosa Lyon, who was born in Perryville, Madison 
County, that state. Her father, Andrew J. Lyon, 
was a member of a Puritan family of Massachu- 
setts, and a nephew of Mary Lj'ou, the founder 
of Mount Holyoke Seminary in Massachusetts. 
He was born in New York, but in middle life re- 
moved to Madison, Wis., where he died. His 
wife, who bore the maiden name of Abbie Lamb, 
was the daughter of a Frenchman, who accom- 
panied Lafayette to America and served in the 
Revolutionarj- war. 

At the beginning of the Civil war Mr. An- 
thony was engaged in the commission business 
in New York state. When the call was made, 
July 2, 1862, for three hundred thousand more 
soldiers the governor of New York organized 
the state and placed the subdivisions in charge 
of committees, Mr. Anthony, Ex-Governor 
Church and Noah Davis, Jr., being the commit- 
tees of Orleans, Niagara and Genesee Counties. 
Mr. Anthony organized the Seventeenth New 
York Independent Battery of Light Artillery and 
at once became its captain. His. military historj- 
is presented in the records of the Loyal Legion, 
as follows: "Reported at Camp Barry, Washing- 
ton, D. C, September, 1862; assigned to the 
army for the defense of Washington, December, 
1862; attached to King's division at Centerville 
in the summer of 1863; later attached to Second 
Corps; July 4, 1864, reported to General Grant 
at City Point, and assigned to Eighteenth Army 
Corps of the James; later assigned to Twenty - 
fourth Army Corps, and took part in the Appo- 
mattox campaign; participated in assault and 
capture of Petersburg; thence to Appomattox, 
remaining until after surrender; returned to 
Richmond April 29, 1865." 

After the close of the Civil war Mr. Anthony 
closed out his business interests in the east. In 
November, 1865, he settled in Leavenworth, 
Kans. His remaining years were intimately as- 
sociated with the progress of this state. He was 
editor of the Leavenworth Daily Bulletin and the 
Leavenworth Daily Conservative for two and one- 



half years, and editor and publisher of the Kan- 
sas Farmer for six years. In the latter position 
it was his aim to teach diversified farming, econ- 
omy in management, improvement in live stock 
and higher regard for home and social life; es- 
pecially criticising the carelessness of those who 
at the end of the season left the plow in the fur- 
row and the mowing machine at the fence corner. 
His work in this direction was most helpful, and 
now no farmers stand higher than do those of 
Kansas. 

In December, 1867, Mr. Anthony was appointed 
assistant assessor of internal revenue, and was 
made collector of internal revenue July 11, 1868. 
At the close of his term as collector his accounts, 
when balanced, showed a variation of only three 
cents, a fact which shows his methodical and sys- 
tematic manner of keeping his books. For three 
years he was president of the state board of agri- 
culture. At the close of the Centennial, in No- 
vember, 1876, he was elected governor of Kansas, 
a position which he filled with great credit to 
himself. Meantime he had become well known 
throughout the countrj- and his ability as a 
speaker caused him to be in frequent demand. 
In 1877 the governors of thirty states visited 
New York. At a banquet given at that time the 
most prominent of these governors responded to 
toasts. Of all the addresses given none was ap- 
plauded so much as that of Governor Anthon}' 
and none was so complimented by the public 
press. As a speaker he was unsurpassed for 
strong, logical argument. Those who heard him 
when in his prime pronounce him the strongest 
speaker of his state. As a writer, too, he was 
forceful and logical. While his education had 
been very limited, by self-culture he had acquired 
a broad fund of valuable knowledge, and was a 
thorough student of ancient and modern classics. 

A man possessing firm convictions and the 
courage to proclaim them naturally has enemies. 
The public actions of Governor Anthony, though 
guided by the loftiest and most patriotic motives, 
were sometimes misunderstood, and brought upon 
him the enmity of those whose opinions were dif- 
ferent. But, even when he knew the frank ex- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



197 



pression of his opinions would react adversely to 
himself, he stood firm to his views. As an illus- 
tration of this it may be said that when he was a 
candidate for congress he was asked by the old 
soldiers if he would work for service pensions. 
He was bitterly opposed to service pensions, and, 
of course, would not make the promise. The 
consequence was that he met with defeat in his 
candidacy. 

In 1 88 1 he was appointed general superintend- 
ent of the Mexican Central Railroad and served 
for two years. In 1885 he represented Leaven- 
worth County in the legislature. In 1889 he was 
appointed a member of the board of railroad com- 
missioners, and in 1892 was re-elected, serving 
until the Populists came into power the next 
year. May 5, 1892, he was the Republican nom- 
inee for congress, but was defeated by W. A. 
Harris. In 1895 Governor Morrill appointed 
him superintendent of insurance, an office which 
he was holding at the time of his death, August 

5, 1896. In April, 1890, he established his home 
in Ottawa, where his widow is still living. Their 
.son, George H., who is a graduate of the Chester 
(Pa.) Military Institute, is now traveling freight 
agent for the Wisconsin Central Railroad; he is 
married and has two daughters. 

In 1879 Mr. Anthonj' joined Custer Post No. 

6, of Leavenworth, and was afterward prominent 
in that post of the Grand Army. He was a char- 
ter member of the Kansas Commandery of the 
Loyal Legion ; member of council of Kansas Com- 
mandery, 1887-88; and commander of Kansas 
Commandery, 1893-94. I" a^ the years of his 
life in Kansas his voice was heard at the camp 
fires and on the rostrum in behalf of the survivors 
of the war. His parentage and early education 
made him a Republican; later years but intensi- 
fied his devotion to his party. He took an active 
part in every campaign in Kansas, and not his 
voice only, but his pen as well, was consecrated 
to the cause in which he believed. During the 
long period of his public service no criticism was 
ever uttered touching his integrity and his honor; 
both were unassailed and unimpeachable. Nor 
was his loyalty to his country and his state ever 
questioned; by every act, in every address, in all 



his writings, he emphasized loyalty and aimed to 
draw together, in service as patriots, all those 
who owned Kansas as their home and the star- 
spangled banner as their flag. 



HON. JOEL GROVER, deceased, who was 
one of Douglas County's most prominent 
pioneers, was born at Springwater, Living- 
ston County, N. Y. , August 5, 1825. He was 
educated in the Temple Hill Academy, at Gene- 
seo, N. Y. , under Horatio N. Robinson, the cel- 
ebrated mathematician, and graduated with hon- 
ors from that institution. His tastes inclined 
him toward agriculture, and on leaving the acad- 
emy he turned his attention to farming, first in 
New York and afterward in Iowa. In 1851 he 
went to California, where he engaged in the pur- 
chase of stock and in running pack trains from 
Sacramento to the mines. After two years on 
the Pacific coast he returned to New York, vis- 
ited relatives there for a short time, and then 
came to Kansas. The passage of the Kansas and 
Nebraska bill awoke his anti-slaverj' instincts 
and prompted him to fall in with the tide of free- 
state men moving to Kansas. He came with 
what is known as the second party and arrived on 
the present site of Lawrence September 13, 1854. 
One of the first outbreaks in Kansas was the 
removal of a tent by some pro-slaverj' men. This 
Mr. Grover and others resi,sted and took the tent 
from a wagon, setting it up on the spot it had 
occupied before, and at the same time preparing 
for its defense. On the next evening, as the out- 
come of this little affair, the first militarj' com- 
pany of Lawrence was organized, and Mr. Grover 
was made its captain. He was one of the most 
active free-state men and participated in all of the 
conflicts of those daj^s. He was one of those who 
volunteered to go to Shawnee Mission to defend 
Governor Reeder in canvassing the vote on the 
election of March 30, 1855, and was in the pro- 
slavery caucus until they passed a resolution ex- 
cluding all who did not sympathize with their 
principles. Although alone among a large party 
of bitter political opponents he made a strong 
speech, denouncing their action in the face of 



igS 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



such men as Dr. Stringfellow, B. F. Stringfellow, 
Messrs. Atchison, Richardson, and all the noted 
southern leaders of that place and period. On 
the conclusion of his speech the caucus adjourned 
informallj' in the midst of great excitement. 
With his companj' he aided to defend Lawrence 
during the Wakarusa war of 1855, at which time 
he was promoted to the rank of colonel and placed 
in command of one of the forts. His commission 
as colonel of the Sixth Regiment of the First Bri- 
gade of the Kansas State Militia bears date of 
November 27, 1855, and is signed by James H. 
Lane, then general, commanding theFirst Brigade. 
In 1856 he was a member of the safetj- committee. 
After the raid of Lawrence, May 21, 1856, he 
rode to Kansas City in the night, took a steamer 
from there and carried to St. Louis the first in- 
telligence of the burning and sacking of Law- 
rence, which brought out an extra issue of the 
Miasoun Donocrai. Pursuing his way he brought 
the first news to Alton and also to Chicago, where 
his report preceded the pro-slavery reports. He 
spent two weeks organizing a company in Chicago 
and returned via the Mis.souri River to Leaven- 
worth. All of the company but him were dis- 
armed at Lexington and afterward turned back 
at Leavenworth, being refused the liberty to land. 
However, on the return of the boat from We.ston 
with the men on board, Mr. Grover, having se- 
cured the pledge of some Leavenworth men to 
protect the company, was on the wharf to assist 
in the work, but the Leavenworth men failed to 
keep their promises. He was overpowered and 
driven to the boat, but was allowed by the cap- 
tain to get off at Kansas City, from which point 
he escaped to Kansas. He commanded his com- 
pany and participated in the battles of Franklin, 
Fort Saunders, Fort Titus, and others of the free- 
state engagements. During the Price raid he 
also had command of a company. 

In 1854 Mr. Grover located a claim three miles 
southwest of Lawrence and afterward he im- 
proved it. In 1858 he was elected a county com- 
missioner and served in that position for four 
years. He also held office as school director, 
trustee, etc. In 1867 he was elected a member 
of the legislature, and the following year was re- 



elected, making one of the most eflScient members 
of that body. In 1869 he was chosen county 
commissioner and was made chairman of the 
board, to which he was re-elected in 1871. For 
years he was a director of the St. Louis, Law- 
rence & Western Railroad Company. 

October 13, 1857, ^^ married Miss Emily J. 
Hunt, by whom he had seven children : Frank 
G., Helen A., Charles R., Cora E., Ernest J., 
Lillie F. and Jay G. His death occurred July 
28, 1879, and brought forth many testimonials as 
to his worth as a citizen and his value as a friend. 
With other pioneers of Kansas, his name deserves 
to be perpetuated in the annals of his state. 

Mrs. Grover was born in Medway, Mass., Sep- 
tember I, 1839, a daughter of George W. and 
Nanc3' (Adams) Hunt. She was one of six chil- 
dren, of whom four survive: Charles W., of To- 
peka, Kans. ; Emily J.; George, of Lawrence; 
and Augusta, wife of George B. Hall, of Solomon, 
Kans. Her grandfather, Joel Hunt, was born in 
Holliston, Mass., November 25, 1782, and was a 
prominent and successful business man. George 
W. Hunt, a native of Mil ford, Mass., born March 
14, 1808, was a cabinet-maker by trade, and after 
he married his father established him in business 
in Lowell, Mass., where he became an influential 
citizen and a deacon in the Congregational Church. 
About 1844 he moved to Fitchburg, Mass., where 
he was proprietor of two extensive furniture ware- 
houses. In 1S54 he was a member of what was 
known as the third party to settle in Kansas. 
Returning east in the fall he spent the winter 
there, and in the spring came to Kansas again. 
He had the contract for the woodwork of the free- 
state hotel. In the spring of 1856 he w-ent east 
and brought his family to Kansas, arriving in 
Kansas City May 21, the day of the sacking of 
Lawrence. Coining through on the stage coach, 
the stage was overhauled, the trunks of the party 
ransacked and valuables taken, after which the 
travelers were allowed to proceed. He was a 
friend of Eli Thayer, one of the prominent workers 
in the Emigrant Aid Society. In 1854, and again 
in 1855, he conducted parties to Kansas. He 
continued to reside in this state until his death, 
which took place March 25, 1870. His mother. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



199 



Clara (Metcalt) Hunt, was a daughter of Major 
Metcalf, who is supposed to have been a soldier 
in the Revolutionary war. The mother of Mrs. 
Grover was born March 17, 1813, and died April 
II, 1896. When Mrs. Grover was a girl she 
came west with Governor Robinson and his wife 
in 1855, ^'i'^ remained with them until her mother 
and other members of the family made the journey 
west. During the troublesome days in Kansas 
she retained her courage and cheered others by 
her spirit. When I,awrence was burned in 1856, 
all of the wearing apparel of the family, except 
such as was in use at the time, was destroyed in 
the burning of Governor Robinson's house. 
More than once she was in peril, but in the midst 
of every adversity she retained her calmness of 
spirit and brave demeanor, thus inspiring others 
to greater courage. She has witnessed the many 
changes in Lawrence in the past forty-five years 
and is devoted to the welfare of the city in which 
the entire active part of her life has been passed. 



I EMUEL HERBERT MURLIN, D. D. To 
It assume the duties of president of a univer- 
U sity, to be responsible for its upward growth, 
for the welfare of its students and its influence 
upon their lives, is to accept a position calling 
for more than ordinary powers of mind and heart. 
But far greater ability is required of the man who 
becomes the head of an institution burdened by 
debt, distressed by obligations, with diminishing 
attendance and discouraged trustees and faculty. 
To such a position as this Dr. Murlin was called 
when he was elected to the presidency of Baker 
University in Baldwin. Fortunately, he was by 
nature and education adapted for his responsible 
office, and he entered upon its duties with enthu- 
siasm and that ardor which anticipates success. 
For such a man as he success could be the only 
outcome. It has been his privilege to see the 
debt wiped out, the institution brought to a high 
position among western universities, and the last 
year (1898-1899) close with an attendance of 
five hundred and sixty-eight, the largest in the 
history of the school. 

Dr. Murlin was born near Neptune, Mercer 



County, Ohio, November 16, 1861. His father, 
Orlando Murlin, was born in Ohio and was of 
English and Scotch-Irish descent. He remained 
on a farm until forty years of age, when he en- 
tered the Methodist Episcopal ministry, and con- 
tinued to preach the Gospel until he died, at 
sixty-two years. During the Civil war he served 
for three years as a private. He married Esther 
Hankins, who is descended from the Bigelow 
family of New England, and is still living in 
Ohio. Of the five children born to their union, 
Lemuel Herbert was next to the youngest. The 
father being a preacher in pioneer districts, the 
problem of educating the children on his meagre 
salary became a perplexing one to the parents. 
Desiring to relieve them of the burden of his 
education, our subject determined to earn the 
necessar}' money himself. At the age of fourteen 
he entered a drug store as clerk, continuing his 
studies by night. Two years later he graduated 
from the Convoy public school, after which he 
was engaged as instructor in the same school. 
Later he took charge of the boys' department of 
the Fort Wayne (Ind. ) College, and by means 
of this, together with such other work as he could 
find to do, he worked his way through college, 
graduating in 1886. After serving for one year 
as pastor of Trinity Church in Fort Wayne and 
as a teacher in the college, he entered De Pauw 
University, where he took the regular four years' 
course, at the same time having charge of the 
Knightsville church. From the college of liberal 
arts he was graduated in 1891 and from the 
theological school the next year. 

Upon the completion of his literary course he 
was selected, over many competitors, as instruc- 
tor in his alma mater, but at the close of the first 
session he resigned his position in order to accept 
an appointment as pastor of the Methodist Church 
at Vincennes, Ind. While filling that pastorate 
he married Miss Ermina Fallass, Ph. D., precep- 
tress and professor of modern languages in Cor- 
nell College, Iowa. At the close of his third 
year in Vincennes, in August, 1894, he was 
elected to the presidency of Baker University. 
This came as a complete surprise to him, as he 
was not even aware there was a vacancy in the 



200 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD, 



office or that his name was before the board for 
consideration until he received by wire the news 
of his election. 

During his administration Dr. Murlin has 
shown himself to be genial and courteous as a 
man; careful, conservative j'et progressive as 
president; and scholarly and helpful as an in- 
structor. However, it is perhaps his executive 
ability that is his most noticeable trait of charac- 
ter. When he began as president, in September, 
1894, the university was struggling beneath an 
indebtedness of $16,000. Efforts had been made 
to meet the debt, but had always resulted in fail- 
ure, the amount raised being only sufficient to 
meet the interest and make needed repairs upon 
buildings. In March, 1898, the conference re- 
quested Dr. Murlin to devote all of his time to 
the raising of $13,000 to wipe out the interest- 
bearing indebtedness. He did as requested, and 
in June began the work. Five months after the 
campaign was begun, on the 15th of November, 
the total amount had been raised. It was a glo- 
rious victor}- for him and the institution. On 
the 2d of December Judge Case placed in his 
hands interest-bearing securities aggregating 
$6, 152, to form the nucleus of the library fund, and 
since that time two wills have been drawn up in 
favor of the university, and other gifts are being 
contemplated. 

Both as pastor and president Dr. Murlin has 
had many duties, but he has yet found time for 
study, and has devoted his summer months to 
.special and professional re.searches. He has 
studied Hebrew under Dr. Harper, of the Uni- 
versity of Chicago, and •psychology and philoso- 
phy under Dr. William Romaine Newbold, of the 
University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Hall of 
Clark University. In 1891 he was elected to 
membership in the American Institute of Chris- 
tian Philo.sophy. In 1895 he was made a member 
of the American Branch of the Society for Psychi- 
cal Research, composed of the leading psycholo- 
gists in the world. At this writing he is presi- 
dent of the Kansas Association of College Presi- 
dents. In 1897 the University of Denver conferred 
upon him the degree of S. T. D., and Cornell 
College tendered the degree of D. D. Believing 



that the mind is capable of its greatest achieve- 
ments only as the result of constant culture, he 
has continued to be a student and has availed 
himself of the best advantages offered both by 
America and by Europe in those studies which 
he has made his specialties. During the summer 
of 1899 Dr. Murlin, accompanied bj' his wife, 
vi.sited Europe for the purpose of continuing the 
study and research which he had mapped out for 
himself, returning to his dijties as president of the 
university in September. 



EOIv. S. J. CHURCHILL, assistant adjutant- 
general of the department of Kan.sas,G. A. R., 
was one of the brave men who fought for the 
extinction of slavery and the freedom of a race. 
He wears a medal of honor which was volun- 
tarily awarded by congress for most distinguished 
gallantry in the battle of Nashville, Tenn., 
December 15, 1864. In that engagement he 
commanded one gun (a twelve-pound Napoleon) 
and a gun detachment of eight men. When the 
enemy's batteries opened fire upon his gun, com- 
pelling the men of his detachment to seek shelter, 
he stood at his post alone, and amid a perfect 
rain of shot and shell, loaded and fired eleven 
shots before relief came. The rebel batteries 
were silenced and beaten back and the Union 
•forces took an advanced position, thus assisting 
in the final victory at that battle. 

Born in Rutland, Vt., November i, 1842, our 
subject is a .son of vSamuel Sumner and Polly 
(Richardson) Churchill, natives of Vermont, and 
members of old and prominent families there. 
His grandfather, Amos Churchill, who lived to 
be ninety-seven years old, was a descendant of 
English ancestors who settled in Massachusetts. 
Samuels. Churchill died on a Vermont farm at 
forty-four years, and his wife when fifty-six. 
They were the parents of eight daughters and 
two sons who attained mature years, of whom 
three daughters and one son survive. Our subject 
was two years of age when his father and only 
brother died. He was the youngest of the family 
and was reared on the home farm, attending com- 
mon schools and an academy. In the spring of 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



20 1 



1 861 he went to Illinois, intending to teach school, 
but, instead, at the first call for three hundred 
thousand soldiers, he enlisted, August 6, i85i, 
as a private in Battery G, Second Illinois 
Light Artiller)', and was mustered in at Camp 
Butler, after which he was sent to Kentucky. 
He took part in the battle of Fort Donelson and 
was with the first troops that entered Columbus, 
Ky. Thence he marched to Hickman, Ky., and 
Union City, Tenn. , where the Union force sur- 
prised the Confederates, captured the guns and 
then proceeded to Trenton, Tenn. He joined 
Grant's expedition at Lagrange and marched 
further south, going as far as CofFeyville, where 
the Confederates in the rear cut off supplies. 

Returning to Memphis, the regiment after- 
ward took part in the Vicksburg campaign and 
the battles of Champion Hills, Jackson and 
Black Water Bridge, thence went to Jefferson Bar- 
racks, Mo., and from there pursued Price, serving 
under Gen. A.J.Smith. Their next engagements 
were at Franklin and Nashville, where they 
assisted in securing the annihilation of Hood's 
forces. In January, 1864, our subject veteran- 
ized and was promoted to the rank of corporal. 
He then went to New Orleans, thence to Mobile 
and took part in the siege of that city, later was 
at Forts Spanish and Blakely, then went to 
Montgomery, Ala., remaining there until mus- 
tered out. He was honorably discharged at 
Springfield, 111., September 5, 1865. Though 
he had borne an active part in nineteen battles, 
he was never seriously wounded. His principal 
engagements were as follows: Fort Donelson, 
February 16, 1862; Union City, March 31, 1862; 
Coffey ville, Miss., December 5, 1862; Siege of 
Vicksburg, 1863; Brownsville, Miss., October 
14, 1863; Tupelo, Miss., July 14, 1864; Oldtown 
Greek, Miss., July 15, 1864; Hurricane Creek, 
August 14, 1864; Nashville, Tenn., December 
15-16, 1864; Siege of Fort Spanish, Mobile and 
Fort Blakely from March 27 to April 12,1865. 
His last promotion was to be quartermaster-ser- 
geant, but at the captain's request he retained 
his place at the gun and left others to distribute 
rations. 

While at home on a furlough our subject was 



married, in Rutland County, Vt., May 4, 1864, to 
Miss Adelia A. Holmes, daughter of Pliny and 
Vesta (Caldwell) Holmes. Soon after the war was 
over he settled in Jackson County, Mo., twenty 
miles southeast of Kansas City, settling in 1866 
upon property he had purchased in December 
1865. He was the first Union man in his town 
and at first naturally had considerable prejudice 
to overcome. He assisted in building up a school 
and aided other local enterprises. In 1879 he 
came to Lawrence, Kans. From 1878 to 1881 he 
represented, in Missouri and Kansas, the H. B. 
Scott & Co. Barb Wire Manufacturing Company 
of Joliet, 111. In 188 1 he began as a wholesale 
dealer in barb wire and nails, with ofiBce and 
storerooms on Massachusetts street. He built up 
a large trade and continued until 1887. He also 
assisted in organizing the Organ Mountain Min- 
ing and Smelting Company, of which he was 
vice-president and treasurer, but the enterprise 
was not a success. Later for several years he 
carried on a wholesale and retail grocery busi- 
ness, but finally traded the business for real 
estate and retired. For two years he was deputy 
clerk of the district court, since which time he 
has engaged in assessing property for the city 
and has also done considerable official clerical 
work. In 1890 he took the census. For one 
term he served in the city council from the first 
ward, and has been active on county committees 
and in conventions of the Republican party. 

The first wife of our subject died in Missouri, 
leaving four children, namely; May, wife of A. 
L. Sloan, who is a civil engineer at San Bernar- 
dino, Cal. ; Frank H., who died January 8, 
1 891; Winnifred G., wife of James Owen, an 
attorney at Cripple Creek, Colo.; and Lena 
Blanche, who died July 8, 1898. The second 
marriage of Colonel Churchill occurred at Coun- 
cil Grove, Kans., uniting him with Miss Louana 
Grant, who was born near Cooperstown, Otsego 
County, N. Y., and received her education in 
Starkey Seminary and Albion (Mich.) College. 
She was the youngest of three children, one of 
whom, Solon E. Grant, was a captain in a Michi- 
gan regiment during the Civil war and died about 
1879. Among her relatives were several who 



202 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



attained national fame during the war of the re- 
bellion. Her father, Rev. Jacob Grant, a native 
of Herkimer County, N. Y.. graduated from 
Hamilton College and entered the Baptist minis- 
try, in which he continued until he died, at Lodi, 
N. Y. He was the son of a Revolutionary hero, 
who received a medal for bravery in that conflict. 
Her mother, Louana, was a daughter of Major 
Cloughandwas born in Madison, N. Y., but died 
when her daughter and namesake was only three 
weeks old. Both Colonel and Mrs. Churchill 
are members of the official board of the Method- 
ist Episcopal Church, and he has also officiated 
as class-leader, chorister and Sunday-school su- 
perintendent. Fraternally he is identified with 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Modern 
Woodmen of America and Washington Post No. 
12, G. A. R., in which he is past commander. 
Several times he has been aide on the staff of the 
department commander. In 1898, at the Wichita 
encampment, he was appointed assistant adjutant- 
general of the department of Kansas, G. A. R. 
In this position he has discharged every duty 
with efficiency. 

It is said that Colonel Churchill is one of the 
finest penmen in Kansas. When he was in the 
army he did the writing for his company, making 
out the muster and pay rolls and the monthly 
reports. He took great pains with his work and 
thus acquired a precision and accuracy of pen- 
manship that is universally admired. On ac- 
count of his skill as a writer he has been em- 
ployed by the state to write commissions for the 
officers of the Kansas regiments. 

Department- Commander, D. W. Eastman, in 
his report to the department encampment at 
Hutchinson, April 26, 1899, said, in referring to 
Colonel Churchill: "I would especially call at- 
tention to the report of Assistant Adjutant-Gen- 
eral Churchill, and of his work during the year. 
The books under his charge are models of neat- 
ness and correctness. He has been faithful and 
painstaking in all his work. Not an unpleas- 
ant word has passed between us, and we part 
with the ties of comradeship firmly welded." 

The committee to whom the report of Colonel 
Churchill to the Hutchinson Encampment was re- 



ferred made the following report: "To the De- 
partment of Kansas, G. A. R.: We the under- 
signed committee on report of Assistant Adju- 
tant-General Churchill, do most respectfully re- 
port that, after giving said report a careful con- 
sideration, and because of the faultless and thor- 
ough manner of its preparation and the methodi- 
cal arrangement of the valuable information it 
contains, do unhesitatingly approve the same. 
It contains all that a painstaking mind can sug- 
gest and, because of its completeness, furnishes a 
model for all future officers occupying this impor- 
tant station. We recommend this Department 
pass a vote of thanks to our gallant Assistant 
Adjutant-General for the efficiency he has shown. 
"Respectfully submitted in F. C. & L." 
(Signed) 

W. H. Fletcher, ^ 

F. P. Cochran, [■ Committee. 

W. F. Hendry,) 



yyiAJ. DANIEL C. JONES, M. D., sur- 
Y geon of the western branch of the National 
Soldiers' Home, at Leavenworth, is a de- 
scendant of colonial settlers of Virginia, whose 
names were intimately associated with the earlj- 
history of the Old Dominion. His father, Eph- 
raim B. Jones, removed from Virginia to Ohio 
and later to Illinois, where he engaged in farm- 
ing and stock-raising until his death, in 1876. 
He was a man of intelligence and upright charac- 
ter and was a leader in his community. His 
father, Hon. John Jones, went from Virginia to 
Ohio, where he became an influential attornej' 
and judge of the courts, attaining a success that 
made his name influential throughout his county. 
By the marriage of Ephraim B. Jones to Martha 
Clark, who was bom in Virginia and died in Illi- 
nois in 1875, seven children were born, of whom 
four are living, namely: Daniel C. ; O. S., of 
Paris, 111.; Sarah, wife of J. H. Shawhan; and 
Helen, widow of Joseph Johnson, of Indianapolis, 
Ind. Major Jones was born in Athens County, 
Ohio, January 5, 1838, and was reared near Paris, 
111., where he studied in the public schools and 
academy. He began to read medicine under a 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



203 



physician of Paris, and later matriculated in Rush 
Medical College, where he took the complete 
course of study, graduating in 1862. Before 
graduating he had enlisted in the Union army, 
his name being enrolled August 10, 1861, as a 
member of Company A, Seventh Illinois Cavalry, 
in which he was first sergeant. In 1862, after 
having received his degree of M. D., he was ap- 
pointed assistant surgeon of the Second Illinois 
Cavalry, and in 1864 was made surgeon, with 
the rank of major. As such he served until the 
close of the war, and afterward was stationed at 
the post in San Antonio, Tex., for six months. 
He was present in all of the engagements of the 
army of the Mississippi, under General Grant, 
the most important of these battles being Vicks- 
burg and Corinth, and remained with the regi- 
ment at the front without furlough or change. 
In one battle he was slightly wounded. 

After receiving his honorable discharge from 
the army, in 1866, Major Jones entered the Ohio 
Medical College at Cincinnati, from which he 
graduated in 1867. Returning to Paris, 111., he 
opened an office and began a general practice. In 
1868 he came to Kansas, settling in Junction City, 
where he carried on practice until 1875. He then 
moved to Topeka, where he built up a reputation 
as a skillful physician and surgeon, continuing 
in that city until he accepted the position of sur- 
geon at the Soldiers' Home in Leavenworth in 
1895. In the Home he has full charge of the 
surgical and medical department, with three as- 
sistants under him. His thorough acquaintance 
with his profession and his success in its practice 
admirably qualify him for the responsibilities of 
his position and enable him to satisfactorily dis- 
charge every duty. 

Active as a member of the Republican party, 
Major Jones has given his influence to party 
principles in the various cities where he has made 
his home. In 1893 he was elected mayor of To- 
peka, which office he filled to the satisfaction of 
all. It has been his custom to attend such con- 
ventions of the party as his professional duties 
will allow, and he has been an interested specta- 
tor in a number of national, as well as manj' state 
and local, conventions. He is connected with 



the American Public Health Association, the 
Eastern District Medical Society and the Kansas 
State Medical Society, and has officiated as 
president of the two last-named. Fraternally he 
holds membership in Topeka Lodge No. 17, 
A. F. & A. M., Topeka Chapter, R. A. M., and 
Palestine Commandery, K. T., at Paris, 111. 
While in the army, in 1864, he was united in 
marriage with Miss Jane E. Austin, of Illinois, 
who died in 1885, leaving two daughters: Mar- 
tha; and Adelia, wife of William F. Hixon, of 
Leavenworth. 



30HN W. SPRATLEY. In reviewing the 
history of any community there are always a 
few names that stand out pre-eminently 
among others, because those who bear them are 
men of superior ability, energy, judgment and 
intelligence. Such men add to the prosperity of 
a town and increa.se its commercial importance. 
To this class belongs J. W. Spratley, president 
of the Union Savings Bank of Leavenworth, and 
one of the large cattle-dealers of the west. Stand- 
ing, as he does, at the head of a large financial 
institution, he wields an influence that is by no 
means limited to his home town. The success of 
the bank is, in a large measure, due to his saga- 
cious judgment and the sound business policy he 
has adopted in its management. Since its or- 
ganization in January, 1890, he has held the of- 
fice of president, and has also been a member of 
the board of directors. During the nine years 
that the bank has been in existence it has earned, 
besides paying dividends, a large surplus, 
amounting at the present time, to $11,000, and 
is one of the substantial concerns of Kansas. The 
recipient of the patronage of many of the busi- 
ness men, as well as large numbers of private 
citizens of Leavenworth, its deposits on the last 
day of June, 1899, were $410,111.34, with a capi- 
tal stock of $30,000, and undivided profits $10,- 
000, surplus $11,500, while its loans and dis- 
counts reached the gratifying figure of almost 
$300,000. 

The life which this narrative sketches began 
in Surry County, Va., Jamxary 23, 1834, upon 
the plantation of Junius Nicholas Spratley, of 



204 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



whose six children only two are living. One son, 
who was his father's namesake, took part in the 
Civil war, and afterward settled in Leavenworth, 
Kans. , where he died. The subject of this arti- 
cle was left fatherless at an earlj- age. At fifteen 
he went to Alabama and remained in the vicinitj- 
of Mobile until May, 1856, when he came to the 
then new town of Leavenworth. In the fall he 
returned to the south, not, however, with the in- 
tention of remaining, for the spring of 1857 found 
him once more in Kansas. Securing employment 
as clerk he entered at once into western activi- 
ties. During the winter of 1860-61 he visited at 
his old Virginia home, and after his return 
started a flour mill and also embarked in the 
manufacture of lumber. His sawmill adjoined 
the government reservation, and during the war 
he was kept constantly bu.sy in filling govern- 
ment contracts, but at the close of the conflict he 
turned the business over to his brother. 

The industry with which Mr. Spratley has 
been most intimately identified, and in which he 
has been very successful, is that of dealing in cat- 
tle. Shortly after the clo.se of the Civil war he 
purchased and began to improve large tracts of 
land. Some of this he sold at handsome profits. 
A portion he retained in his po.ssession, in order 
to furnish range for his cattle. He now owns 
farms in different parts of the county, where he 
feeds cattle, which from time to time he ships to 
eastern markets. His specialty has been the 
Shorthorns and Herefords, with both of which he 
has been successful. Besides his land in Kansas, 
he is the owner of a farm near Smithville, Clay 
County, Mo., where he raises fancy cattle. 

It would be impossible for one so long identi- 
fied with a city to feel no interest in its welfare, 
and we find that Mr. Spratley has, during more 
than forty years of his residence in Leavenworth, 
done all within his power to advance its material 
welfare. He has been especially helpful in broad- 
ening its power as a financial center. The bank 
he helped to organize has been an important 
agency in the growing prosperity of the place. 
During the panic of 1893 it maintained its credit 
unimpaired and retained then, as it has ever 
done, the confidence of its patrons. Giving his 



attention to his cattle business and banking in- 
terests, Mr. Spratley has little time to participate 
in public affairs, but he keeps posted concerning 
the national problems, and in politics is a Demo- 
crat. In fraternal relations he is connected with 
the Endowment Rank, Knights of Pythias. 

In Platte County, Mo., Mr. Spratley was 
united in marriage with Miss Emma Cockrill, 
who was born in that county, a member of the 
family to which Platte County owed not a little 
of its progress. She was reared in the home of 
her parents, Clinton and Mary (Coates) Cockrill, 
and in girlhood became connected with the Chris- 
tian Church, of which she has since been a mem- 
ber. The onlj' son of Mr. and Mrs. Spratley is 
J. W. Spratley, Jr., who is teller of and a director 
in the Union Savings Bank. In 1S86 Mr. Sprat- 
ley was elected treasurer of Leavenworth Count}' 
on the Democratic ticket, and at the expiration 
of the term was re-elected, serving until rSgo. 



PI ILLWYN PARKER, cashier and paymaster 
1^1 at the National Military Home in Leaven- 
\q} worth, was born in Parkersville, Chester 
County, Pa., in 1840, a son of Wistarand Abigail 
rjackson) Parker, both of Quaker descent and 
faith. His grandfather, John Parker, was a 
Quaker preacher and the ancestors, who came 
from England, were also prominent in that so- 
ciety. The history of the family in this country 
dates back to 1710, when William and John Penn 
deeded to John Parker a tract of land now em- 
braced in the town of Parkersville. Mrs. Abigail 
Parker died in Harford County, Md., in 1873, at 
the age of seventy-two. She had long survived 
her husband, who was a lifelong resident of 
Chester County, Pa., and died there at forty- 
nine years. They were the parents of eight chil- 
dren, but only three of these are now living, the 
two daughters being Mary, wife of Dr. S. T. 
Brown, of Germantown, Pa., and Ellen, who 
married Dallas Reeve, of Trenton, N. J. 

The boyhood days of our subject were passed 
principally in Westchester, Pa., and his educa- 
tion was largely acquired in a boarding school. 
For several years he was deputy recorder of deeds 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



205 



of Chester County, later became recorder. In 
1 86 1 he enlisted in Companj' A, First Pennsyl- 
vania Reserve Infantr}', and was detailed as 
.secretary to Generals Reynolds, Sykes and Craw- 
ford, serving in a clerical capacity, and as an 
orderly on General Reynolds' staff. He was with 
the regiment at Fredericksburg, Gettysburg and 
in the seven days battle before Richmond, and 
was slightly wounded in the first-named engage- 
ment and for a few hours was a prisoner. His 
regiment was a part of the third division, fifth 
army corps, under Generals Reynolds, Meade, 
Sykes and Warren. In July, 1864, he became a 
clerk in the war department at Washington, 
where he remained for two years. During that 
time he was called upon by President Lincoln and 
Secretary Stanton to write out three proclama- 
tions of great importance. The last of these was 
drafted just before the election of 1864 and called 
for three hundred thousand volunteers, but was 
not issued until after the election. He also drew 
up the proclamation granting amnesty to any 
Confederates who wished to enter the Union 
lines. 

After leaving the war department Mr. Parker 
spent a short time in southern Texas, returning 
to Westchester in 1866. In a convention pre- 
sided over by Gen. John R. Brooke he was nomi- 
nated for recorder of deeds, and was later elected, 
filling the ofBce until he removed to Harford 
County, Md., in 1870. For six years he was 
engaged in farming and stock-raising there, after 
which he returned to Westchester, Pa., and 
shortly afterward was appointed appraiser in the 
United States custom house at the Centennial 
Exposition. Coming to Kansas in 1877 he en- 
gaged in the loan business at Paola, representing 
Smedley Darlington. He remained in Paola un- 
til 1888, when he was appointed chief clerk, 
cashier and paymaster at the National Military 
Home, which appointment he still holds. In 
politics he has always supported the Republican 
party and has been active in local and state 
affairs; however, he is not a partisan, but inclined 
to be independent in principle and favors any 
measure for the benefit of the people. While re- 
siding in Maryland he took a leading part in the 



campaign of 1875 and was a delegate to the state 
convention which nominated J. Morrison Harris 
for governor. 

In 1869 Mr. Parker married Carrie L. , daugh- 
ter of Henry Taylor McClellan, who was for forty- 
eight years superintendent of the Allegheny iron 
furnace at Altoona, Pa. They are the parents of 
two children: Henry W., who is assistant to 
Colonel Ayleshire, chief quartermaster, with the 
rank of first lieutenant, on General Wilson's 
staff at Matanzas, Cuba; and Sylvester C. Fra- 
ternally Mr. Parker is connected with the 
Knights of Honor. He has served as quarter- 
master of the Union Veterans' Legion and for 
some time held office as senior vice and acting 
commander of McCasslan Post No. 117, G. A. R. 
He has full charge of all financial matters in the 
treasurer's office at the Soldiers' Home and dis- 
charges his responsible duties with accuracy and 
fidelity. 

WIGHT BYINGTON, who at the time of 
his death was past grand commander and 
grand recorder of the grand commandery 
of Knights Templar of Kansas, was a man who.se 
aim in life was to do good, and in his demise, 
which occurred October 11, 1894, his wife lost a 
devoted companion, and the community a citizen 
who could illy be spared. Born in Norwich, 
Chenango County, N. Y., February 20, 1831, he 
was a lineal descendant of Puritan stock. His 
father, Frederick, was a native of Connecticut, 
and his mother of Massachusetts. About 1816 
they removed to Norwich, N. Y., where they 
were married April 27, 1827. When Dwight 
was four years of age his father died. He was 
reared under the care of his mother, and was 
educated in Norwich and Oxford Academy. In 
early life he engaged in various pursuits and ac- 
quired a knowledge of telegraphy, which he 
afterward followed in the west. Believing that 
there were better chances for a young man in the 
growing west, he went to Terre Haute, Ind., 
where he was employed as operator by the Terre 
Haute & Alton Railroad. Later he was made 
agent at Charleston, 111., and in 1861 promoted 
to train dispatcher. In 1862 he was called to 



2o6 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Jefferson Barracks, Mo., by Major Smith, and 
placed in charge of the military telegraph service 
during the remainder of the war. Two years 
after he went to Jefferson Barracks he was trans- 
ferred to Pilot Knob, then to Helena and Little 
Rock, Ark., and in 1864 was made manager, 
with headquarters in Leavenworth. He was the 
last man mustered out of the service in this de- 
partment in 1866. 

After the expiration of his army service Mr. 
Byington was employed in Leavenworth by the 
Missouri Pacific Railroad as operator and agent. 
The road at that time was uncompleted, and he 
had his office in a box car. During those days 
he had many interesting experiences. He once 
took a ride in the steamer "Hensley," Capt. W. 
S. Burke, from Leavenworth down to the mouth 
of the Kaw and up to Lawrence. When the first 
engine was brought by boat to the Kaw River, 
he went down to see it tried. The track had 
been laid to the river bank, and when the engine 
.started it was run up a short distance and back, 
then was taken out of sight. Returning, it got 
out of the control of the engineer, plunged over 
the bank of the river and was imbedded in the 
quicksand, where it remains to this day. 

For twenty years Mr. Byington was in the 
employ of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Dur- 
ing eighteen and one-half years he was ticket 
agent and in all of that time he was absent from 
duty only three and one-half weeks. Nor was 
there, in the entire period, a discrepancy of a 
penny in his accounts. Owing to poor health, 
he was finally obliged to give up active employ- 
ment. From Major Smith he received the gift 
of a very fine pocket telegraph instrument, and 
this he often used when on his trips in charge of 
government lines during the war; it is now in 
the possession of Mrs. Byington, who highly 
prizes it as a token of the esteem in which he 
was held. 

In the Masonic order Mr. Byington took high 
rank. He became a member of the fraternity in 
Leavenworth, in June, 1864, belonging to King 
Solomon Lodge No. 10, A. F. & A. M. In 
1866 he served as junior warden, in 1868 as 
senior warden, and in 1869 as worshipful master. 



From 1873 to 1876 he was deputy grand master. 
In 1865 he became a member of Leavenworth 
Chapter No. 2, and vi'as high priest in 1868 and 
1869. In 1866 he assisted in organizing the 
Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Kansas and was 
elected grand king in 1876 and grand high priest 
in 1877. I" 1865 he received the degrees of 
royal, select and super-excellent master in Leav- 
enworth Council No. i, and was honored with 
the office of illustrious master in 1877 and 1878. 
He also assisted in organizing the Grand Council 
of Kansas, and was afterward grand master in 
1880 and 1881, and was a delegate from the 
Grand Council of Kansas to the convention at 
Detroit, Mich., and took a deep interest in the 
organization of the General Grand Council. In 
1868 he helped to organize the Grand Command- 
erj' of Knights Templar of Kansas, and was 
chosen eminent commander in 1874. He was 
elected grand captain general at the annual con- 
clave in 1877, and deputy grand commander in 
1879. In 1880 he repre.sented the Grand Com- 
mandery in the grand encampment in Chicago, 
the largest assembly of Knights Templar that 
was ever gathered in any city or country. 

Among Masons throughout the country Mr. 
Byington was well known and held in the high- 
est esteem. When lie died there were many 
tributes paid to his memory by his host of 
friends. He was buried with Masonic honors 
and his funeral brought together the largest con- 
cour.se of people ever seen at a similar service in 
Leavenworth. In the hearts of those to whom 
he was known, his memor}' is honored for his 
upright life and noble character. 



<A RS. EMILY J. BYINGTON, who is en- 
y gaged in the real-estate business in Leaven- 
(3 worth, was born in Oxford, N. Y., in 1835, 
a daughter of Levi and Laura (Humphrey) 
Eggleston. Her father was an expert machinist 
and at the time of his death was a member of the 
oldest firm of hardware merchants in Chenango 
County. Through her mother she is of English 
descent, but the family has been identified with 
American history for many generations. Her 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



207 



education was obtained in Oxford Academj-, with 
the alumni association of which she has since 
been identified. She was given the benefit of the 
best advantages of the day and locality. Prior to 
the origin of the Morse system of telegraphy, she 
attended a lecture, in which was demonstrated 
the result of electricity when put under control 
by wire and keys. 

When twenty years of age Miss Eggleston be- 
came the wife of Dwight Byington. They had 
an only child, a son, deceased, who was buried 
at Litchfield, 111. 

In 1865, being desirous of getting a home, Mrs. 
Byington began to clerk. She succeeded in ac- 
complishing her aim, and at the same time dis- 
played the possession of so much business ability 
that she has since continued identified with the 
business interests of Leavenworth. In 1873 she 
bought a small house, which she has since en- 
larged to its present commodious size. In 1883 
she embarked in the real-estate business, in which 
she has since successfully engaged. During the 
boom of 1887 and its subsequent collapse, others 
were more or less injured financially, but by the 
exercise of good judgment she came out ahead. 
It has always been one of her principles that all 
should live within their incomes, and in her ad- 
dress before the students of Leavenworth College, 
in February, 1899, she made that thought one of 
her principal points. She is fond of literary work 
and shows a decided talent for it. She delivered 
an address at the memorial .service held in honor 
of Mrs. Harriet C. Gushing, founder of Gushing 
hospital and one of the founders of the Home for 
the Friendless, in Leavenworth. 

In 1896 Mrs. Byington was a delegate to the 
biennial convention of Women's Clubs held in 
Louisville and two j^ears later she attended as a 
delegate a similar gathering in Denver. She was 
one of the originators of the Saturday Club, with 
which she has been identified for twenty j-ears. 
In the Alantean Club of Topeka she is an hon- 
orary member, and is also a life member of the 
Art League of Leavenworth. Identified with By- 
ington Chapter No. 177, Order of Eastern Star, 
she holds office as past worthy matron of the 
chapter. Her various fraternal and social con- 



nections afford her an outlet for her energies and 
an agreeable relaxation after the cares of busi- 
ness. She laid out the Byington subdivision to 
Leavenworth and now owns a number of resi- 
dences in the city. Matters calculated to pro- 
mote the welfare of the people, either morally or 
intellectually, receive her sympathy and support. 
The public library is one of the worthy causes in 
which she is interested. She has also taken a 
warm interest in the work of the Home for the 
Friendless, and has been a member of the home 
board. 



3EPP RYAN, president of the Ryan Brothers 
Cattle Company, president of the Leaven- 
worth Coal Company, and a director of the 
First National Bank of Leavenworth, was born 
in the city of Leavenworth, November 24, 1858, 
a son of Matthew Ryan, Sr. His education was 
obtained principally in St. Mary's College in 
Kansas. From an early age he has been inter- 
ested in the cattle business. Associated with his 
older brother and their father, in 1876 he began 
trailing cattle from Oregon, Idaho and Washing- 
ton to Cheyenne, Wyo., and this business they 
conducted upon an extensive scale, handling as 
many as thirty thousand cattle in a single season. 

The Ryan Brothers Cattle Company, organized 
in 1883, located a ranch on the Musselshell 
River, one hundred and ten miles northwest of 
Miles City, Mont. , and seventy miles from Cus- 
ter's battlefield. From that time until 1897 the 
subject of this sketch spent almost his entire time 
in Montana, where he was extensively engaged 
in the cattle bu.siness. While he conducted the 
business upon a large scale, and was prosperous, 
yet he had his share of misfortunes. During the 
severe winter of 1886- 1887 the firm lost more 
than fifteen thousand head of cattle. However, 
thej' continued the business upon as large a scale 
as before, and in addition to the raising of cattle, 
also engaged in the breeding of saddle and thor- 
oughbred horses, being the largest producers of 
saddle horses in Montana. 

During all the years that Mr. Ryan had the 
superintendence of the ranch he made his home 
in Miles City, Mont. In 1891 he opened a hard- 



208 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



ware store in that place, where he built up an 
extensive business and continued at the head of 
the establishment until 1898, when he sold out. 
In 1894 he was elected maj'or of Miles Citj-, 
which position he held one term. He was very 
popular among the people of Miles City and his 
departure was greatly regretted: the local paper 
alluded to him in terms of the highest praise and 
the people united in testifying to his worth as a 
citizen. In November, 1897, his brother, Mat- 
thew Ryan, Jr., died. The two had always been 
engaged in business together, Matthew having 
charge of their Leavenworth interests, while our 
subject superintended the cattle business in 
Montana. The latter' s plans were changed by 
the death of his brother and his return to Leav- 
enworth was rendered necessary. Here he has 
since had the supervision of the Ryan estate, 
while his brother, Ethan, has acted as vice- 
president of the company and manager of the 
Montana ranch. 

Besides their interests in Montana, Ryan 
Brothers are also extensively engaged in cattle 
raising near Tombstone, Cochise County, Ariz., 
Eldorado, Kans. , and Chickasaw Nation, I. T. 
Ryan Brothers Cattle Company also own a farm 
of one thousand acres, stocked with cattle, and 
situated seven miles south of Leavenworth. Mr. 
Ryan is vice-president of the Lost Horse Mining 
and Milling Company, operating a gold mine in 
San Bernardino County, Cal., of which company 
his brother, Thomas, is the president. The 
Leavenworth Coal Company, of which he is 
president, are the oldest coal operators in the 
state, and have a .shaft seven hundred and ten 
feet deep, mining a twenty-three inch vein, with 
a capacity of thirtj' thousand. In addition to his 
other enterprises he is president of the Ryan 
Brothers Cattle Company and a director in the 
First National Bank. During his residence in 
Montana he was actively identified with the Mon- 
tana Cattle Growers' Association. 

On South Broadway, Leavenworth, stands the 
beautiful and elegantly furnished home of Mr. 
Ryan. He was married in Leavenworth, in Jan- 
uary, 1883, to Miss Addie Carr, daughter of E. 
T. and Margaret Carr; she was born in Leaven- 



worth and received excellent advantages in girl- 
hood. Her charming manners and tact enable 
her to preside graciously over her elegant home. 
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Ryan are Lee M. 
and Samuel. 

A great deal of credit is due Mr. Ryan for the 
energy he has displayed in business matters and 
for the liberal manner in which he has supported 
all enterprises calculated to develop and add to 
the progress of his native town. He is a man of 
enterprise, joined with sound common sense, and 
in his stock-raising projects has exhibited excel- 
lent judgment. In fact, it is doubtful if any citi- 
zen of Leavenworth is better versed than he in 
the details of the stock business. 



EAPT. JAMES T. STEVENS was born 
in Leaksville, Rockingham County, N. C, 
a son of William C. and Caroline Frances 
(Barnett) Stevens, and a descendant, on the pa- 
ternal side, of a pioneer family of New Hamp- 
shire, while the Barnetts were early residents of 
Virginia and many of their members took part in 
the Revolutionary war. In 1834 the family re- 
moved to Peoria County, 111. , and soon afterward 
the mother died, after which the father married 
again. He became one of the most extensive 
and prosperous farmers of his section and lived to 
be a very aged man. 

In a private school our subject obtained a good 
knowledge of the English language and laid the 
foundation of the education which was afterward 
broadened by travel and self-culture. August 
25, 1850, at the age of twenty years and two 
months, he married Miss Lizzie Flint. Soon 
afterward he rented a farm at Princeton, but a 
year later sold his property and purchased an in- 
terest in a furniture store in the town, which 
business he conducted for several years, making 
money rapidly, but losing through unfortunate 
investments. In 1857 he di.sposed of the store 
and resumed farming, and soon had three farms 
well improved and stocked. 

At the opening of the Civil war he determined 
to enlist in defense of the Union. October, 1861, 
found his name enrolled as a member of Company 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



209 



C, Fifty-seventh Illinois Infantrj'. A short time 
afterward he was made sergeant-major, and 
served in the Army of the Tennessee, participa- 
ting in the battles of Pittsburg Landing, Corinth 
and Stone River. He was always to be found in 
the thickest of the fights, leading others on to 
victory. In 1863 he was transferred to the One 
Hundred and Forty-sixth Illinois Infantry and 
commissioned captain; serving as such, mostly in 
Tennessee and Alabama, until the close of the 
war, when he was mustered out, July 5, 1865, at 
Springfield, 111. 

Returning home, Captain Stevens found farm- 
ing in a stagnant condition, owing to the influ- 
ence of the war. Believing conditions would be 
more favorable in the west, he sold his Illinois 
property and came to Kansas in November, 
1867. Settling in Lawrence, he first built a 
tannery and engaged in tanning, but lost all he 
had invested. His next venture was in the real- 
estate and insurance business, in which he was 
so successful that within three years he had re- 
trieved his losses to some extent. In January, 
1872, he and I. S. Kalloch issued the first num- 
ber of the Spirit of Kansas, a paper devoted to the 
general interests of the farming people. After 
a year he bought out his partner and ran a few 
months alone, when he took Hon. E. G. Ross into 
partnership, but after a year he again became 
editor and sole proprietor. Under his manage- 
ment the paper increased in circulation and popu- 
larity, and was generally conceded to have no 
superior of its kind. He continued its editor for 
years, but finally sold the paper. 

Politically Captain Stevens was always a 
stanch Republican. He was connected with the 
Masons, Odd Fellows and Grand Army. In 
1873 he became identified with the Grange move- 
ment and for several terms he served as master 
of his Grange. In 1877 ^^^ 1878 he was lecturer 
of the Kansas State Grange. In this capacity he 
made a general canvass of the state, organizing 
granges, strengthening old organizations and ad- 
vancing the movement. Through his pointed, 
logical and practical lectures he did much to 
awaken the people to a realization of their op- 
portunities and the state's needs as an agricult- 



ural community. For two hundred days he 
engaged in lecturing, without asking for any 
remuneration whatever. In religion he was a 
Congregationalist. His wife died in 1887, and two 
years later, while he was serving as justice of the 
peace, he also passed away. They were the pa- 
rents of five children: Mrs. Eva Griesa, of Law- 
rence; Nelson O., of this city; James B., profes- 
sor of vocal music in Boston, Mass.; Carrie F., a 
teacher in the public schools of Lawrence; and 
William C, professor of botany in the University 
of Kansas. 



HON. MARTIN SMITH. The pioneers of 
Leavenworth will be held in grateful re- 
membrance long after they shall have 
passed from earth. The hardships and priva- 
tions which they endured during the early days 
of the settlement of Kansas entitle them to spe- 
cial recognition. Among these early settlers 
mention belongs to Mr. Smith, who came to 
Leavenworth June 8, 1857, and is still an active 
business man of this city. During the entire 
period of his residence here he has maintained a 
deep interest in the welfare of his city and state, 
and has contributed his quota toward the devel- 
opment of each. Through his service as a mem- 
ber of the state senate he has also had a connec- 
tion with the making of the laws of the state and 
the sustaining of its broad educational and phil- 
anthropic institutions. 

At iSTo. 305 Delaware street Mr. Smith is en- 
gaged in the real-estate and insurance business. 
As an underwriter he draws up policies ensuring 
against fire and tornado, also against the destruc- 
tion of plate glass by accident. The companies 
he represents are as follows: Liverpool, London 
& Globe; Firemen's Fund of San Francisco; 
German-American of New York; North British 
& Mercantile; Orient of Hartford; Glens Falls of 
Glens Falls, N. Y. ; Hamburg-Bremen; Sun of 
London (the oldest insurance company in tlie 
world); American- Central of St. Louis and Mil- 
waukee. He owns residence property in Leaven- 
worth, and al-so a farm of one hundred and forty 
acres in Platte County, Mo. He has acted as 
president of a number of building and loan asso- 



2IO 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



ciations until their shares matured and were paid 
off. Other enterprises have received his attention 
from time to time. 

On New Year's day of 1832 Mr. Smith was 
born in Rhenish Prussia, Germany, a .son of 
John and Mary (Wagner) Smith, also natives of 
that vicinity. His paternal grandfather, a farmer, 
was seventy-one years of age at the time of his 
death, and his wife was ninety-seven. When a 
young man John Smith entered the Prussian 
army and served in the Napoleonic wars, up to 
and including the battle of Waterloo. He was 
second lieutenant of his company, and received, 
for bravery, the order of the iron cross. Before 
Frederick William died he issued an order that 
each and every one who was a participant in 
these wars, who was qualified for office, should 
be given the preference. In this way John Smith 
was given the office of general superintendent of 
public roads, his territory covering a very large 
area. He continued in the office mitil he died at 
eighty-seven years, and retaining his mental and 
physical faculties was able to attend to every 
duty up to the last. He death resulted from an 
attack by a mad bull. His wife died at sixty- 
six years. Of their six children three are living, 
Martin being next to the youngest, and the only 
one in America. One of the sons, John, was a 
lieutenant in the revolution in Baden and was a 
man of splendid qualities, whose rise from the 
ranks was merited. 

When fourteen the subject of this sketch en- 
tered a college at Bern-Kassel. Afterward he 
became superintendent of twenty-five men in the 
building of a twelve-mile macadam road, which 
work occupied one j-ear. He then .served a two 
years' apprenticeship to the machinist's trade in 
Burkenfeld, after which he traveled in Germany 
for eight months. He was drafted into the army 
and accepted, but, before regularly entering the 
army, came to America in order to escape mili- 
tary oppression. In 1852 he took pa.ssage on the 
sailing vessel " Fitzpatrick," at Hamburg, and 
after a voyage of six weeks arrived in New 
York, friendless, and with only $32. He found 
employment as a machinist, and during the two 
years he remained in New York he saved $800, 



by working overtime, in addition to his regular 
salary. With this money he started west. He 
traveled through different parts of the country, 
and for eighteen months worked in New Orleans. 
While there he and seventeen others joined 
Walker's second expedition to Honduras, where 
he had many thrilling experiences. While he 
was in prison. Walker was taken out and shot. 
During the night he and four comrades made 
their escape, and traveled inland to a smalltown, 
where they secured employment in the building 
of four iron houses. With the money thus 
earned they were able to pay their way back to 
New Orleans. From there he proceeded to St. 
Louis and thence to Leavenworth. His early 
life here was no less perilous than had been his 
experiences in Honduras. Border warfare made 
existence a constant menace. He was a free- 
state man, and consequently encountered the 
dislike of southern sympathizers. For a time he 
worked in a blacksmith shop on Second street. 

In 1862 Mr. Smith was made chief of the vol- 
unteer fire department, which position he held 
for eight years. Prior to this he had organized 
the Leavenworth Hook and Ladder Company 
No. I, of which he was foreman. While acting 
as chief he organized the paid fire department, 
and bought the first and second steamers in the 
town. During the war he was captain of Com- 
pany G, First Kan.sas Militia. In 1863 he start- 
ed in the fire insurance business, and now has 
the oldest business of the kind in Leavenworth, 
if not, indeed, in the entire state. In this city 
he married Lizzie, daughter of George Galloway, 
wlio removed from Kentucky to Platte County, 
Mo., in 1854. They are the parents of four 
children, namely: Mrs. Mary Oliver; Florence; 
Jessie; and Martin J., a graduate of the high 
.school, and now connected with his father in 
business. 

Formerly a Republican, upon the passage of 
the prohibitory bill Mr. Smith transferred his 
allegiance to the Democratic party. He has 
been active in county and state conventions and 
upon committees. For ten years he was a mem- 
ber of the .school board, and for six years repre- 
sented the fourth ward in the city council, dur- 






^m 




/77-.^lf^r^. 



''^. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



213 



ing which time he served as president of the 
council. In spite of being frequentl)' urged to 
become a candidate for mayor, he has always 
declined. In 1869 and 1870 he served as a mem- 
ber of the state senate, to which he was elected 
by a large majority, and in the work of which 
he bore an honorable part. Since then, however, 
he has invariably refused nominations for senate 
and legislature. For several years he was presi- 
dent of all of the sixty-three Personal Liberty 
Clubs in the state of Kansas, through the in- 
fluence of which Click was elected. Fraternally 
he is connected with the Knights of Pythias, and 
has served officially in the lodge and encampment 
of Odd Fellows, besides being a member of the 
grand lodge and the grand encampment. 



HON. WILLIAM A. HARRIS. Whoever 
labors to secure the progress of his country, 
striving to bring out its latent resources; 
who seeks to promote the cause of justice and 
morality; and who, both as a public official and 
as a private citizen, is interested in the advance- 
ment of commerce and education, such a man be- 
comes a public benefactor, and his name should 
be inseparably linked with that of his county and 
state. Tliis, in brief, is the character and this 
the reputation of United States Senator Harris, 
who is known far beyond the limits of his home 
county of Leavenworth, having, by his close 
identification with public affairs, gained for him- 
self a name as a progressive, public-spirited citi- 
zen. 

The life of any man may be better understood 
when his ancestral history is presented. In 
studying the ancestry of the Harris family, it 
becomes evident to all that the talents possessed 
by Senator Harris are his by inheritance. The 
family has for generations been honorably and 
actively identified with public affairs in America, 
among their most prominent representatives of 
the nineteenth century having been United States 
Senator Ishani G. Harris of Tennessee and Judge 
Iverson L. Harris of Georgia. After the revoca- 
tion of the edict of Nantes by Louis XIV. of 
6 



France, and during the religious persecutions of 
Charles and James II. of England, large numbers 
of Protestants sought refuge from persecution in 
America. Among these was Henry Harris, a 
Baptist preacher, who in 1691 came from Gla- 
morgan, Wales, to Virginia, obtaining, with 
others, from William and Mary of England, a 
grant of ten miles square of crown lands, on the 
south bank of the James River, some miles above 
the great falls, now Richmond, Va. His only 
son, Edward, had eight .sons and five daughters. 
The tenth child, Nathan, born in 1716, married 
Catherine Walton, of Brunswick County, Va., 
in 1737, and they became the parents of fourteen 
children, viz.: Walton, Nathan, Isaac, David, 
Elias, Rowland, Herbert, Gideon, Howell, John 
Henry, Catherine, Martha, Elizabeth and Ann. 
The oldest child, Walton, was born in Brunswick 
Count}', Va., in 1739. He married Rebecca 
Lanier, a granddaughter of Elizabeth Washing- 
ton, a first cousin of Gen. George Wa.shington. 
Their children were: Buckner, Sampson, Joel, 
Augustine, Edwin, Nathan, Simeon, Walton, 
Elizabeth, Littleton and Jephtha V. Of these chil- 
dren, Augustine became the father of Judge Iver- 
son L. Harris, of the United States district court. 
Senator Harris of Tennessee descended from 
West, the twelfth child of Edward Harris. The 
honorable position held b}' the many representa- 
tives of the family shows that the old saying 
"blood will tell," is true. The members of the 
family have .sought the frontier, pushing south 
to Georgia and Mississippi, and west to the 
regions beyond the Mississippi. They have 
served in both houses of congre,ss, have served as 
governors of states, have sat on the bench and 
reached eminence at the bar, and in every posi- 
tion have left the impress of their individualitj' 
upon their states. 

The father of Senator Harris was William A. 
Harris, a descendant of Augustine Harris. He 
was born in Fauquier County, Va., in 1805, and 
was giveu a classical education. He became a 
prominent attorney and for ten years practiced 
law in Page County, Va. Twice he was elected 
to the state legislature of Virginia. In 1S41 he 
was made a presidential elector. At the same 



214 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



time he was elected to congress, and served as a 
member of the twenty seventh and twentj--eighlh 
congresses. For several years he was editor of 
the Washington Spcclalor, afterward known as 
the Conslihition . In 1S45 he was appointed by 
President Polk as charge d'affaires at Bnenos 
Ay res, which position he held until 1851. After 
the election of James Buchanan to the presi- 
dent's chair he became editor and proprietor of 
the Washington Union, a daily newspaper. He 
resigned the editorship to accept the position of 
printer to the senate, in which capacity he con- 
tinued for two years. In 1854 he moved to Pike 
County, Mo., where he bought a farm two miles 
south of Bowling Green. During the Civil war 
he was appointed judge advocate general of the 
Trans- Mississippi department of the Confederate 
army. His death occurred while the war was 
still in progress, March 28, 1864. He was a man 
of vigorous mind, and was admirably versed in 
the principles of wi.se statesmanship and public 
policy, while as a diplomat his tact and con- 
servativejudgmeut were at the service of his fel- 
low-citizens. The prominence to which he rose 
illustrated the laws of heredity and of merit. 

In 1840 he married Frances Murray, who died 
in Missouri at si.\ty-four years of age. Of their 
six children, all but two are now living. Mur- 
ray Harris, the .second son, is a graduate of the 
Kansas Slate University and is now a civil en- 
gineer connected with the Texas Pacific Rail- 
road; Charles Harris, the third son, is a farmer 
and stock-raiser in Missouri; and Ivlla H. is the 
wife of William H. Abranis, land commissioner 
for the Texas Pacific Railroad Company. The 
eldest son is he whose name introduces this article. 
He was born in Loudoun County, Va., October 
29, 1841, and was reared in the Old Dominion, 
remaining with his parents until he entered 
Columbia College at Washington, D. C, from 
which he graduated with the class of 1859. Two 
years later he graduated from the Virginia Mil- 
itary Institute at Lexington, where he had been 
under the military training of "Stonewall" Jack- 
son. At the opening of the Civil war he became 
a lieutenant under Jackson, and afterward was 
promoted to the rank of captain, and adjutant- 



general of Wilcox's brigade, Longstreet's divi- 
sion, and chief ordnance officer of Gen. D. H. 
Hill's division. 

At the close of the war Mr. Harris came to 
Kansas, and was employed as a civil engineer in 
the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad 
from Leavenworth to Lawrence. After the com- 
pletion of the road he was made resident en- 
gineer, with headquarters at Wyandotte (now 
Kansas City), Kans., and remained in that posi- 
tion until the road reached the Colorado line. In 
1868 he was appointed land agent for the rail- 
road companies, having charge of and selling the 
Delaware and other Indian reservations, which 
were purchased from the Indians bj- the railroad 
companies. He continued in that capacity until 
the land was disposed of, meantime making his 
home in Lawrence, where he resided until 1884. 
During the intervening years he had purchased a 
tract of three hundred and seveutj'-five acres of 
the reservation land, and this he developed into 
a fine stock farm, erecting on the property a 
mansion, where he has resided since 1884. The 
place is one of the best-improved and most valu- 
able in Leavenworth County, and is stocked with 
thoroughbred Shorthorn and imported cattle, 
brought from Scotland and Canada. 

During the period of his residence in Lawrence, 
Mr. Harris was acting mayor of the city and for 
several years president of the city council. He 
was elected congressinan-at-large to the Fifty- 
third Congress and served for one term. In 1896 
he was chosen to represent the third senatorial 
district in the state senate, and his. splendid record 
in that position led to his election to the United 
States senate the following year. In the state 
senate he took an active part in promoting meas- 
ures for the benefit of his constituents and also 
served as chairman of the railroad committee. 
Since taking his seat in the United States senate 
he has been influential in bringing about a settle- 
ment between the Union Pacific and Central 
Pacific Railroads and the national government, 
by which the government obtained the full amount 
of the railroad indelHedncss. He has also served 
on the Nicaragua canal committee. He ad- 
vocates the construction and ownership of the 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



215 



canal by the United States goveninieiit at the 
earliest possible date, in preference to private cor- 
porations. 

In 1863 Senator Harris married Miss Mary A. 
Lionberger, daughter of John Lionberger, of 
I.,uray, Page County, Va. She died in 1894, 
leaving five children. The eldest, Page Harris, 
is assistant general manager of the Texas Pacific 
Railroad at Dallas, Tex. Frances is the wife of 
H. L. Patteson, of Kansas City. Isabella mar- 
ried William M. Byrne, of New York City. Bessie 
is the wife of Hughes F. Findley, of Dallas, Tex. 
The youngest child, Craig Harris, when but fif- 
teen years of age, enlisted in the First District of 
Columbia Regiment during the Spanish-Ameri- 
can war and was made sergeant of his company, 
with which he served during the memorable 
Santiago campaign. Afterward he received an 
appointment to the United States Military Acad- 
emy at West Point. The present wife of Senator 
Harris was Mrs. Cora M. Mackey, of Pittsburgh, 
Pa. 



EHARLES WESLEY ALLENDORPH, of 
Lawrence, the owner of large tracts of ranch 
land in Kansas, was born on Vesey street. 
New York City, March 26, 1837, a son of Philip 
C. and Cornelia T. (Wiley) Allendorph. His 
grandfather, Henry, was born near Red Hook, 
Dutchess Count}', N. Y., and engaged in farm 
pursuits in that county. The family was estab- 
lished in America by the great-grandfather Allen- 
dorf (as the name was then spelled) , who crossed 
the ocean from Holland and settled near the Hud- 
son. During the Revolutionary war he took up 
arms in the cause of independence. Born near 
Rhinebeck, Dutchess County, Philip Allendorph 
was a young man when he went to New York 
City, and there he became interested in a furni- 
ture business on Canal street. Upon selling the 
business he returned to his old home and engaged 
in farming. In 1855 he settled in Buffalo, Scott 
County, Iowa, where he bought a tract of land 
and improved a farm. Eight years later he went 
to Dayton, N. J., and afterwards spent three 
years at Elizabeth City, the same state. For 
four years he was employed in the naval depart- 



ment of the custom house in New York Citj'. 
His last days were spent in the home of his son, 
Charles Weslej', with whom he remained until a 
year before his death, when he removed to his 
daughter's, Mrs. Dr. Merry, in Iowa City, where 
he died in 1880. His wife, who died in her son's 
home, in 1895, was born on Dye street, New 
York City, and was the daughter of a Scotchman, 
who settled in New York and had contracts there 
for the stone cutting on the custom house. Mer- 
chants' Exchange and other public buildings. 

Isabella, who married H. S. Merry, M. D., and 
died in Iowa City, Iowa; Philipine Augusta, 
wife of J. B. Gruman, of W^estwood, Bergen 
County, N. J.; and Charles Wesley, of Lawrence, 
comprised the family of Philip C. Allendorph. 
The son, who was the youngest of the family, 
graduated in 1855, with the degree of A. B., 
from the New York Free Academy, now the Uni- 
versity' of the Citj' of New York. Afterward he 
began civil engineering. For six months he 
assisted the county surveyor of Westchester 
County, N. Y. Late in 1855 he went to Rock 
Island, 111., and secured employment on the 
Rock Island & Peoria Railroad, which he helped 
to survey, the present General Wheaton at the 
same time working as rodman. In 1856 he was 
rodman in the survey of the Sheffield & Savan- 
nah Railroad in Illinois. The next year he was 
employed on the Peoria & Hannibal Railroad 
survey, the Illinois River Railroad (later the 
Peoria, Pekin & Jacksonville road), and from 
April, 1857, to April, i85r, was rodman, division 
engineer and first assistant engineer on the Jack- 
sonville, Alton & St. Louis road. From i860 
until the outbreak of the war he was connected 
with the survey of the Tonica & Petersburg Rail- 
road. When the war began he recruited twenty 
men, expecting to form a company and enter the 
.service, but family reasons caused him to change 
his plans. Froin March, 1863, to May 15, 1864, 
he was divi.sion engineer on the Morris & Essex 
Railroad in New Jersey, and from the latter date 
to December 15, 1865, he was with the St. Louis, 
Jacksonville & Chicago Railroad as assistant en- 
gineer. 

Going to [Missouri, Mr. Allendorph was ap- 



2l6 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



pointed chief engineer of the Osage \'alley & 
Southern Kansas Railroad, which position he 
held from t'ebruary i, 1866, to August, 1868. 
The construction work was completed from Boon- 
ville to Tipton, Mo., but the survey was made 
through to Kansas. The road is now incorpor- 
ated in the Missouri Pacific. From October i , 
1868, to the ist of December of the same year, 
he was division engineer on the Peoria, Pekiti & 
Jacksonville Railroad, then held a similar posi- 
tion on the Danville, Urbana, Bloomington & 
Pekin Railroad until July, 1870. His next posi- 
tion was as first assistant engineer on the Indian- 
apolis, Bloomington & Western road. In 187 1, 
as chief engineer, he made the preliminary sur- 
vey of the Pekin & Mississippi Railroad, which, 
however, was never built. He then was elected 
chief engineer of the Chicago, Pekin & South- 
western Railroad, which position he held until 
April, 1873. In 1872 he was appointed chief en- 
gineer of the Peoria, Pekin & Jacksonville 
road, after which he held a similar po.sition in the 
survey and construction of the Peoria & Spring- 
field Railroad. At the same time he was chief 
engineer of the Dakota Southern road, locating 
and constructing from Sioux City to Yankton. 
On the suspension of railroad work in 1873 
Mr. AUcndorph went to Brooklyn, N. Y., and 
bought a one-half interest in the wholesale and 
retail tea and coffee business owned by his 
brolherinlaw, J. B. Gruman, with whom he 
continued for five years. At the same time he 
also carried on a wholesale hou.se on Water street, 
New York. During this period he had his resi- 
dence in Elizabeth, N. J. In 1878 he disposed 
of his interests in the east and came to Kansas, 
where for six years he carried on a mercantile 
business in Lawrence. He built the Allendorph 
block, and was the owner of five .stores in a row. 
Much of his time since coming to Kan.sas has 
been devoted to the cattle business. He had 
traded for four thousand acres in the south-east- 
ern part of Riley County, Kans. This he 
fenced and has used for a cattle ranch, leasing 
additional land until the ranch comprised twelve 
thousand acres, but some years since he turned 
the four thousand acres over to his son. Near 



Winfield, Cowley County, he now owns a ranch 
of sixteen hundred acres in a body, two hundred 
of which are planted in corn, while the remainder 
is devoted to the pasturage of his five hundred 
head of steers. In addition he owns four hun- 
dred and eighty acres of irrigated land (with an 
unlimited free rangeof buffalo grass land) in Kear- 
ney County, near Lakin, where he has four hun- 
dred head of cattle and raises alfalfa for feed, oper- 
ating the place him.self. He also owns farms in 
Pratt and Riley Counties, Kans., land in Texas 
and valuable property in Lawrence. Since com- 
ing west he has given some attention to civil 
engineering. He was assistant engineer of the 
branch of the Missouri Pacific, from Butler, Mo. 
to Emporia, Kans. He was assi.stant engineer 
from Kansas City to the Piatt River in Nebraska, 
in the location and construction of the Kansas 
City, Wyandotte & Northwestern Railroad, and 
is now engineer in charge of the Winner Electric 
Railway from Lawrence to Topeka. In politics 
he is a Republican, and fraternally belongs to the 
Select Friends and Fraternal Aid Association. 

In Jerseyville, 111., September 6, 1865, Mr. 
Allendorph married Miss Martha Stelle, a mem- 
ber of a New Jersey family that removed to Illi- 
nois during pioneer days. They have three sons 
and one daughter, namely: Arthur, a cattle- 
man at Alma, Kans.; Eugene W., who gradu- 
ated from the Kansas Citj- Dental College, and is 
now proprietor of the Western dental depot, in 
that city; DeWitt, who is at home; and Cornelia, 
wife of Rev. George D. Rogers, pastor of the 
Baptist Church of Lawrence. Mrs. Allendorph 
was one of four children, the others being Mrs. 
Mary A. Randolph, of Jerseyville, 111.; Moore, 
on the old homestead; and Cretie, of Jersejville. 
Her father, Jacob K. vStelle, a nati%'e of Somerset 
Countj", N. J., settled in Jersey County, 111., in 
1837, and there he engaged in farming until he 
was advanced in years. He was a deacon in the 
Baptist Church for forty years. His death oc- 
curred in Jerseyville in 1878. His father, John, 
who was born in New Jersey, died in Illinois 
while visiting his son, Jacol). The Stelle family 
is of French lineage but has been represented in 
America from an early period. The wife of 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



217 



Jacob K. Stelle was Eliza J. Conipton, who was 
born in Somerset County, N. J. , daughter of Moore 
Conipton, a farmer there. She is still living and 
makes her home in Jerseyville. In religion she 
has long been a faithful adherent of the Baptist 
Church. 



V /lARSHAIvL M. JEWETT. A resume of 
y the life of Mr. Jewett shows that he is a 
(S representative type of a western man, thor- 
oughly imbued with the spirit of western push and 
enterprise. He has led the adventurous life of a 
frontiersman, and has experienced not only the 
usual hardships of the pioneer, but during earl}- 
days was often in the greatest danger from the In- 
dians of the plains and from the pro-slavery men, 
whose hatred he aroused by his open espousal of 
the free-state movement. Much of his time was 
spent on the plains between Leavenworth and 
Denver, and, including the trips made in wagons, 
he rode across the country forty-six times. Some- 
times when alone, and sometimes when with 
others, he was attacked by the red men, and more 
than once he was wounded by their arrows and 
narrowly escaped with his life. He has lived and 
braved the hardships of a frontier existence until 
he has seen the old method of transportation by 
ox-teams replaced by the swift steam cars; he 
has seen the Indians gradually drifting further 
westward before the approaching wave of immi- 
gration and civilization; he has seen the country 
dotted over with ranch houses and herds of cat- 
tle and sheep replace those of buffalo and deer. 
The smoke from factories rises where once he 
could discern only the camp fires of Indians or 
white immigrants. In all of this wonderful trans- 
formation that has been wrought he has borne a 
part, and, as a pioneer, his name deserves to be 
perpetuated in the annals of the west. 

In a very earl}- daj' the Jewett family was es- 
tablished in Rowley, Mass., and later generations 
founded Jewett City, Conn. One of the name, 
Charles Jewett, was a very prominent temper- 
ance worker and wrote many works upon that 
subject. Eleazer, a brother of Charles, was born 
in Jewett Citj-, and became a pioneer manufactur- 
er of cut nails, operating a large plant at Nor- 



wich, Conn., and employing several hundred 
men. He was employed by the government of 
Portugal to superintend the erection of mills, but 
lost his health while in that country and died 
shortly after his return home, in 1839. His wife, 
Mrs. Mary Ann (Russell) Mount, was a daugh- 
ter of Capt. Laban Russell, of Rye, N. Y., and a 
descendant of early settlers of Nantucket, Mass. 
By her first husband, Captain Mount, she had 
two children, Caroline, who married Henrj' 
Spring, of Olney, II!., and Mary, wife of Capt. 
Peter E. Le Fevre. The latter was a prominent 
ocean captain, and commanded the "North Star," 
"Ariel," "Magnolia" and "Vanderbilt," owned 
by Commodore Vanderbilt. Our subject was the 
second of three sons born to his parents, his 
brothers being: Washington, who died in boyhood, 
and Laban Russell Jewett, of Norwich, Conn., 
who at one time was first officer on the steamship 
"Vanderbilt," later for fourteen years was a 
commander in the English merchant marine serv- 
ice between London and the East Indies, and is 
now engaged in the coal and mercantile business. 
Mrs. Mary A. Jewett died at the home of her 
daughter, Mrs. Le Fevre. 

The subject of this sketch was born in Jewett 
City," Conn., in 1831. When eight years of age 
he was taken by his mother to Rye, N. Y., his 
father having died recently. Afterward he was 
given a home with his grandmother, but at the 
age of fourteen he went to Olney, 111., and from 
that time he was practically self-supporting. He 
was employed as clerk in a store and later be- 
came a partner of his brother-in-law, Henry 
Spring. Wishing to try his fortune in the new 
west, lie came to Leavenworth, October 20, 1855, 
in company with James L. Byers, bringing a 
stock of groceries and hardware from St. Louis 
on the boat "Ben Bolt." The firm of Byers & 
Jewett opened a store in Leavenworth, which 
they carried on until 1857, and then turned their 
attention to the real-estate business. 

The first trip across the plains that Mr. Jewett 
made was in October, 185S, when he formed a 
company of six men and traveled to the point 
where Denver now stands. Building a cabin, 
the men spent the winter on Cherry Creek. He 



!l8 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



was captain of the company, which consisted be- 
sides himself, of Richard H. Whitsett, Gen. Will- 
iam H. H. Larimer, of Pittsburgh, Pa., William 
H. H. Larimer, Jr., now of Kansas City, Charles 
Lawrence and his nephew, Fulsom Dar-sett. 
They were among the first white men to build a 
cabin on the present site of Denver, and they 
laid out and incorporated the town of Denver, Mr. 
Jewett becoming the owner of a share in the com- 
pany . Indians were numerous and the remoteness 
of the few white men from others made their situ- 
ation not a little dangerous. In the spring of 1859 
Mr. Jewett left the party and traveled, on horse- 
back, seven hundred miles to Leavenworth, mak 
ing the distance in twenty-two days. In May of 
the same year he returned to Colorado with a 
freighting outfit, loaded with provisions and mer- 
chandise, and arrived safely in Denver, where he 
.sold his goods, wagons and horses. Buying fresh 
horses he rode back to Leavenworth. In the fall 
of 1859 he went back to Denver, with an outfit of 
eighteen wagons, loaded with merchandise and 
provisions, which he sold to prospectors, realiz- 
ing a handsome sum. Returning to Leavenworth 
the third time on horseback, he spent the winter 
here and in the spring of i860 went across the 
plains with twenty six wagons and three hundred 
and twelve oxen. Afterward he followed freight- 
ing between the Missouri River and Colorado, 
Salt Lake, Santa Feand other points. During the 
Civil war he was employed by the government in 
providing provisions for the western forts. In 
the winter of 1863-64 he killed sixteen hundred 
and thirty-seven head of buffalo on the plains of 
northwestern Kansas; and the skins of the.se he 
sold in Leavenworth. 

As has already been intimated, Mr. Jewett had 
frequent encounters with the Indians and was 
wounded several times. The most troublesome 
were the Kiowas, Cheyennes and Sioux. During 
1865, while riding from Valverde to Leaven- 
worth, alone, he was attacked by seventeen In- 
dians known as "dog" soldiers, and he had a hard 
fight with them, but made his escape. When on 
a return trip from the west, with one hundred 
and four wagons and only forty-one men, he was 
attacked in the Platte River bottom bv Indians, 



and was corraled for several hours, but finally 
drove the red men away. An Indian shot him 
in the arm, but he had the satisfaction of killing 
the one that wounded him. In 1869 he settled 
down to farm life in Leavenworth County, and 
afterward engaged in stock-raising. In 1896 he 
bought a farm near Leavenworth from John W. 
Loar, and upon the one hundred and si.xty acres 
comprising this place he has since made his home, 
engaged in general farming and stock-raising. 
In the summer of 1898 his residence was destroyed 
by fire. 

In 1865 Mr. Jewett made the trip across the 
plains from Valverde to Leavenworth and here 
married Sarah Burr, a sister of H. S. and E. 
Burr. She died in 1S97, leaving two .sons, Ed- 
mond R. and Harry S. During the border war- 
fare days Mr. Jewett was an outspoken Union 
man. In 1857 he was one of the party who cap- 
tured the Kickapoo cannon at Kickapoo which 
had been stolen by the pro-slavery party from the 
government arsenal at Liberty. He was with 
John Brown in his camp at Tabor, Iowa. So 
pronounced was he in his defense of the free- 
state cause that he brought upon himself the en- 
mity of these of different views and at one time a 
reward was offered for his scalp by the pro-slav- 
ery party. In spite of all these, and other dan- 
gers, he continued his fearless defense of prin- 
ciples he believed to be right. He has always 
been a man of patriotic character, progressive 
and public spirited motives, and has cherished a 
warm affection for the country where the active 
years of his life have been passed. 



(lOHN ALBERT HERNING, proprietor of 
I the Lawrence canning factory, is at the head 
Q) of one of the important industries of Doug- 
las County. The material used in the canning 
business is of the choicest grade, much of it be- 
ing rai.sed on his farm of three hundred and fifty 
acres in the Kaw River bottom, but in addition 
to this he also buys from gardeners and growers. 
The Kaw \''alley brand is known throughout the 
west and shipments are made, in carload lots, to 
points between the Missouri River and the coast. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



219 



In the factory there is floor space of an acre. 
The plant is operated by steam, modern improve- 
ments have been introduced, and there is a ca- 
pacity of fifty thousand cans a day. The prod- 
ucts are tomatoes, peas, sweet corn, beans and 
also various kinds of fruits. During the busy 
season more than two hundred hands are 
employed. In the winter months he devotes his 
attention to feeding cattle and usually has about 
one hundred head on his place, where he has a 
silo with a capacity of six to eight hundred tons. 

Mr. Herning was born at Vinland, Palmyra 
Township, Douglas County, April 2, 1868, a son 
of Michael and Sarah A. (Eberhart) Herning, 
natives respectively of Wurtemberg, Germany, 
and Butler County, Pa. His father, who was 
third among five children, was a son of Joseph 
Herning, who brought the family from German}' 
to Holmes County, Ohio. In youth he learned 
the builder's trade. Coming to Kansas in 1S59, 
he settled near Vinland, where he improved a 
farm of one hundred acres. He was a free-state 
man and in politics voted with the Republican 
party. He died on his farm March 20, 1873, at 
the age of thirty -five, and was the first man 
buried in Stony Point Cemetery, which he had 
laid out and platted in lots. During the Civil 
war he took part in the campaign against Price 
and fought at the Big Blue. 

In Douglas Count}', January 21, 1864, Michael 
Herning married Miss Sarah A. Eberhart, 
daughter of Joseph Eberhart, a native of West- 
moreland County, Pa., and granddaughter of 
Christian Eberhart, who was born in Lehigh 
County March 9, 1772, thence was taken by his 
parents to Westmoreland County in 1773 and 
died there upon a farm. He was a son of Paul 
Eberhart, who was born on the ocean in 1727, 
when the family were en route to America. Paul's 
father, Michael, a native of Wurtemberg, crossed 
on the ship, "Friendship," and in March, 1727, 
settled in what is now Lehigh County, where he 
became a large farmer and active worker in the 
German Reformed Church. Joseph Eberhart, 
who was a tailor in youth, became a local preacher 
in the Lutheran Church and a colporteur in the 
employ of the American Tract Society. In 1825 



he settled in Mercer County, Pa., twenty years 
later went to Armstrong County, and in order to 
secure a home for his sons finally decided to lo- 
cate in Kansas. April 13, 1854, he brought his 
family as far west as Kansas City, where they re- 
mained until July. He then proceeded to Doug- 
las County, Kans., and took up a claim three 
miles east of the present site of Lawrence, later 
removing to a claim at what is now Willow 
Springs. There he built a log house and began 
the task of improving a farm. Later he bought 
a farm in Palmyra Township, where his last days 
were spent. During the early days of his resi- 
dence here he preached very frequently, there 
being a scarcity of ministers at that time, but he 
never sought any renumeration for his services. 
Being himself a stanch free-state man, he en- 
deavored to secure eastern immigrants to Kansas, 
hoping their presence might aid the anti-slavery 
movement. For his activity in this direction he 
incurred the hatred of the pro-slavery party, who 
resolved to hang him. A night was set for the 
deed, but he learned of it and managed to escape. 
He died in November, 1882, when almost eighty- 
three years of age. 

The marriage of Joseph Eberhart united him 
with Catherine Kistler, who was born in West- 
moreland County, Pa., in 1805, and died in Kan- 
sas December 21, 1885. She was a faithful, in- 
dustrious woman, whose sole aim was to promote 
the happiness and welfare of her husband and 
children. She was a daughter of Jacob Kistler, 
a farmer of Pennsylvania. In her family there 
were thirteen children, namely: Mary Ann, who 
was first married to a Mr. Hemphill and later 
became the wife of William Bierly, and died in 
Vinland, in February, 1898; Obadiah, formerly 
a farmer, now living in Baldwin City, Kans.; 
Mrs. Priscilla Barnhart, who died near Ottawa, 
in February, 1899; John, who died in Pennsyl- 
vania; Joseph, who was accidentally killed at 
eighteen years of age; Henry S., who served in 
Company C, Tenth Kansas Infantry, and is now 
living in Willow Springs Township, Douglas 
County; Lewis J., who was in the Kansas militia 
during the Price raid and now lives near Vinland ; 
Andrew, who enlisted in a Kansas regiment, was 



220 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



taken prisoner at Independence, Mo., finally re- 
ceived an exchange and returned to lii.s regiment, 
and is now living near Vinland; Paul C, of 
Lawrence, who was captured while serving in 
the Union army, but later was paroled and dis- 
charged; Catherine Elizabeth, who died at the 
old homestead; Sarah A.; Susannah Lydia, who 
was twice married and died at the old home; and 
Mrs. Rebecca L. Hemphill, who lives near Vin- 
land. 

Three years after the death of her husband, 
Mrs. Sarah A. Herning settled in Lawrence. 
She was a .second time married, becoming the 
wife of John Lagerquist, a native of Sweden, who 
died in 18S5. Of this union one sou was born, 
Frank Abraham, now at home. To her first mar- 
riage the following-named children were born: 
Joseph Edwin, of Wellington, Kans., an engineer 
on the Santa Fe road; John Albert, of this .sketch; 
Grace Elizabeth, who married Eben Baldwin, 
owner of a large farm near Lawrence; Rebecca 
Lucinda, wife of Frank Charles Endacott, of 
Lawrence; and Mary Catherine, wife of William 
Endacott, who is foreman in the Lawrence collar 
factory. The Endacott brothers were born in 
England and are members of an old family of 
Devonshire. Their father, John Endacott, was a 
son of James Endacott, a farmer of Devonshire. 
For three hundred years back there has been a 
John Endacott in every generation. Belonging 
to the same family was John Endacott, who came 
to America in the "Mayflower," and was the 
first governor of Ma.ssachusetts. The father of 
the Endacott brothers was born in Moreton, Eng- 
land, and became heir to Gidley Mill castle, 
which he still holds. He has two brothers in 
the United States, one of whom is a Methodist 
Episcopal minister in Leavenworth County, 
Kans. He married Marie Pedlar, a native of 
Devonshire. 

The ancestry of the Eberhart family is traced 
to Eberhard the Noble, a Wurtemberger, whose 
parents belonged to the royal family. A man of 
remarkable ability, he established the still flour- 
i.shing kingdom of Wurtemberg, where he 
reigned forty-six years, and died June 5, 1325. 
From him descended a long line of rulers and 



dukes, the last ruler of Wurtemberg being Leo- 
pold Eberhard, who was deposed from the throne 
in a struggle between Catholics and Protestants, 
and was succeeded by Duke Charles Augen. 

For fourteen years our subject was connected 
with the Watkins Mortgage Company-, after 
which he turned his attention to the canning 
business, and since 1894 has been proprietor of 
the Lawrence canning factory. From January, 
1895, to January, 1899, he was a director in the 
Watkins Bank, in which he is still a stockholder. 
Politically he is a Republican. He is connected 
with the lodge and Rebekah degree of Odd Fel- 
lows, and is a member of the English Lutheran 
Church, in which he is a deacon. 



inXIAM DURHAM MARTIN, M. D. 
Few of the residents of Baldwin were more 
closely identified with its early history 
than was Dr. Martin, who is remembered as a 
public-spirited, enterprising man, and one to 
whom the village owed not a little of its early 
growth. Every project for its improvement re- 
ceived his assistance, and not a few plans that 
aided its development originated in his fertile 
brain. From the time that he began in professional 
practice here in 1857, until the date of his death 
forty-one years afterward, the place had no citi- 
zen more devoted to its welfare than he. For 
two years he officiated as mayor of Baldwin. He 
was one of the organizers of the Baldwin Bank, 
in which he afterward held stock. Other local 
industries and interests received the impetus of 
his timely encouragement. 

Dr. Martin was born in New York state March 
29, 1822, a son of Agrippa and Rhoda (Durham) 
Martin, the latter of Spanish extraction. He 
was the youngest of six children, four of whom 
became farmers and two physicians. His father, 
who was a farmer, removed to Illinois in an early 
day and settled near Freeport, in what was after- 
ward known as Martin's settlement. After hav- 
ing completed the common school studies, in 
1849 our subject began to read medicine with his 
brother in Freeport, and later he attended Rush 
Medical College in Chicago, from which he 





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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



223 



graduated in 1S51. Opening an office in Nora, 
Jo Daviess County, III., he remained there for 
two years, and then returned to Freeport to en- 
gage in practice with his brother. From Free- 
port he came to Kansas in 1856, and the follow- 
ing year opened an office in Baldwin, where for 
nearly forty years he carried on a large general 
practice, covering the entire section of surround- 
ing country. In 1895 he was thrown from his 
buggy and crippled to such an extent that gen- 
eral practice was no longer possible, but he con- 
tinued his office practice until he died, Septem- 
ber 10, 1898. He was prominent in the blue 
lodge of the Masonic fraternity, and aided other or- 
ganizations having for their object the ameliora- 
tion of the sufferings of mankind and the eleva- 
tion of the race. 

August 5, i860, Dr. Martin married Miss Cor- 
nelia J. Clayton, daughter of William and Alice 
Clayton, who were pioneers of Kansas. Mrs. 
Martin died August i, 1895, a few years prior to 
her husband's death. They were the parents of 
four daughters, namely: Alice, who married 
W. H. Robinson, of Arkansas City, Kans. ; Jen- 
nie, wife of J. W. Jenkins, a farmer of Douglas 
County; Josephine and Maude. At the time of 
his death Dr. Martin left to his daughters a com- 
fortable residence in Baldwin and one hundred 
and sixt)' acres of improved land near the town. 



HON. JOHN D. EDMOND, who was mayor 
of the city of Leavenworth, 1897-99, was 
born in Vergennes, Addison County, Vt., 
August 29, 1S38, a son of William and Eliza Ann 
(Vail) Edmond. His paternal grandfather, Hon. 
David Edmond, a native of Newtown, Conn., and 
a graduate of Yale College, was one of the most 
famous lawyers of New England and was espe- 
cially influential in the'}>ublic life of Vermont, of 
which state he served as attorney -general for 
fourteen years. As selectman, member of the state 
legislature, and for manj^ years the mayor of 
Vergennes, he proved himself a most progressive, 
public-spirited citizen, and did much to advance 
the welfare of his fellow-citizens. At the time 
President Monroe visited Vermont he gave the 
address of welcome. He stood at the head of the 



Vermont bar and was connected with Daniel Web- 
ster in the management of several cases. To 
great natural ability he added a broad education, 
thorough knowledge of mankind, and tact, re- 
.sources and energy. He was active in the 
Masonic fraternity and a member of the Congre- 
gational Church. He was a brother of Hon. 
William Edmond, the first judge of the supreme 
court of Connecticut, and a brave soldier in the 
Revolutionary war, in which other members of 
the family also bore a part. Their father, Robert 
Edmond, was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, of 
Scotch descent, and emigrated to America, set- 
tling in Newtown, where he reared a large family. 
His great-grandson. Judge William Edmond 
Curtis, of New York City, was the father of Hon. 
William Edmond Curtis, Jr., who held office as 
assistant treasurer under President Cleveland's 
second administration. 

The marriage of Hon. David Edmond united 
him with Harriet Lavergne Ducasse, of West- 
field, Conn., daughter of John and Mary (Whit- 
ing) Ducasse, and a lineal descendant of Admiral 
Ducasse, who defeated Admiral Benbow, of the 
English navy, in the seventeenth century, this 
being the only instance of the defeat of the Eng- 
lish fleet by the French navy. Her father, Capt. 
John Ducasse, was a captain in the French artil- 
lery of Louis XVI's life guard, but resigned his 
commission and came to America to assist the 
colonies in gaining their freedom, with the un- 
derstanding that, should he ever return to France, 
his commission would be given back to him. He 
accompanied General Lafayette to America, 
where he was commissioned major of artillery, 
and was in command at the battles of Saratoga 
and other engagements. Until the close of the 
Revolution he continued a brave officer of the 
colonial army, and at its close retired as colonel 
of artillery in the continental line. When the war 
ended he went to the West Indies to visit an 
uncle. Governor Ducasse, who was at the head 
of one of the islands, and while there he died of 
yellow fever. While in America he had marritd 
a daughter of Capt. William Whiting, a lintal 
descendant of Rose Standish. He left only one 
child, Harriet Lavergne Ducasse. 



224 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Reared in Vermont, the father of our siiljject 
was sixteen when he went south. He engaged 
in the cotton brokerage business with Judge Will- 
iam Henry Hitchcock, of Mobile, Ala., until the 
failure of his health forced him to return to the 
north. His death occurred in Vermont when he 
was thirtj'-eight years of age. He had not taken 
an active part in public affairs, but he was a pub- 
lic-spirited citizen and a man of business ability. 
In politics he was a Whig. His wife was a 
daughter of James and Harriet (Thomas) Vail, 
of Troy, N. Y. James Vail acted as private sec- 
retary to his uncle, Aaron Vail, the first Ameri- 
can consul to Bordeaux, France, and a wealthy 
shipowner and merchant, who finally lost all of 
his property and died in France, his family later 
returning to the United vStates. While James 
Vail was on a vacation trip to England the war 
of 1812 broke out and he was taken prisoner. 
Afterward he was put on parole, but could not 
leave the country. While there he met and mar- 
ried Mi.ss Thomas. After the war closed he re- 
turned to the United States and settled in Troy, 
N. v., where he engaged in the mercantile busi- 
ness until his death. His brothers, George and 
Henry, were also successful dry-goods merchants. 
Our subject's mother died in Norwich, Conn., at 
seventy-six years of age, and was buried at her 
old home in Vermont. She had two sons: Henry 
Vail, who died in New Hamp.shire in 1S91; and 
John D., of this sketch. 

When an infant of three months our subject 
was taken to Mobile, Ala., and when six years 
old he was brought back to Vergennes, where his 
father died three years later. At thirteen years 
of age he entered Williston Seminary, in Ea.st- 
hampton, Mass., and afterward clerked in a store 
in Vergennes for eighteen months, then went to 
Washington, D. C, where he was engaged as 
clerk in a hardware store for twelve years. Dur- 
ing this time he aLso carried on business for him- 
self under the firm name of John D. Edmond & 
Co. At the close of the war he went to Norwich, 
Conn., but one year later went to Chicago, and 
in 1870 settled in Leavenworth, Kans. For eleven 
years he was traveling salesman for J. F. Rich- 
ards & Co., and for eight years he traveled for 



the Wjeth Hardware Company, of St. Jo.seph, 
Mo., making a total of eighteen years and ten 
months as traveling salesman. His territory in- 
cluded northern Kansas, southwestern Nebras^ka 
and northwestern Missouri. Upon quitting the 
road he became interested with a nephew, John 
D. Edmond, 2d, and under the firm title of John 
D. Edmond, ist and 2d, the two carried on a 
hardware business in Logan, Phillips County, 
Kans., for three years. 

May 25, 1876, in Leavenworth, occurred the 
marriage of Mr. Edmond to Miss Mary Johnston 
Thompson, who was born in Harrisonburg, Va. , 
a daughter of Robert and Elizabeth Ann ( Yount) 
Thompson, both natives of the Shenandoah Val- 
ley. About 1855 Mr. Thompson brought his 
family to the territory of Kansas and settled in 
Leavenworth, but during the war he returned to 
\'irginia, joined Lee's army, and served with the 
Confederates until he was killed. His wife reared 
their children in Leavenworth, and now makes 
her home with her son-in-law, Mr. Edmond. 

In the progress of his home town Mr. Edmond 
has always shown a deep interest. For one term 
he represented the second ward in the city coun- 
cil, and for four years he was a member of the 
board of education. In 1897 he was elected 
mayor on the Democratic ticket by a plurality of 
more than six hundred. He filled the office eflS- 
ciently, giving his entire attention to the dis- 
charge of official duties, but at the end of his term 
of office declined a renomination. In 1859 he 
assisted in the organization of the National Ri- 
fles at Washington, D. C, which afterward be- 
came famous. During the Civil war he served 
as orderly sergeant of Company C, District of 
Columbia Militia. He is a member of the Sons 
of the American Revolution of the State of Con- 
necticut. He was a Mason in St. John's Lodge 
No. II, A. F. & A. M., of Washington, D. C, 
and joined by dimit King Solomon Lodge No. 
10, A. F. & A. M., of Leavenworth, in which he 
is past master; is a member of Leavenworth 
Chapter No. 2, R. A. M. ; Leavenworth Council 
No. I, R. & S. M.; Leavenworth Commandery 
No. I, K. T.; Abdallah Temple, N. M. S.; and 
for six terms served as a member of the Masonic 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



225 



board of trustees, during all of which time he 
was president of the board. He is also a mem- 
ber of the thirt5'-secoiid degree Consistory at To- 
peka. The United Commercial Travelers number 
him among their members. He is a member of 
the Episcopal Church. 



(TONATHAN AKERS, yardmaster at the 
I state penitentiary of Kansas, and a respected 
\Z) citizen of Lawrence, was born in Putnam 
County, Ind., August 16, 1839, a son of Jonathan 
and Catherine (Mead) Akers. Of a family of 
eleven children, only three besides himself are 
now living, viz.: John M., a retired farmer liv- 
ing in Bluffton, Iowa; Mrs. Grace Elza, also of 
Bluffton; and Matilda, widow of John Kirkpatrick, 
of Lawrence, Kans. The father, a native of Craw- 
ford County, Ky., engaged in farming there and 
acquired a number of slaves in connection with 
other property. However, Iseing opposed to the 
institution of slaver3', in 1836, prior to his re- 
moval from the state, he gave all of the negroes 
their freedom. On his arrival in Indiana he 
settled in Owen Count)', on the Eel River, but 
after a very short time he removed to Putnam 
County, and there made his home until he died, 
in 1843. 

At the time of his father's death our subject 
was only four years of age. He was taken into 
the home of his sister, Elizabeth, wife of Hiram 
Anthis, of Madison County, 111., and there he re- 
mained until sixteen years of age, when he started 
out in the world for himself. For four years he 
found employment as a farm hand, after which 
he engaged in lumbering on the Mississippi from 
Stillwater, Minn., to St. Louis, Mo., and wa)' 
points. In July, 1861, he enlisted in Company 
D, Second Illinois Cavalry, which rendezvoused 
at Camp Butler, and was sent from there to the 
front, afterward participating in the battle of Bel- 
mont, the taking of New Madrid, and numerous 
skirmishes. On account of disability, in Jan- 
uarj', 1863, he was mustered out of the service. 
After his health had been regained Mr. Akers 
resumed lumbering on the river, which he con- 
tinued for three years. In 1866 he was united 



in marriage with Miss Amanda J. Lawrence, a 
native of Madison County, 111., and the daughter 
of Thomas Lawrence, who was a prominent 
farmer there. After his marriage he was elected 
to the office of constable, which he filled for four 
years, at the same time acting as deputy sheriff. 
Following this he operated a rented farm in 
Madison County for two years. In 1871 he came 
to Lawrence, Kans., where he secured employ- 
ment with the Union Pacific Railroad, and for the 
next thirteen years he was employed as foreman 
in the construction work of the Union Pacific and 
Santa Fe Railroad systems, from Kansas City to 
Denver. In 1885 he was appointed guard at the 
state penitentiary, which position he held until 
the spring of 1893. During the following two 
years he was street commissioner of Lawrence. 
February i, 1897, he was appointed yardmaster 
of the state penitentiarj', in which capacity he 
has since been retained. In politics he was a Re- 
publican until 1896. In 1885 he was elected a 
member of the city council of Lawrence, but after 
one year resigned, because the duties of his po- 
sition at the penitentiar\- required his entire time. 
In 1S95 he was again elected to the board, where 
he served for two years. 

Of the .seven children of Mr. and Mrs. Akers 
four are living, namely: Oliver, who is a con- 
ductor of the Denver & Gulf Railroad, and re- 
sides in Denver; Warren E., who is connected 
with the Missouri Pacific Railroad and is stationed 
at Leavenworth; Neva Maude and Jessie, both at 
home. 



HON. E. F. CALDWELL, A. B., LL. B., 
postmaster of Lawrence and one of the most 
prominent citizens of this city, is a member 
of an old family of which John Caldwell Calhoun 
was an illustrious representative — a family that 
had several members in the Revolutionary war 
and that descended from Scotch-Irish ancestors. 
His father, James Allen Caldwell, whose father, 
John, was a soldier in the war of 1812 and a 
large stock farmer in Kentucky, was born near 
Danville in 1818 and removed to Indiana in 1850, 
his intense hatred of slavery impelling him to 
refuse to take any slaves or ally himself in any 



226 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



way with a movemeiit he believed to be unjust. 
During the Civil war he attempted three times to 
enlist in the Union army, but on account of a 
broken leg he was rejected each time. He gave 
his attention to the management of a farm and 
also owned a blacksmith's shop and wagon works 
near Rockville. In 1870 he settled on a farm 
near Carlj-le, Allen County, Kans., where he was 
e.\tensively engaged in farming and stock-raising 
until his death, in 1S96, at seventy-eight years of 
age. In politics he was a Republican and in re- 
ligion a Presbyterian. His wife, who was born 
near Danville, Ky., was a daughter of Godhart 
Smick, of German descent, a soldier in the war 
of 181 2 and an extensive farmer and stockman of 
Kentucky, where he died at the advanced age of 
ninety-three. His daughter, Mrs. Mary Cald- 
well, died in 18S1, when sixty-four years of age. 
She was the mother of six sons and two daugh- 
ters, of whom the oldest son, John G., enlisted 
at eighteen years in an Indiana regiment and 
served as a non-commissioned officer during the 
Civil war; he now makes his home in Albu- 
querque, X. M. Belle F. lives in Carl> le, Kans.; 
Delilah died at eighteen years; David Knox is 
living near Carlyle; Thomas Jefferson is a Meth- 
odist Episcopal minister in Kansas; Henry Clar- 
is a merchant and deputy postmaster at Carlyle; 
Eldie Franklin, the subject of this sketch, was 
next in order of birth; and the j-oungest is Mor- 
ton, who is farming near the old Kansas home- 
stead. 

The subject of this article was born in Parke 
County, Ind., near Rockville, September 6, 1859. 
When a boy he assisted on the ranch in Kansas, 
breaking prairie, herding cattle, etc. Owing to 
losses of cattle, his father met with heavy re- 
verses, and wlien he was ready to start out in 
life he had no money nor means to secure a col- 
lege education. He, however, was not discour- 
aged, and came to Lawrence September 8, 1879, 
with $10 in his pocket. Possessing considerable 
literary ability he turned this talent to financial 
account and by means of it worked his way 
through college, where he spent six years, during 
four of which he was manager of the Univcrsi/y 
Revietc, a college publication. In June, 18S5, he 



graduated, with the degree of A. B., as valedic- 
torian of his class, which had been his ambition 
vi'hen he left the farm. Before graduating he had 
contracted for the Lawrence Daily Journal and at 
once assumed charge. After conducting it for a 
short time the Lawrence Journal Company was 
organized and he became solicitor for the new 
company. He continued as such until the istof 
November, when he was appointed advertising 
agent for the Southern Kansas Railroad, with 
headquarters in Lawrence. He filled this posi- 
tion for two j-ears, when the office was removed 
to Topeka. He then resigned and returned to 
the. Journal as solicitor. His next enterprise was 
to assist in raising funds to take the Cyclone 
Flambeau Club to Washington, D. C. He ac- 
companied the club to Washington as one of the 
managers and attended the Harrison inaugura- 
tion ceremonies, where the club won first prize 
for its displa}- of fireworks. After their return 
the captain of the club, E. F. Goodrich, was 
postmaster, and Mr. Caldwell became deputy 
May 21, 1889, serving until May i, 1894. Mean- 
time he read law evenings and in 1890 entered 
law .school, from which he graduated in 1892, 
with the degree of LL. B., delivering the law 
oration at the commencement exercises of the 
university. 

On the Republican ticket, in June, 1894, Mr. 
Caldwell was nominated for the legislature and 
was elected by a good majority. During the 
session of 1895 he was chairman of the committee 
on state affairs, and was frequently called to the 
chair to preside over the house as a committee of 
whole. He championed the universitj' appro- 
priation raising the income of the institution 
from $75,000 to $100,000 a year; also the irriga- 
tion bill appropriating funds for the development 
of western Kansas, and other important legisla- 
tion that session. After his retirement from the 
House he engaged in the practice of law until 
July, 1898, when he became postmaster at Law- 
rence. Much of his time has been given to lit- 
erary work. He has published a number of 
illustrated papers and pamphlets on Kansas and 
the west, among them a history of Lawrence in 
the early days, from the pen of Dr. Richard Cord- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



227 



ley. His latest undertaking was the compiling 
and publication of an illustrated edition of Law- 
rence that was greatl\- admired for artistic work. 
His attention is now wholly given to his duties 
as postmaster and the superintendance of that 
office. 

At Lawrence, in October, 1885, Mr. Caldwell 
married Miss Mary Viola McFarland, who was 
born in Ohio and died in Lawrence in 18S7, 
leaving a daughter, Kate May. 

Since the organization of the Commercial Club 
Mr. Caldwell has been one of its members, and 
since 1893 has served as secretary. He is iden- 
tified with the University Extension Club and 
has been chairman of the executive committee of 
the Alumni Association. He assisted in organ- 
izing the Republican League of Kansas and was 
its president in 1897. In the Presbyterian Church 
he is an active worker and has served as. a trustee. 
A charter member of the Phi Delta Theta Col- 
lege Fraternity, he has been its president and 
representative. In the Knights of Pythias he is 
past chancellor and its representative in Grand 
Lodges. He is connected with the Odd Fellows 
and Daughters of Rebekah. He was one of the 
founders of the Fraternal Aid Association and 
has been prominent in its work. As a citizen he 
is influential and popular among the people of 
Lawrence, and is actively identified with many 
enterprises in the building up of that city. 



EAPT. RICHARD L. IGEL, who has made 
his home in Leavenworth since 1872, and is 
now druggist at the western branch of the 
National Military Home, was born in the king- 
dom of Wurtemberg, Germany, March 29, 1839. 
His father, Louis F. Igel, who was a pharmacist 
by occupation, was one of the highly respected 
citizens of his native place. Accumulating a 
handsome propertj' he retired from business 
while still comparatively young, but subsequent 
misfortunes, involving the loss of a large amount 
of capital, led him to come to America in 1851 
and open a drug store in Madison, Ind. After a 
number of years in that city, in 1858 he moved his 
stock of drugs to Cape Girardeau, Mo., where he 



was successfully engaged in business until his 
death in 1863. He was the son of a successful 
druggist, so that our subject represents the third 
generation who have followed the same line of 
business. 

When the family came to the United States 
Captain Igel was a boy of twelve years. He 
learned the druggist's trade under his father and 
continued in Madison until the outbreak of the 
Civil war. He then enlisted for ninety days in 
the Sixth Indiana Infantry, of which he was 
chosen hospital steward. After he had been hon- 
orably discharged from that regiment he joined 
the Thirty second Indiana Infantrj^ and was 
chosen corporal of his company. For one year 
he served on detached duty under the surgeon- 
general, after which he was returned to his regi- 
ment as second lieutenant. The death of his 
father in 1863 caused him to resign his commis- 
sion and return home. He took charge of his 
father's store at Cape Girardeau, Mo., where he 
made his home until he came to Kansas in 1872. 
His first position in this city was as clerk in a 
wholesale drug house, where he continued until 
1879. Later he engaged in the drug business 
for himself. In May, 1890, he was appointed 
druggist at the National Soldiers' Home, which 
position he has since efficiently filled. He has 
engaged in the drug business for forty years and 
is familiar with its every detail, while his knowl- 
edge of medicine and surgery is also broad and 
thorough. He is a registered pharmacist, and a 
member of the Kansas State Pharmaceutical As- 
sociation. The Kansas Commandery of the Loyal 
Legion and Custer Post No. 120, G. A. R., num- 
ber him among their members and enable him to 
frequently renew his associations with those who, 
like him, fought for the preservation of the Union 
during the dark days of the '60s. Fraternally he 
is connected with Concordia Lodge No. 8, K. P. 
He has in his possession a thirty pound mortar 
made of brass in Germany, which bears the date 
of 1516, and has been in the family for several 
hundred years. Tradition says that this mortar 
was the possession of the alchemist at the mon- 
astery Kaltenbrunn in Wurtemberg, whose ro- 
mantic career was investigated by the immortal 



2 28 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Goethe, and employed by him as the subject for 
his famous character in the celebrated drama of 
"Faust." 

The marriage of Captain Igel took place in 
1863, and united him with Emma, daughter of 
Charles F. Schuessler, M. D., surgeon of the 
Sixth Indiana Infantry from Madison, Ind., dur- 
ing the Civil war. They are the parents of five 
children, namely: Leonora, wife of Frederick 
Harper, United States assayer at Helena, Mont.; 
Carl, who is connected with the United States 
mail service; Richard L., Jr., who is hospital 
steward of the United States penitentiary at Fort 
Leavenworth; Louisa, a teacher in the public 
schools of Helena, Mont.; and Lena. 



GlDOLPH C. GRIESA. There is no finer 
I 1 land for nursery purposes than that wliich 
/ 1 lies in eastern Kansas. Hence a large num- 
ber of men have been able to secure a success in 
the business that would have been impossible 
el.sewliere. Among the prosperous nurserymen 
of Lawrence is the subject of this sketch, who 
with his brother, Theodore E., started Mount 
Hope nursery in 1878. For five years they oc- 
cupied a location three miles west of the city, but 
in 1883 bought their present site, where they 
have seventy acres in one body, besides eighty 
acres adjoining the city, using, with tlieir rented 
land, about two hundred acres for nur.sery pur- 
poses. Shipments of their nursery stock are 
made to all points in the Missouri Vallej' and the 
west, and one hundred and fifty salesmen are 
employed in different parts of this territory. The 
packing house, 40x80, two stories, has twelve 
thousand square feet of space. A two-inch pipe 
line brings water from the city water works. The 
office is on the corner of Mi.ssouri and Elliott 
streets. 

The father of our subject, Charles Henry, .son 
of Charles Henry Griesa, was born in Prussia, 
Germany, and in youth learned the cabinet-mak- 
er's trade. In 1853 he came to America and set- 
tled in Lima, N. Y. Two years later the family 
joined him. He resided for a time in Naples, 
N. v., then in North Cohoctoii, where he en- 



gaged in the furniture and undertaking business 
until his <leath in 1879, at seventy-two years. 
The business which he established is conducted 
by his sou, Charles A. The mother of our sub- 
ject bore the maiden name of Henrietta Scholl; 
she was born in Leubeke, in the province of 
Westphalia, Germany, and died in New York 
in 1889, aged .seventy-two. Her father, Charles 
Scholl, was a saddler and harness-maker. In the 
family of Henry and Henrietta Griesa, there were 
seven children who attained mature years, viz. : 
William F., a commission merchant in Naples, 
N. Y.; August H., a nurseryman and fruit- 
grower of Lawrence; Adolph C; Mrs. Rachael 
Boone, of Lawrence; Charles A.; Mrs. Augusta 
Lyon, of Naples; and Theodore E. , of Lawrence. 

A native of Bielefeldt, Prussia, born March 
29, 1847, our subject was a boy of eight years 
when his mother brought him to this country, 
making the trip in seven weeks from Bremen to 
New York via the sailer "Atlanta." He attended 
the public schools and academy of Naples, N.Y. , 
and for some j-ears worked on a farm in the sum- 
mer and attended school during the winter. In 
1869 he joined his brother, August H., in Law- 
rence, and for nine years the two continued in 
the nursery business together, after which their 
partnership was dissolved, and our subject be- 
came connected with his younger brother. In 
everything pertaining to his chosen business he 
maintains a deep interest. He always attends the 
meetings of the American Association of Nurs- 
erymen, and has frequently served on commit- 
tees in connection with the same. He has also 
been actively identified with the Western As.so- 
ciation of Wholesale Nurserymen, and is a life 
member of the Kansas State Horticultural So- 
ciety. 

Since coming to Lawrence Mr. Griesa has been 
a member of Lawrence Lodge No. 6, A. F. & 
A. M. He is al.so connected with the Knights 
and Ladies of Security. In the Plymouth Con- 
gregational Church he is a member of the board 
of trustees. Politically he votes with the Repub- 
lican party. He was married in this city to Miss 
liva Stevens, who was born in Princeton, 111., a 
daughter of Capt. James Stevens, who served as 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



229 



a captain of an Illinois regiment during the Civil 
war, and in 1867 settled in Lawrence. Mr. and 
Mr.s. Griesa have four children: Mabel C, a 
graduate of the Lawrence high school, and now 
a student in the University of Kansas; OraN., 
who will graduate from the high school class of 
1900; William Stevens and Edna E. 



"HEODORE GRIESA was born in Naples, 
Ontario County, N. Y., January 7, 1859, °- 
son of Charles Henry and Henrietta (Scholl) 
Griesa. When he was an infant his father re- 
moved with the family to North Cohocton, Steu- 
ben County, the same state, and there he was 
educated in the public schools. After the death 
of his father in 1879 he engaged in building in 
his hometown, but in the fall of 1880 joined his 
older brothers in Kansas. For four years he was 
engaged as traveling salesman for his brother, 
A. C, after which the two formed a partnership 
under the firm title of A. C. Griesa & Bro. , es- 
tablishing the Mount Hope nursery, of which 
they have since been the proprietors, and which 
is one of the largest and finest in the entire state. 
While he maintains the general supervision of 
the entire business, he has several foremen to 
assi-st him. During the busy season employment 
is furnished to more than one hundred men. 
Agents represent the company in Tennessee, 
Kentucky, Arkansas, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, 
Iowa, Nebraska and Colorado, and shipments 
are made of the nursery stock through the entire 
western countr3\ Being connected with the city 
water works, twenty-five acres of the nursery are 
irrigated by this means. Every modern improve- 
ment is to be found here, and the brothers are 
quick to seize upon every advantage in order to 
promote the growth of the business. 

The marriage of our subject took place in Bos- 
ton, Ma.ss., and united him with Miss Myra P. 
Scott, of Dorchester, that state, who was born in 
Kennebunk, Me., and graduated from the high 
school of Dorchester. They are the parents of 
three children, Scott, Charles and Murray. 

In politics Mr. Griesa is a Republican, and on 
that ticket he was elected treasurer of Wakarusa 



Township, an office which he filled for two terms. 
Fraternally he is connected with the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen and the Knights and 
Ladies of Security. His wife is an active mem- 
ber of the Plymouth Congregational Church and 
the Fraternal Aid. He is a member of the Doug- 
las County Horticultural Society, the State, 
American and Western Associations of Nursery- 
men, and endeavors to keep in touch with the 
latest developments made in horticulture and 
floriculture. 



pCJlLLIAM R. GREEN. In the eastern part 
\A/ of Grant Township lies one of the valua- 
Y V ble farms of Douglas County. It is owned 
and occupied by Mr. Green. At the time he pur- 
chased the property the land was partly under 
cultivation, and he completed its improvement, 
and now farms one hundred and forty-three acres 
of the finest bottom land, on which he raises corn, 
wheat and potatoes. In the early days, when 
traveling was done by stage, his house waii used 
as one of the hotels on the stage route. As a 
farmer he has been successful. In addition to 
the raising of cereals and vegetables he gives 
considerable attention to the raising of Poland- 
China hogs, and in former years, when horses 
brought good prices, he had a number on his 
place, but the subsequent depreciation in price 
caused him to give up this branch of agriculture. 
The first of our subject's ancestors in America 
was his great-grandfather, James, whose son, 
Thomas, was the father of Robert Green. The 
last-named was born in New York, where he fol- 
lowed agricultural pursuits until his death at 
forty years of age. By his marriage to Margaret 
Woods, of Washington County, N. Y., he had 
four sons and two daughters, of whom the follow- 
ing survive: J. W. , who has been dean of the law 
department of the University of Kansas ever since 
that department was established; Anne, wife of 
C. D. Warner, of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho; and 
William R., who was born in Cambridge, Wash- 
ington County, N. Y. The education of our sub- 
ject was such as to prepare him for the responsi- 
bilities of life. He attended Williston Seminary 
at East Hampton, Ma,ss., for two years, after 



230 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



which he spent a year in Eastman's Business Col- 
lege at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. For eight years 
after completing his education he engaged in 
farming on the home place, but later sold the 
property and turned his attention to the manage- 
ment of a foundry and machine shop, which he 
conducted for five years. After a year in Cali- 
fornia he came to Kansas and purchased the farm 
where he has since made his home. Here he gives 
his attention to farming, dairying and stock-rais- 
ing. 

In national politics Mr. Green is a Republican, 
but in local affairs he is independent, favoring 
such measures as will best conduce to the welfare 
of the people. While he has not sought office for 
himself, at the solicitation of his friends he has 
con.sented to .serve as member of the school board 
and township treasurer, and holds the latter of- 
fice at this writing. When twenty-one years of 
age he joined the Masonic order at Cambridge, 
N. Y. He is now identified with the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen, the Woodmen of the 
World, and the Knights and Ladies of Security. 
March 10, 1886, he married Sallie J. Altee, who 
was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. Both he and his 
wife attend the United Presbyterian Church and 
contribute to its maintenance. 



UjICIIOLAS S. CLARKE, proprietor of a liv- 
I / ery and sales stable at Lawrence and a resi- 
1/3 dent of this city since 1869, was born in 
Rushville, Schuyler County, 111., April 14, 1845, 
a son of Rev. John and Ann (O'Hearn) Clarke. 
His grandparents, John and Eleanor Clarke, 
were natives of Ireland, and settled in Lanca.ster, 
Pa., where he followed the tanning business; his 
wife was ninety-nine at the time of her death. 
Rev. John Clarke was born in Lancaster and re- 
ceived his education at Pittsburgh, after which, as 
a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
he labored in Ohio and Indiana, and in 1S43 ac- 
cepted a pastorate at Rushville, 111., where he 
became the owner of a large farm. Later he was 
stationed at Quincy, Adams County, and War- 
saw, Hancock County. He was prominent in 
public affairs and was one of the men who met 



at Bloomington, 111., and organized the Republi- 
can party. He represented vScluiyler County, 
while Abraham Lincoln represented Sangamon 
County. He was a personal friend of the latter, 
who frequently visited him in his home, and he 
was also a cotemporary of Bishop Simpson and 
other noted divines of his denomination. Pos- 
sessing broad knowledge and an extraordinary 
command of language, he was in demand as a 
writer of articles for journals, religious and secu- 
lar. The last years of his life were spent in De- 
troit, Mich., where he died Maj- 18, 1S96. His 
wife, who was of Scotch-Irish descent, was born 
in 18 13 and died in Illinois in 1891, aged seventy- 
eight years. Of their twelve children who at- 
tained maturity four are now living. One son, 
Thomas, who was a member of the One Hundred 
and Nineteenth Illinois Infantry, died during the 
Red River expedition. Another sou, Albert, 
enlisted in a cavalry company, and was captured 
by Quantrell's men near Independence, Mo., but 
was soon paroled and afterward entered the Tenth 
Missouri Infantry, in which he rose to the rank 
of major; he died in Kearney, Neb. A third 
brother, James F., lives in Portland, Ore., while 
Ancil H. is in Rushville, 111. 

The subject of this sketch was the .seventh 
among nine sons. He received his education in 
public schools and We.sleyan University , at Bloom- 
ington, 111. His first work was in connection 
with railroad contracting on the Chicago, Bur- 
lington & Ouincj' Railroad. In 1869 he came to 
Kansas, and for three years farmed in Douglas 
County, after which he .settled in Lawrence, buy- 
ing a lot that had an old frame building on it. 
Here he began the transfer business, and later he 
opened a livery stable and dealt in horses. After 
some years he built a two story barn, 50x1 17, 
which he .still utilizes for his fine horses. Since 
the organization of the Lawrence Building and 
Loan Association he has been one of its directors. 
Reared in the faith of the Republican party, 
when that political organization was in its infancy, 
it is natural that he should be a stanch adherent 
of its principles. He served for two terms as 
councilman from the first ward, then refused fur- 
ther nomination initil the spring of 1899, when 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



233 



he was again elected to the council. He is now 
doing excellent work as chairman of the com- 
mittee on streets and alle3^s. The Commercial 
Club numbers him among its members. Fra- 
ternally he is connected with the Modern Wood- 
men, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and 
the lodge of Odd Fellows, in which he is past 
grand; and also a member of the Lodge of Re- 
bekahs, as is also his wife. 

The marriage of Mr. Clarke, in Lawrence, 
united him with Miss Lucy J. Patterson, who was 
born in Findlay, Ohio, and in 1S55 accompanied 
her father, William, to Lawrence, where Mr. Pat- 
terson became one of the foremost attorneys of 
the city; he was injured at the blowing up of 
Hunt's Mills, and after lingering in poor health 
for a year he died in 1858. His wife died in 
Lawrence in 1890. During the Quantrell raid 
they were burned out and suffered the loss of all 
their personal property. Mr. and Mrs. Clarke 
became the parents of three children (triplets), 
one of whom died at the age of twelve months. 
The others, Mary P. and Helen M., were among 
the honor students in the high school graduating 
class of 1899, and are now students in the Uni- 
versity of Kansas. They are unusually bright 
and capable, and have hosts of warm friends 
among the young people of Lawrence. The 
family are connected with the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church. 

HON. JAMES S. EMERY. The life of Judge 
Emery was so intimatelj' connected with 
the early history of Lawrence that it would 
be impossible to present the record of one without 
frequentlj' alluding to the other. He belonged 
to that large and intellectual class of eastern citi- 
zens who, coming to Kansas in territorial days, 
assisted in laying the foundations of the common- 
wealth broad, deep and solid. Reared under the 
beneficent influences of New England schools 
and religious institutions, these men were fitted 
to go forth and open up a new colony in a ter- 
ritory that, largely through their influence, was 
made to stand for the abolition of slavery. 

In January, 1854, a year after his admission 
to the bar of New York City, Judge Emery was 

7 



in Boston and, attending a citizens' meeting 
held to protest against the admission of Kansas 
as a slave state, he became deeply interested in 
the matter. A party was being organized to set- 
tle in Kansas, with Governor Robinson as the 
leader. He joined the company, and from that 
time until his death was associated with the 
history of this part of the great west. Governor 
Robinson, by reason of having crossed the plains 
in 1848 with JohnC. Fremont, was familiar with 
the west and was a safe leader for the party of 
one hundred and twenty-three who put them- 
selves under his guidance. Of the company, the 
majority were from Massachusetts, although 
some were from Rochester, N. Y., and other 
points along the route westward. 

September 14, 1854, Judge Emery arrived at 
what is now Lawrence. He entered a claim to 
one hundred and sixty acres adjoining the pres- 
ent site of the university. His first home in 
Kansas cost him $25 and was built on government 
land for which he paid $1.25 an acre. For a time 
his attention was given to the improvement of 
his claim and to surveying and drawing up con- 
tracts. The political conditions of Kansas were at 
that time most unsettled. Villages and counties 
were operated under bogus laws, which he and 
other free settlers refused to acknowledge, and 
kence never brought suits under them. In No- 
vember, 1855, he served in the defense of Law- 
rence in one of the four forts around the town. 
It was at this time that John Brown and his 
four .sons made their first appearance in Law- 
rence, and Mr. Emery served in the same fort 
with them. Under the ".squatter" sovereignty, 
he was superintendent of the first .school started 
in Lawrence. He built the first permanent build- 
ing in the town, and subsequently erected others. 
After he had been here little more than a year 
he was appointed magistrate or justice of the 
peace under the Kansas and Nebraska bill, bis 
commission as such, November 8, 1854, being 
the first of the kind issued by Governor Reeder, 
and it is now in the hands of the State Historical 
Society of Topeka. 

Shortly after the opening of the Civil war, 
October 5, 1861, our subject was commissioned 



234 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



a colonel in the Kansas militia by Governor Rob- 
inson. The following year he was elected to 
represent his district (then known as the thirty- 
sixth) in the state legislature, and November 3, 
1863, was re-elected to that bodj'. During his 
terra of office a contest arose between Lawrence 
and Ivmporia respecting the location of the Uni- 
versity of Kansas. Governor Eskridge led the 
Emporia faction and Judge Emery the Lawrence 
party. The matter was finally settled by the lo- 
cation of the university in Lawrence, bj- a vote 
of fifty-one to fifty. The university received an 
endowment of $:o,ooo from Amos Lawrence, in 
whose honor the city of Lawrence was named. 
March i, 1864, Judge Emery received from Gov- 
ernor Carney appointment as regent of the uni- 
versity, and filled the position for four years. In 
March, 1874, Governor Osborn again appointed 
him regent, and he .served for three years. From 
President Lincoln, March 18, 1864, he received 
the appointment of United States district attorney 
for Kansas. 

During the service of Senator Henry M. Teller 
as secretary of the interior, Judge Emery was ap- 
pointed, March 3, 1885, chairman ofthe board of 
visitors to the Indian Indu.strial school (now the 
Haskell In.stitute). In August, 1888, he was 
appointed by Governor Martin a delegate to the 
first convention of the Inter-state Deep Water 
Association. This meeting, which convened in 
Denver, was the first in the interests of a deep 
water harbor on the Gulf. To the cau.se of irri- 
gation he devoted the best efforts of his life, 
traveling thousands of miles to deliver lectures 
in support of the plan. He heartily believed in 
irrigation, and, could his wi.shes be consulted, 
without doubt he would rather be remembered 
for his work in behalf of irrigation than for any- 
thing else he accomplished in his life. In his 
opinion the opening up of vast areas of unpro- 
ductive land through the medium of irrigation 
would not only be of especial benefit to the 
poorer classes, but would react to the advance- 
ment of all interests and peoples. In 1893 he 
was appointed a delegate to the International Ir- 
rigation Convention held in Los Angeles, and 
was afterward appointed every year until his 



death. In everything pertaining to that move- 
ment he was considered an authority and his 
advice was often sought in matters bearing upon 
the subject. In 1899 Governor Stanley ap- 
pointed him a member of the Trans Mississippi 
Congress, held in Wichita, Kans. 

The characteristics noticeable in the life of 
Judge Emery were his by inheritance. He came 
of an old Maine famil)-, and was a son of Ira and 
Sarah (Stanley) Emery, natives of York Count\-, 
that state. Through his mother he was a 
descendant of English ancestors. As earlj' as 
1800 his father became a pioneer at Industry, 
Me., where he continued to reside until his 
death at an advanced age: his wife died when 
more than eighty years of age. Of their twelve 
children all but two attained maturity and five 
are now living, three daughters being residents 
of Lawrence. Judge Emery was born at Indus- 
try, Me. , on the 3d of July, 1826. He graduated 
from Colby University in 185 1, with the degree 
of A. B., and later received the degree of A. M. 
He paid his own expenses while in college 
by teaching and engaging in manual labor. 
Afterward he studied law in Troy and New York 
City, and was admitted to the bar in January, 
1853. In Brandon, Vt., November 6, 1851, he 
married Miss Mary Rice, onh* child of Pliny and 
Maria (Whitcomb) Rice. Ira, the only son 
of Judge and Mrs. Ivnery, died at the age of 
fourteen. The daughters, Agnes and Sarah, are 
graduates of the University of Kansas. The- 
family are members of the Congregational Church 
of Lawrence. 

Judge Emery was a fluent speaker, and ex- 
pressed his thouglits clearly and forcibly. His 
logical reasoning and eloquence rendered him an 
interesting orator. Throughout the roughening 
influences of pioneer life he never lost his love for 
books and his interest in education. He was fre- 
quently called ujion to deliver addresses before 
various universities and before the Kansas His- 
torical Society (of which he was a member), as 
well as otlier historical societies. As a pioneer 
of Lawrence he is one of those to whom the 
present generation owes a large debt of gratitude, 
owing, as it does, all its advantages for a higher 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



235 



degree of culture and for the refinements of life 
to the brave men who endured privations and 
hardships, and opened the way for a high civili- 
zation in the west. He died June 8, 1899, after 
an illness of four mouths. To the last his mind 
was unimpaired by the flight of time, and he was 
able to look back over his busy and useful life, 
and rejoice, not only in the success he had at- 
tained, but also in the high position he held as 
a man and a citizen. 



""DWARD JAMESON. No man has done 
^ more for the advancement of the real estate 
,^ of Eeavenworth than has Mr. Jameson. His 
prompt business habits, superior financial talent 
and tact in the management of affairs have brought 
him into prominence, not onlj' in his cit)-, but 
also in the state. His efforts have not been solely 
for personal aggrandizement, but also for the bene- 
fit of others and for the development of local re- 
sources. At a time when real estate was low 
and values depreciated, he never lost his belief 
in a "prosperous future; and the fact that better 
times dawned for Kansas was due not a little to 
his energy, sagacity and wise judgment. 

Mr. Jameson was born in Hunsenworth, near 
Blanchland, County Durham, England, April 21, 
1849, a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Clennell) 
Jame.son. His grandfather, Thomas Jameson, 
Sr., was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and moved 
with his family to Blanchland, County of Durham, 
England, and developed the Jameson lead mines. 
He was a member of the family to which belonged 
Jameson, the celebrated artist. Thomas Jame- 
son, Jr., was engaged in farming until his death, 
at thirty-two years. In religion he was identi- 
fied with the Church of England. He married a 
daughter of Alexander Clennell, a mine operator 
and farmer, whose father, Alexander, Sr., was a 
native of Glasgow. Mrs. Elizabeth Jameson died 
in England in 1895, leaving a son, Edward, and 
a daughter, Mrs. Mary Bamboro, of County Dur- 
ham, England. The son, our subject, studied 
architecture under Mr. Harrison, of Houghton- 
ou Spring, County of Durham. In 1883 he came 
to the United States and settled in Leavenworth, 



where, as architect and superintendent, he made 
plans for many of the principal buildings erected 
in the city. After two years he drifted into the 
real-estate business, in which he has since suc- 
cessfully engaged. 

Under the personal direction of Mr. Jameson 
the following additions have been laid out to 
Leavenworth: Fenn's Broadway addition; Fenn's 
fair ground addition; Morris addition; Cleveland 
Park addition; Evans' addition, and others. He 
has also bought and sold farms in every part of 
Kansasand in other states. In 1894 he with others 
organized the Kansas State Real Estate Associa- 
tion, of which he has since been the president and 
which was the means of starting better times in 
Kansas. With the organization of the Kansas 
Million Club he was al.so actively connected and 
served as its secretary. This club shipped a train- 
load of farm produce and fruit to Chicago during 
the fall of 1895, and exhibited the same along the 
entire route eastward, afterward giving the mayor 
of Chicago a carload of apples to be distributed 
among the poor people of that cit)'. This proved 
a splendid advertisement for the state and attract- 
ed considerable immigration. 

The various property enterprises originated by 
Mr. Jameson engross his attention, totheexclu- 
sion of all other interests. He has never been a 
politician, although he is a pronounced Republi- 
can and has served as chairman of the county Re- 
publican committee. However, while not a pol- 
itician, he is a very progressive citizen, and no 
enterprise for the advancement of the city is pro- 
posed that fails to meet with his hearty approval. 
While in Durham, England, he was made a Ma- 
son. The close attention which he gives to his 
business affairs, however, has prevented him from 
identifying himself with fraternal associations in 
the United States. 

In Sunderland, Durham, England, Mr. Jame- 
son married Miss Jane A. Stephenson, a member 
of the family to which belonged George Stephen- 
son, the inventor of locomotives. They are the 
parents of three children: Arthur E., Frederick 
W. and Louise. The elder son, a graduate of the 
Art Students' League of New York City, has 
since 1895 been an artist on the New York S//>/- 



236 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



day Jonnial. The younger son graduated from 
high school in 1S99, and was captain of the high 
school cadet conipan\'. 



(TjAMUKL H. CARMEAN, who held the office 
/\ of sheriff of Douglas County for four terms 
\~) and was recognized as one of the most vigil- 
ant and fearless men ever in the office, was first 
elected to the position in 1871, and his term was 
so satisfactory that he was re-elected in 1873, 
without opposition. At the beginning of his 
first term he established his home in Lawrence 
and here he has since resided. After the close of 
his second term lie returned to the cattle busi- 
ness, in which he had previously engaged. In 
1883 he was nominated for sheriff by acclamation 
and was elected. Again, in 1885, he received 
the nomination by acclamation, ard gained the 
election, serving until Januar}', 1888, when he 
retired. While he held the office a train was 
held up at Muncie, on the Union Pacific road. 
One of the desperadoes, McDaniels, was caught 
in Kansas City and brought to the Lawrence jail 
for safe keeping; but, during the absence of Mr. 
Carmean, he and three others knocked the jailer 
down and succeeded in effecting an escape. Pur- 
suit was at once instituted, and after two day.s' 
hunt McDaniels was found, but was wounded in 
the capture and died in jail soon afterward. 

Mr. Carmean was born near Chillicothe, Ross 
County, Ohio, March 2, 1832, and was next to 
the oldest of .seventeen children, fourteen of whom 
attained mature years and seven are now living. 
Three of the sons took part in the Civil war. 
Pierson, who was a noncommissioned officer in 
the Fourteenth Iowa Infantry and was wounded 
at Pittsburg Landing, first came to Kansas in 1856 
and is now living in Miami County. Joshua, 
who was also a member of the Fourteenth Iowa, 
is living at Leon, that state. David enlisted in 
Iowa and was wounded in the battle of Atlanta; 
he now resides at Mediapolis, Iowa. 

Foster Carmean, our .subject's father, was a 
son of Pierson Carmean, who was born in Marj-- 
land, probably of French descent. The former 
accompanied the family to Ross County, Ohio, 



and engaged in farming and raising stock on 
Paint Creek. Removing to Iowa in 1S42, he 
settled fifteen miles north of Burlington, and en- 
gaged extensively in farming there until his 
death at sixty-two years. He married Elvine 
Heizer, who was born in Ross County, and 
died in Iowa at seventy- two years. Her father, 
who was born in \'irginia, of German ancestry, 
settled in Ross County, Ohio, and married a 
Miss Ware, whose father was a Revolutionary 
soldier and an early settler of Ohio from Virginia. 

When ten years of age our subject accom- 
panied his parents to Iowa. His education was 
begun in the public school and continued in Yel- 
low Springs College, after which he taught two 
terms of school. At Xortlifield, Iowa, April 17, 
1856, he married Miss Lydia Jane Gray, who was 
born in New Milford, Pa., a daughter of Elisha 
Perkins Gray, and a granddaughter of Thomas 
Gray, both natives of Connecticut. Her father 
from New London, Conn., removed to New 
Milford, Pa., where he engaged in merchandis- 
ing, but after some time settled on a farm near 
Portage, Kalamazoo County, Mich., where he 
died at fifty years. He married Hannah Belknap, 
who was born near Batavia, N. Y., and died 
in Michigan. Her father, John Belknap, was 
a native of New York, of English descent, and in 
an early day removed to Pennsylvania, where he 
owned and operated a sawmill. Mrs. Carmean 
was one of four children, of whom she and her 
sister, Mrs. Charlotte Gray, of Lawrence, alone 
survive. 

In 1859 Mr. Carmean settled at Baldwin, 
Douglas County, Kans. , where he opened a gen- 
eral store and al.so became interested in the stock 
business. During the war he had the contract to 
furnish beef for the Sac and Fox Indians. Early 
in the war Governor Robinson commissioned him 
captain of a company of militia, but it was dis- 
banded before the Price raid. He was quarter- 
ma.ster of the Third Kansas Regiment of militia, 
which was mustered into .service to defend the 
state against Price. After the war he gave his 
attention to the cattle business until he was elected 
sheriff and after his retirement from that office he 
resumed dealing in .stock. For one term he served 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



237 



as city marshal. In politics he is a Republican 
and has been a member of the county committee 
of his party. Fraternally he is connected with 
Palmyra Lodge No. 33, A. F. & A. M., at Bald- 
win City; the Knights of Honor; Select Friends; 
Eastern Star (to which his wife also belongs); 
and Washington Post No. 12, G. A. R., his wife 
being a member of the Ladies of the G. A. R. In 
religion he is a Presbyterian and has officiated as 
an elder in his church. He and his wife have 
four children, namely: Charles K., who is en- 
gaged in the live- stock commis.sion business in 
St. Joe, Mo. ; Cyrene, wife of F. D. Connor, of 
Clifton, Ariz.; Fannie, who married C. M. 
Spaulding, of Sacramento, Cal.; and Arthur W., 
who graduated from the Lawrence Business Col- 
lege and is interested in business with his brother 
at St. Joe. Besides caring for and educating 
their own children, Mr. and Mrs. Carmean took 
into their home a boy, Emerson E. McClure, who 
is now in Kansas City. 



QOSIAH S. FLETCHER was one of the 
I highly respected residents of Willow Springs 
\Z) Township, Douglas Count}^ where he owned 
an improved farm of one hundred and sixty 
acres. He was born in Bethel , Me. , February 2 1 , 
1833, and was a member of one of the pioneer 
families of New England, dating the ancestry 
back to one of two brothers who came from Eng- 
land one hundred and fifty years ago. His father, 
Ephraim Fletcher, a native of Massachusetts, 
was reared on a farm in Worcester County and 
there engaged in agricultural pursuits during 
the greater part of his life. He was well informed 
concerning the national problems of his day and 
in politics coincided with Whig principles. 

Reared and educated in Massachusetts, our 
subject had only such advantages as, in the early 
part of the century, fell to the lot of a farmer's 
son. Being studious, he gained considerable 
knowledge in a brief attendance at an academ}', 
where, though unable to complete the regular 
course of study, he nevertheless laid a solid 
foundation upon which he built in later years by 
self-culture. In early manhood he went to 



McLean County, 111., where he secured employ- 
ment on a farm, remaining there for two years. 
At that time public attention was being drawn 
toward Kansas, owing to the conflict between the 
pro- slavery and free-state parties. In the spring 
of 1857 he came west, joining his fortunes with 
the northern element here. He pre-empted a 
claim, began its improvement, and by persever- 
ance acquired a valuable homestead. During his 
last years, however, he was so crippled by rheu- 
matism that he delegated to others the task of 
planting, plowing and harvesting, although he 
maintained a supervision of the place until a 
short time before his death. 

By his marriage, April 14, 1858, to Miss Mary 
Crosby, who died October 21, 1891, Mr. Fletcher 
had five children, namely: Frank L., a farmer of 
Coffey County, Kans. ; George F. , who is engaged 
in farming and stock-raising in Colorado; John, 
who died at twenty years; James, who resides 
with his parents; and Clara, who lives in Ford 
County, this state. March 28, 1893, he married 
Mrs. Eliza J. Cantrell, of Baldwin. From i860 
until his death Mr. Fletcher was a member of 
the Presbyterian Church and for many years 
served as an officer of the same. His interest in 
school matters continued during the entire period 
of his residence in Kansas. Recognizing the 
value of public schools, in which even the poorest 
child may hope to obtain a good education, he 
did all within his power to promote the welfare 
of the schools within his district, and after 1859 
was a member of the board of directors. For two 
terms he held office as justice of the peace, having 
been elected to that office on the ticket of the 
Republican party. 

Mr. Fletcher had been in ill health for about 
three months, but his death, which occurred 
August 20, 1899, was quite unexpected by his 
family. 

pkATRICK CUMMINGS. one of the earliest 
ly of the pioneers of Lecompton, was born in 
P County Tipperary, Ireland, August 10, 
1834, a son of Patrick and Nora (Horan) Cum- 
mings, and the only one of their six children to 
come to America. He passed the years of youth 



238 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



on his father's farm and acquired his education in 
the national schools. 1111851 he determined to 
come to America, and the 27th daj- of December 
found him in New Orleans, a stranger, without 
monej-. He hired out to work on the Polk 
plantation, twenty-five miles up the river, where 
he was employed in digging ditches. After 
three months he returned to New Orleans and 
for nine months was employed in driving a 
truck, nfter which for six months he was em- 
ployed at corporation work. Afterward he came 
up the river to St. Louis, but not liking that city, 
he proceeded, by water, to Louisville, Ky., where 
he was engaged in teaming for four months. 
Later he engaged in railroad work and in build- 
ing plank roads on the Indiana side of the river 
at New Albany. He remained at New Albany 
about one year, after which he worked on the 
Albany & Salem road from New Albany to 
Michigan City, his work being grading and 
track laying. From Michigan City he went to 
Dubuque, Iowa, and afterward to Lansing, the 
same state, where he worked for a month. On 
account of his employer getting into trouble 
through killing a man, he failed to be paid for 
his work. He then went to Peoria, 111., where 
he freighted between that place and Elmwood. 
This occupied his attention for six months, after 
which he returned to St. Louis. From there he 
worked his way west to Kansas City, and in com- 
pany with two other men, went to Leavenworth, 
intending to drive a government team across the 
plains to California. 

While at Leavenworth waiting for a team Mr. 
Cummings found the town so rough that he con- 
cluded to return to Kansas City. A short time 
later the territorial capital was located at Le- 
compton, and he and his comrades decided to 
come to this place. He walked the entire dis- 
tance from Kansas Cit}', and on his arrival was 
given work by Wilson Shannon on the capitol 
building. After seven months' work he asked 
for his wages, intending to take a trip to Cali- 
fornia, but beitig unalsle to collect the amount 
due him he was obliged to remain in Lecompton. 
Here he worked at various occupations for some 
time. Afterward for seven years he and his wife 



lived on a farm owned by Lyman Kvans, a bach- 
elor, his wife keeping house for Mr. Evans, while 
he assisted in the cultivation of the farm, situated 
on the river east of Lecompton. In return for 
his .services he was given half of all the stock 
and all of the produce raised on the place. In 
1870 he bought his present farm, three and one- 
half miles south of Lecompton, on the southwest 
quarter of .section 15, township 12, range 18. 
He built a house, made other improvements and 
brought the one hundred and twenty acres under 
e.Kcellent cultivation, making of the tract a fine 
farm. With his wife, he now owns two hundred 
and eighty acres of valuable land. 

November 15, 1862, Mr. Cummings married 
Miss Bridget Anderson. They became the par- 
ents often children, nine of whom are living, all 
at home, viz.: James, Joseph, William, Thomas, 
John, Nora, Maggie, Mary and Ellen. The 
family are identified with the Roman Catholic 
Church. 



yyiOSES C. HARVEY. While Leavenworth 
y County is the center of an important busi- 
(S uess in the raising and feeding of stock, 
there is probably no one in the entire county 
who has engaged in the industrj^ more extensive- 
ly than has Mr. Harvey, of Fairmount Town- 
ship. He has been exceptionally fortunate in 
hi.'j undertakings, but his good fortune is not 
simply the result of "luck"; it comes from his 
energy, perseverance, determination and sound 
judgment. There is no department of the stock 
business with which he is not familiar; hence his 
judgment in matters pertaining to the same is 
regarded as sound and sagacious. 

Mr. Harvey was born in Pettis County, Mo., 
October 12, 1855, and spent the years of boyhood 
and j^oulh upon the home farm in that county, 
his education being obtained in common schools. 
Upon gaining his majority he came to Kansas 
and for a half year worked on the large stock 
farm in Leavenworth County which he now 
manages. Next he went to Colorado, where, he 
was employed on ranches for more than two 
years. As a cowboy on the range he later 
worked in Wyoming and Dakota for four years. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



239 



Returning finally to Leavenworth County, he 
engaged in buying and shipping stock to Denver, 
Colo., having as partner Mr. U.sher, the owner of 
the ranch on which Mr. Harvey now lives. In 
the spring of 1884 he rented the ranch and has 
since engaged in the stock business here. The 
place consists of more than two thousand acres, 
and is devoted to the pasturage of stock. Besides 
his interests here he is the owner of a ranch near 
Pomona, Franklin County, Kans. , consisting of 
two thousand acres, which his nephew manages 
for him. 

December 5, 1883, occurred the marriage of 
Mr. Harvey to Miss Alice A. Brantner, of 
Arapahoe County, Colo. They have three 
children, Nancy Grace, Ada Jennie and Moses 
C, Jr. The family spend the greater part of 
each year in Lawrence, in order that the children 
may have the excellent educational advantages 
of that city. Though not a partisan nor in- 
terested in politics, Mr. Harvey recognizes his 
duty as a citizen and takes an interest in local 
and national elections. In politics he is a stanch 
Democrat. Fraternally he is connected with the 
Woodmen of the World; King Solomon Lodge 
No. 10, A. F. & A. M., of Leavenworth, and has 
attained the thirty -second degree of Scottish Rite. 



REV. RUDOLPH B. GROENER, pastor of 
St. John the Evangelist Church of Law- 
rence, was born in Zistersdorf, Lower Aus- 
tria, a son of Frederick W. and Theresa (Schredl) 
Groener, and a descendant, through his paternal 
ancestors, of an old family of Holland. His fa- 
ther, who was born on the Rhine in Germany, 
learned the baker's trade and worked as a jour- 
neyman in Germany, France and Switzerland. 
After his marriage he settled in Zistersdorf, where 
he carried on a bakery until the time of the 
Austro-German war, in 1866. The hatred be- 
tween the two races was so great that he felt it 
expedient to leave home. He came to America 
in 1880, accompanied by all of his family except 
Rudolph. Locating in Alton, 111., he began 
gardening, and in that city he remained until his 
death. His wife, who was a daughter of Frank 



and Mary Schredl, who were members of old 
Austrian families, was born in Russbach, Austria, 
and is now living in the home of her son in 
Lawrence, Kans. Of her fourteen children, two 
daughters and one son are living, one daughter 
being in Illinois, while the other resides with her 
mother. 

In the town where he was born September 10, 
1864, Father Groener was reared until ten years 
of age. He then entered a gymnasium in Moravia, 
where he took an eight years' course in classics, 
graduating in the spring of 188 1. He then came 
to America and entered a college at Teutopolis, 
111., where he remained until the completion of 
his English course. Next he matriculated in St. 
Meinrad (Ind.) Seminary, where he spent two 
years in the study of philosophy and four years 
in the study of theology, receiving the minor 
orders in 1886, and in 1887 those of sub-deacon 
and deacon. February 26, 1888, he was ordained 
to the priesthood in Vinceinies, Bishop Chataid 
officiating, and was assigned to the Leavenworth 
diocese. He was secretary of this diocese, chap- 
lain in St. John's ho.spital and second assistant at 
the cathedral. From there, in 1891, he was 
transferred to the pastorate of the Holy Family 
Church in Eudora, Kans. , where he remained for 
eighteen months. In September, 1892, he was 
assigned to his present pastorate and has since 
devoted himself assiduously to his responsible 
position as rector of the Catholic Church. The 
congregation in Lawrence was organized prior to 
the war, the first services being held at the house 
of B. Donnelly, in October, 1857, by Father 
Magee. In i860 a building, 25x50, was erected 
on Vermont street, and this was occupied for 
church purposes until 1871, when an edifice, 
45x90, was completed on Kentucky street at a 
cost of $10,000. At the time of the Quantrell 
raid Bishop Miege was in the city for the pur- 
pose of confirming a number of members, and he 
remained to perform the last rites over the bodies 
of twelve or more of the members who had been 
killed in the raid. 

The congregation is large, enthusiastic and act- 
ive, and the various societies are doing excellent 
work. In addition to the resident membership 



240 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



tlie services are allended bj^ the Catholic Indians 
from Haskell Institute and b^' Catholic students 
in the uiiiversitj-. Under the supervision of the 
rector everj- department of work is making prog- 
ress and the church is alive to the needs of the 
hour. Father Groener is a thoughtful, earnest 
student of the most profound authors, and the in- 
fluence which he wields over his congregation is 
that of a noble, cultured, Christian gentleman. 



EAPT. A. JACKSON JENNINGS, one ot 
the first settlers on the Shawnee Indian 
reservation in Douglas County, was born in 
Washington County, Pa., December 8, 1829, a 
son of DeGras and Anne (Jackson) Jennings, 
natives respectively of Pennsylvania and New 
Jersey. The maternal grandfather, Richard 
Jack.son, came to this countrj- from England and 
served for seven years in the American army 
during the Revolutionarj' war. The paternal 
grandfather, William Jennings, was also a native 
of England, and for years was captain of a mer- 
chant vessel ; one of his sons was Israel Jeiniings, 
of whom William Jennings Bryan is a lineal de- 
scendant. De Gras Jennings was a practicing 
physician, also a large farmer and sheep-raiser; 
he died in Washington County, Pa., in 1838, and 
his wife died in the .same place. They had eleven 
children, but only the following survive: Mrs. 
Ann Silcox; A. Jackson; and Thomas S., of 
Washington County, Pa. 

When seventeen years of age our Subject began 
to learn the carpenter's trade, which he followed 
for four years. Later he attended Oberlin Col- 
lege, Ohio, and also engaged in teaching school. 
In the spring of 1856 Samuel Wood came from 
Kansas to Oberlin, in search of young men who 
would volunteer to assist the free-state movement 
in the west, and among the si.xty who responded 
to the call our subject was one. In March, 
1857, he came to Kansas, and after a few days in 
Lawrence aud Franklin he took up a claim in 
Johnson County, settling on the land known as the 
George Rogers farm. The next year he .sold the 
place and took up his present farm of one hundred 
and sixty acres of raw land, on the Shawnee In- 



dian reservation, in Eudora Township. He built 
his first house on the re.servation in Johnson 
County. When he settled at his present place 
there were few in the neighborhood, and lie has 
witnessed the gradual development of this region 
made since he came in 1857. Though he began 
without means, he has been a very successful 
farmer and .stock-raiser. 

In 1862, at Fort Leavenworth, our subject en- 
listed and was mustered into the service as second 
lieutenant, with authority to recruit a company 
for the Twelfth Kansas Infantry. After the com- 
pany was recruited he was mustered in at Paoli, 
Kans., as first lieutenant of Company E Twelfth 
Kansas Infantry, and commissioned by Governor 
Robinson. 

At the time of the Quantrell raid in 1863 the 
mob surrounded our subject's house and called 
for him, but his wife told them he was in the 
army, and they then departed. Had he been at 
home, undoubtedly he would not have escaped 
with his life. In 1864 he was elected captain of 
his companj' and as such served until the close 
of the war, being connected with the western 
division of the arnij'. On the 30th of May, 1864, 
at the battle of Jinkins Ferry, Saline River, Ark., 
the brigade, consisting of the Twelfth Kansas 
Infantry (in which Captain Jennings commanded 
Company E,) and one other regiment, charged 
and took a rebel balterj-, in which action the 
colonel was wounded and lost the use of an arm, 
and the lieutenant-colonel lost a leg. Upon being 
honorably discharged from the volunteer service 
the captain passed the required examination for 
an assignment in the regular armj-, but his wife 
oppo.sed his enlistment with such earnestness that 
he abandoned the plan and returned to farm life. 

Formerly a Republican, Captain Jennings is 
now a Populist. In 1870 he was elected to the 
legislature on the Republican ticket, and served 
with efficiency in that body. He was at other 
times a candidate for .senator and sheriff. He 
has been chairman of the county convention and 
a delegate to state conventions. At the time of 
the starting of the Farmers' Alliance in John.son 
and Wyandotte Counties he acted as organizer. 
He is a .stockholder in and vice-president of the 




JAMES A. LANK, M. D. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



243 



Eudora State Bank. Fraternally he is connected 
with Eudora Lodge No. 42, I. O. O. F. , in which 
he holds the jewel of twent) -five 5'ears of con- 
tinuous membership. At this writing he is a 
member of the Johnson County Grange. Inter- 
ested in educational matters, he contributed to 
the erection of Hesper Acadeni}-, and took a part 
in the organization of Hesper school district No. 
5, which was the fifth school district organized in 
the county; Hesper Social Lyceum, connected 
with it, was organized in 1857. It has been 
transferred to the Hesper Academy and is still 
in active operation. Captain Jennings was one 
of the organizers and wrote the constitution and 
by-laws. He has also given to religious enter- 
prises, especially to the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, with which his family are identified. In 
Eudora Post No. 333, G. A. R., he is the senior 
commander of the post. In 1857 ^^^ married 
Rose A. McCartney, by whom he has a daughter. 
Belle T., now the wife of C. H. Daughert^^ The}' 
also reside at the old homestead. 



3 AMES A. LANE, M. D. There are few of 
the physicians and surgeons of Leavenworth 
who have attained a distinction so merited 
as that which years of successful practice have 
brought to Dr. Lane. Not alone in his home 
citj', but in other towns as well he is known as a 
skillful physician, whose accurac}- in diagnosis 
and skill in treatment bring him the confidence 
of his patients. By stud}', observation and ex- 
perience he has acquired a thorough knowledge 
of his profession, and his services as an instructor 
have been utilized by medical colleges. In mi- 
croscopy, bacteriology, and in sanitary measures 
he has for years been a leader, as in other de- 
partments of thought related to his profession. 

Dr. Lane was born in Rio, Columbia County, 
Wis., November 20, 1853, a son of Henry and 
Mary (Rutherford) Lane, natives respectively of 
western Pennsylvania and Ireland. The former 
grew to manhood near Pittsburgh and from there 
removed to Stark County, Ohio, where he mar- 
ried Miss Rutherford, whose parents v^-ere from 
the north of Ireland and of the Presbyterian faith. 



After his marriage he settled in Wisconsin , where 
he improved a stock farm. In 1S68 he removed 
to Mirabile, Caldwell County, Mo., where he 
engaged in farming and stock-raising and was 
also prominent in local affairs. When seventy 
years of age he went on a hunting expedition to 
Idaho, where he was taken sick and died. The 
family of which he was a member originally set- 
tled in Virginia and were well-known Indian 
fighters. His wife died in Wisconsin in 1S66, 
leaving five children, of whom James was the 
third. 

When the family settled in Mi.ssouri the sub- 
ject of this sketch was about thirteen years of 
age. His high-school course was completed at 
Cameron, Mo. In 1874 he came to Leaven- 
worth and entered the State Normal School, from 
which he graduated in 1S76. He had previously 
taught in Missouri and after the close of his nor- 
mal course he resumed teaching, which he fol- 
lowed in Kansas. For one year he was principal 
of the North Leavenworth colored school, then 
for one year principal of the Morris school, and 
for a similar period he held the chair of natural 
.science and mathematics in the Kansas State 
Normal at Paola. Taking up the study of med- 
icine, he took the course in one of the most 
famous institutions in our country, Jefferson 
Medical College, in Philadelphia, from which he 
was graduated in 1881, with the degree of M. D. 
Soon after graduating he returned to the west, 
and since 1881 has engaged in practice in Leaven- 
worth, where he has his office in the Manufactur- ■ 
er's National Bank block. For three years he 
was in partnership with his former preceptor. 
Dr. S. F. Neeley, and since then has practiced 
alone. 

During his course in Jefferson Medical College 
Dr. Lane was assistant demonstrator of anatomy, 
and he also took a special course of study. For 
ten years he was professor of histology and mi- 
croscopy in the Kansas City Medical College at 
Kansas City, Mo. When the Medico-Chirurgical 
College was established in Kansas City he was 
elected to the chair of the principles of surgery, 
which position he still fills. His influence has 
done much toward placing this institution upon 



244 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



a solid basis and giving it a reputation through- 
out the west. He was also active in the estab- 
lishment of the Leavenworth Hospital Associa- 
tion, with which he has since been connected. 
For years he has been surgeon for the Missouri 
Pacific and the Kansas Northwestern railroads. 
For several terms he has been county physician, 
also served as city physician and as a member of 
the board of health. 

The various medical organizations of the west 
have enlisted the interest of Dr. Lane. He has 
been president of the Eastern Kansas Medical 
Society and is now president of the Leavenworth 
City and County Medical Society and the Kansas 
State Medical Society. In the American Med- 
ical Association, of which he is a member, he 
has served as chairman of the judicial council. 
He is connected with the International Associa- 
tion of Railway Surgeons, the Mi.ssouri Vallej- 
Medical Society, the Western Surgical and 
Gynecological Association; the State Sanitary 
Association, of which he is vice-president; the 
Leavenworth Academy of Science, of which he is 
president; is an associate fellow of the Kansas 
City Academy of Medicine, and an honorary 
member of the Tri-State Medical Association, 
Jackson County Medical Society, Missouri State 
Medical Society, and the Illinois State Medical 
Society. He is also vice-president of the Com- 
mercial Club of Leavenworth. 

Recreation is a necessity with all active minds. 
Dr. Lane finds his recreation in hunting and in 
athletic .sports. He is an active member of the 
different gun clubs, is one of the state team, and 
holds a number of first medals for rifle, shotgun 
and revolver. He is also a member of a fishing 
club. By his connection with these clubs he 
finds a needed relaxation from the heavy respon- 
sibilities of professional work. 

In Paola, Kans. , Dr. Lane married Miss Hat- 
tie Kennedy, of Buffalo, who was his cla.ssmate 
in the Kansas State Normal School and who 
came to Leavenworth with her brother-in-law, 
Prof. John Wherrell, then the president of the 
school, and now a practicing physician in Kansas 
City. Mrs. Lane graduated from the normal 
school, and is a lady of splendid education and 



culture, with literary tastes. She is prominent 
in society and in local organizations, and is now 
president of the Library A.ssociation, the Art 
League and the Leavenworth Federation of 
Clubs. The three children of Dr. and Mrs. 
Lane are Lillian May, Jennie B. and James A. 
Jr. , all of whom are students in the Leavenworth 
schools. 



V yiOSES SHAW THOMAS, M. D. The an- 
y cestry of the Thomas family is traced to 
y Lewis Walker Thomas, a native of York- 
shire, England, and an officer in the armj- of 
William of Nassau, Prince of Orange. While 
engaged in his oflicial duties he went to Wales 
and there he became a member of the Society of 
Friends. About 1700 he emigrated to America 
and settled upon a valuable tract of land in 
Chester County, Pa., within twenty miles of Phil- 
adelphia. His grandson, Daniel Walker Thomas, 
born about 1757, was a barrister and married 
Sarah Ellis, daughter of an English naval officer 
in the Revolutionary war, who was taken pris- 
oner during one of the battles of that war, but 
continued faithful to the British government. 
His fate is uncertain. Some traditions represent 
him as dying in prison, while others state that he 
returned to England and died there. 

During the early life of Daniel Walker Thomas 
he was verj' prosperous and accumulated a for- 
tune in the practice of his profession at Winches- 
ter, Va., where he located shortly after his mar- 
riage. When advanced in years he was made 
liable for a security debt of $40,000, which he 
paid. Immediately afterward he was a severe 
sufferer by an extensive fire, which destroyed his 
library, papers, etc., and left him a poor man. 
He took up his abode in the home of his eldest 
son, Jacob R., father of M. ShawThomas, M. D. 
Jacob R. Thomas was born in Winchester 
in 1783 and was educated for the law, but pos- 
sessed a peculiar faculty of mind toward mechan- 
ics and a genius for invention. He was the 
inventor of a flax spring machine and reel attach- 
ment, which is still in use in portions of Maryland. 
After his marriage he removed to Baltimore, 
where he was proprietor of the Globe Inn, then 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



245 



the leading hotel of that cit)-. During the build- 
ing of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad he erected 
a hotel at Ellicott Mills, the then terminus of 
the road. Still later, when Frederick became the 
terminus, he kept a hotel at that place, and after- 
ward, when it reached Point of Rocks, he in- 
vented a packet to run by horse power (the 
horses being placed in the vessel), and this packet 
made successful trips on the Chesapeake & Ohio 
canal. He was in the midst of a most useful 
career when he died, at Point of Rocks, in 1835. 

The marriage of Jacob R. Thomas united him 
with Miss Shaw, who was a ladj' of remarkable 
beauty and accomplishments, as well as of noble 
Christian character and an earnest member of the 
Presbyterian Church. She was a descendant 
of ancestors who were strict members of the 
Presbyterian Church in the north of Ireland. 
Among the eight children of this union was 
Moses Shaw Thomas, who was born in Baltimore, 
Md., January 3, 1830. He was educated in Vir- 
ginia, where he went after the death of his father. 
His medical studies were carried on in the Uni- 
versitj' of Maryland, at Baltimore, from which 
he graduated. For two 3'ears he practiced his 
profession in the Shenandoah Valley, of Virginia. 
In 1856 he came to Kansas and settled in Leaven- 
worth, where he built up a good practice. Just 
prior to the Civil war he was employed by the 
United States government as a surgeon at Fort 
Leavenworth. In the fall of 1861, being a Vir- 
ginian and sympathizing with the southern cause, 
he went to Richmond and enlisted in the Confed- 
erate army as a surgeon (with rank of major), 
in which capacity he served in Virginia until the 
close of the war, being attached to Lee's army. 
At the end of the war he returned to Leavenworth 
and afterward engaged in practice, becoming 
known as a skilled surgeon and reliable physician. 

Dr. Thomas was a man of fine character, and, 
though reserved and dignified, won innumerable 
friends in all of his dealings, for he was the soul of 
honor. In his professional work no mercenary 
consideration was ever allowed to enter. His aim 
was to do all that could be done for his patient, 
whether that patient lived in a palatial residence 
or in a cabin. Regardless of race or creed, re- 



gardless of heat or cold, sun.shine or rain, night 
or day, he answered everj- summons for his assist- 
ance. Added to his great surgical skill, trained 
by long experience, and his profound medical 
knowledge, were personal qualities of gentleness, 
sympathy and painstaking care. 

Originally a whig, about 1853 Dr. Thomas 
allied himself with the Democratic party, to 
whose principles he ever afterward adhered. He 
became a Roman Catholic at the age of eighteen 
and continued in that faith until his death. In 
Leavenworth, April 22, 1869, he married Alice 
A., daughter of Malcolm Clark, and a graduate 
of the Academy of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart 
at St. Joseph, Mo. The four children born of 
this union are: F. Miege Thomas, M. D. ; Moses 
Shaw, a member of the First Arizona Territorial 
Regiment, stationed at Albany, Ga.; Theodore 
C.,' of Atchison, Kans.; and Genevieve. 

The death of Dr. Thomas occurred July 9, 1896, 
and two days later his body was laid to rest, after 
appropriate services in the Cathedral, which was 
crowded with friends desirous of paying the last 
tribute of respect to his memory. The Leaven- 
worth County Medical Society, of which he was 
a member, passed resolutions, bearing testimony 
to his skill as a physician, his patriotism as a citi- 
zen, his high sense of honor as a man, and his 
high character as a friend, husband and father. 
Not onl)' members of his own church, but peo- 
ple of ever}' religious faith, united in lauding the 
character of the man who for so many years had 
been one of Leavenworth's most respected citi- 
zens. 



f" MIEGE THOMAS, M.D., of Leavenworth, 
r^ was born in this city March 22, 1870, the 
I ^ eldest son of M. Shaw Thomas, M. D. In 
youth he was given the best educational ad- 
vantages which the state afforded. After having 
studied in the high school for three years, in 1890 
he entered the medical department of the Uni- 
versity of Louisville, Ky., and continued the 
studies of the regular course in that institution, 
from which he graduated in 1893, with the de- 
gree of M. D. In September of the same year 
he entered the New York Polyclinic, where he 



246 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



took a post-graduate course of nine months, and 
at the same time acted as house surgeon in the 
New York Polyclinic Hospital. 

Returning to Leavenworth iu June, 1894, Dr. 
Thomas began the practice of his profession, 
which he has since conducted in this city. His 
medical studies did not cease with the awarding 
of his degree. He has ever been a student, de- 
sirous of keeping thoroughly posted concerning 
every advance made in therapeutics, and by ob- 
servation, experience and the reading of the best 
medical journals, is in constant touch with the 
latest developments iu the science. In the diag- 
nosis of di.sease he has proved himself to be very 
skillful, thus being enabled intelligently to sug- 
gest and apply the most effective remedial agen- 
cies. In August, 1895, he was appointed sur- 
geon of the new United States penitentiar}' at 
Leavenworth, and this position he has since filTed. 
He is a member of the Leavenworth County Med- 
ical Society. 

"HEODORE C. THOMAS, who was one of 
the soldiers of the Spanish-American war, 
was born in Leavenworth in 1873, a son of 
Dr. M. Shaw Thomas. After graduating from 
the high school of this city in 1892 he entered the 
employ of Fred Harvey, becoming manager of 
an' eating house in Leadville, on the Colorado 
Short Line. Afterward he was for more than 
three years connected with the Santa Fe eating 
house at Topeka. Upon the organization of 
Troop H, First United States Cavalry (known 
throughout the world as Roosevelt's Rough 
Riders) he enlisted and was mustered into the ser- 
vice at Tampa, Fla., June 15, 1898. 

When it was seen that not all of the troops 
would be needed in Cuba, a division of forces was 
effected, and some were ordered to remain in 
Florida, while others had the coveted privilege 
of going to the front and seeing active service. 
Six hundred of the Rough Riders were ordered to 
Cuba, the remainder were held at Tampa. Mr. 
Thomas was one of those who were retained in 
Florida. How well and bravely those fought who 
went to the front is a matter of history; but few 
realize that tho.se who were kept behind and 



who were obliged, in keen disappointment, to 
witness the departure of their comrades for the 
.seat of war, also had hardships to endure, with 
none of that glory which came to their comrades 
at the front. 

After honorable service Mr. Thomas was mus- 
tered out at Montauk Point, September 15, 1898. 
He returned to Kansas and has since been sec- 
retary and treasurer of the Thomas Fuel and 
Ice Company, of Atchison, which is engaged in 
jobbing Santa Fe coal and also in manufactur- 
ing ice. 



y yi ALCOLM CLARK, one of the original pro- 
y prietors of Leavenworth, was born in Ed- 
y inburgh, Scotland. When a young man 
he accompanied relatives to Toronto, Canada, 
and from there about 184S removed to Missouri, 
becoming a pioneer farmer of Weston. During 
his residence there he married Mrs. Elizabeth 
(Hampton) Owens, formerlj* of South Carolina, 
but then of Missouri. They became the parents, 
among other children, of a daughter, Alice, who 
is now the widow of Moses Shaw Thomas, M. D., 
of Leavenworth. Mr. Clark was one of the orig- 
inal proprietors of Leavenworth and it was at his 
suggestion the town was named in honor of his 
friend. Colonel Leavenworth. 

Intimately identified with the early history of 
Kansas, of which he was a pioneer, it was the fate 
of Mr. Clark, as of all stanch free-soilers, to en- 
counter opposition and arouse enmity on the part 
of slavery advocates. He was a man of kind 
heart, but nevertheless very determined in char- 
acter, and when once convinced of the justice of 
a cause steadily maintained allegiance to it, in 
spite of threats and danger. Among his fellow- 
citizens he was prominent and influential. At a 
meeting in Leavenworth, April 30, 1855, of the 
Delaware Squatters' Association, he was chosen 
moderator. Among those present was a Scotch- 
man, Mr. McCrea, whom Mr. Clark had be- 
friended in former years in Missouri, but who 
repaid that kindness with basest treachery. 

During the course of the meeting Mr. McCrea 
repeatedly interfered with the proceedings. He 
was justly reprimanded by the moderator and 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



247 



was respectfully requested either to leave the meet- 
ing or to desist from his unjust interference. 
However, he refused to do as requested, although, 
not being a squatter on the Delaware trust lands, 
the matters before the convention did not affect 
his personal interests. Finall}-, when a resolu- 
tion was passed, he pronounced it a gross fraud. 
Mr. Clark denied the assertion, but was inter- 
rupted by the most violent language from Mr. 
McCrea. The moderator, becoming exasperated, 
started towards his opponent, who at once fired 
upon him and killed him. 

In many ways Mr. Clark aided the early growth 
of Leavenworth. Largely through his efforts 
Bishop Meige was induced to remain here, Mr. 
Clark deeding to him lands that lie opposite the 
Cathedral. Not only religious, but educational 
and commercial enterprises received his encour- 
agement and assistance. As one of the first 
settlers of Leavenworth, and as one of the martyrs 
of the free-state agitation, his name should be 
perpetuated in the annals of the city. 



iA ARSHALL G. LAHUE, one of the repre- 
y sentative ranchmen of Lecompton Town- 
(9 ship, Douglas County, was born in Christian 
County, 111., June 6, 1862, a son of Carrington 
and Catherine (Bruebeck) Lahue. He was one 
of seven children, five of whom survive, viz.: 
Margaret, wife of Wesley Kitchin, of Washing- 
ton, D. C; Sabrina, who married A. B. Morlan, 
of Geary County, Kaus.; Charles P., a prominent 
farmer of Lecompton Township; Angle, wife of 
W. H, Nace, of Geary County; and Marshall G. 
The father, who was born in Harrison County, 
Ind., February 2, 1825, removed, three years 
after his marriage, to Missouri, settling in Mer- 
cer County, but after two years he went to Chris- 
tian County, 111. During the fourteen years of 
his residence there he became one of the well- 
known farmers of his section. In 1868 he re- 
moved to Kansas, and settled three miles south 
of the village of Lecompton, where he spent the 
remainder of his life, with the exception of two 
5'ears in western Kansas, he having moved there 
with the intention of making his home, but the 



scarcity of rain determined him to return to Le- 
compton. His death occurred March 22, iSSg. 
He was a regular contributor to and supporter of 
the Christian Church, and aided in charitable 
movements. For many 5'ears he acted as a mem- 
ber of the school board. His wife, who was a 
member of an old Virginia family, was born in 
Augusta County August 15, 1826, and removed 
to Indiana with her parents in 1842; she now 
makes her home with our subject on the old 
homestead in Lecompton Township. 

After having completed the studies of the com- 
mon schools our subject began for himself as a 
farmer, and for two years cultivated rented land. 
When his younger brother had attained his ma- 
jority the two were given charge of the home 
farm, the father retiring from active work. The 
brother met his death through an accident, and 
soon afterward the father died, after which our 
subject took entire charge of the farm, which he 
has since superintended. He is a progressive 
farmer and one of the substantial men of his 
township. In politics he is a stanch supporter 
of the Republican party. Fraternally he is a 
member of Lecompton Lodge No. 413, I. O. O. F., 
and Lecompton Lodge No. 155, Fraternal Aid 
Association. He is one of the rising young 
farmers of the county and has many friends 
among his acquaintances here. 



RUFUS KLINKENBERG. The farm owned 
and cultivated by this gentleman lies in the 
northern part of Stranger Township, Leaven- 
worth County, and consists of one hundred and 
seventy acres of improved land. In addition to 
the raising of cereals he has given attention to 
the stock business, and on his farm has a number 
of Short-horn cattle. At the time of his mar- 
riage, when twenty-three years of age, he pur- 
chased this property and here he has since made 
his home. 

Born in Holland July 19, 1855, our subject 
is a son of Nicholas Klinkenberg, who was born 
and reared in Hanover, Germany, and thence 
removed to Holland and secured employment at 
the carpenter's trade. For thirty years he made 



248 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



his home in that countrj\ In the spring of 1871 
he came to the Ihiited States and settled in 
Leavenworth County, Kans., purchasing a small 
farm that is now occupied by his widow. Here 
he died March 5, 1889, at sixty eight years of 
age. In politics he was a Democrat, but never 
took an active part in public affairs. During his 
residence in Holland he became a member of the 
Dutch Reformed Church, and to its doctrines 
ever afterward adhered. For twelve years he 
served as an elder of his congregation. At the time 
of his death he left eighty acres in land and a 
number of head of fine stock. 

The mother of our subject, a native of Holland, 
bore the maiden name of Klasina Walters, and 
from childhood has been a faithful member of the 
Dutch Reformed Church. She is now li,ving on 
the homestead and is seventy-five years of age. Of 
her seven children (all born in Holland) we note 
the following; Hebo is a farmer of this county: 
Jennie is the widow of Charles Haug; Rufus was 
third in order of birth; Gertrude, John \V. H., 
Walter and Henry complete the family. The 
children were brought to America in 187 1 and 
have since lived in this county. 

Our subject takes an active interest in educa- 
tional affairs. In politics he is a Democrat. He 
has represented the local lodge, Knights of 
Pythias, in the grand lodge and has served as 
district grand chancellor. He married Augusta 
Kaiser, who was born in Germany. They have 
eleven children, viz. : Ferdinand, Henry, Amelia, 
Paulina, Bertha, William, Walter, Loui.sa, Ed- 
ward, Ruth and Carlton (twins.) 



y yilCHAEL T. FITZPATRICK, deceased, a 
y pioneer of Douglas County and for years 
(^ one of the well-known railroad men in the 
state, was born in Albany, N. Y., November 15, 
1841,3 son of William and Margaret (Culliton) 
Fitzpatrick. He was one oif a large family, of 
whom only three survive, viz.: James, of Willow 
Springs, Mo.; Thomas, who.se home is in Boul- 
der, Colo.; and Catherine, wife of Gilbert B. 
Kirk, of Topeka, Kans. His father, who was 
birn, reared and married in Queens County, Ire- 



land, brought his wife to America immediately 
after their marriage, and settled in Albanj-, N. Y., 
where heengaged in railroad work. Some years 
later he removed to Tioga County, Pa., remain- 
ing there until 1867, when he migrated to Kan- 
sas and settled in Kanwaka Township, Douglas 
County, on the farm now occupied by our sub- 
ject's widow. Here he, in connection with his 
sons, followed farming up to the time of his 
death, July 23, 1S97. 

At the outljreak of the Civil war our subject 
enlisted in the engineering department of the 
service and was engaged in bridge building and 
railroad construction during the entire period of 
hostilities. After the war he engaged in railroad 
work in Tioga County, Pa. In 1866 he married 
Miss Jane Mooney, who was born in County 
Meath, Ireland, a daughter of Andrew and Julia 
(Lamb) Mooney. Her father, who was a native 
of County Meath, came to x\merica with his 
family in 1852, and settled in Corning, N. Y., 
where he died two years later. After his death 
his widow removed to Tioga County, Pa., and 
there resided until her death, which occurred in 
1888. 

The year after his marriage our subject brought 
his wife to Kansas and .settled on his father's 
farm, in which he owned an interest. However, 
he did not engage in agricultural pursuits, but 
gave his attention almost wholly to railroad 
work. He was employed in the construction of 
the Kansas Pacific Railroad, having charge of 
the laying of the track, and completing it into 
Denver, Colo. Afterward he was made road- 
master on the division of the road running into 
Denver, in which city he had his headquarters. 
Shortly afterward he took charge of track con- 
struction of a railroad in Illinois, where he was 
employed for fifteen months. His next position 
was that of roadmaster on the Northern Pacific 
Railroad, with headquarters at Fargo, N. Dak., 
where he remained for three years. He then 
accepted a position with the Missouri, Kansas & 
Texas Railroad, at Fort Scott, Kans., where he 
was retained as roadmaster for one year. Later 
he went to Atchison, Kans., where he served in 
the same capacity for the Missouri Pacific Rail- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



249 



road. With the latter road he continued for ten 
years, during four of which he was located at 
Concordia, Kans. In 1895 he accepted a position 
as general roadmaster on the Kansas City, Fort 
Scott & Memphis Railroad, with headquarters at 
Kansas City, where he remained for two years. 
He then accepted the position of roadmaster 
with the Denver & Gulf Railroad, having his 
headquarters in Trinidad, Colo., which position 
he continued to hold for fifteen months, until his 
death, March 3, i8g8. 

Fraternally Mr. Fitzpatrick was a member of 
Lawrence Lodge No. 7, A. O. U. W. ; Camp No. 
798, Woodmen of the World, the blue lodge and 
chapter of Masonry, having a short time before 
his death withdrawn from Chapter No. 45, 
R. A. M., in Concordia, intending to place 
his membership either in the Lawrence or Kansas 
City chapter, but his death prevented. In re- 
ligion he was of the Roman Catholic faith. Suc- 
cessful in his business ventures, at the time of his 
death he left his family the home farm of nine 
hundred and sixty-five acres, besides other pos- 
sessions of value. He and his wife were the 
parents of seven children, namely: Margaret, 
wife of H. M. Barber, who assists in the man- 
agement of the home farm; Mary, who married 
Dr. W. R. Priest, a prominent physician and 
surgeon of Concordia, Kans.; William, who as- 
sists in taking charge of the homestead; James, 
who is connected with the Fort Scott & Memphis 
Railroad; Charles and Francis, who are pursuing 
their studies in St. Mary's College, at St. Mary's, 
Kans. , and Kirk, who is a pupil in the district 
school. 



0ANIEL MARK HILL owns and occupies a 
farm of two hundred acres at Big Springs, 
one of the most delightful locations, not 
only of Douglas County, but of ea.stern Kansas 
as well. On the land are thirty-one mineral 
springs possessing health-restoring mineral prop- 
erties that will at some future day without 
doubt make the place a noted health resort. 
Nor is the presence of the springs the only claim 
which the place has to public notice. Those 
interested in the early history of the state regard 



it as an historic landmark, for it was the site of 
the first territorial convention and served as the 
headquarters of "Jim" Lane during the exciting 
days of border ruffian warfare. 

Mark Hill (for by his middle name our sub- 
ject is best known) was born in Bedford County, 
Pa., August 4, 1836, a son of Jacob and Rosina 
E. (Byer) Hill. He was one of eleven children, 
five now living, viz.: Margaret, wife of Louis 
Kellerraan, a retired stockman of Burlington, 
Kans.; William, who is with the Pennsylvania 
Railroad Company and resides at Bard, Pa., 
where he is an extensive holder of farming lands; 
Daniel Mark; Anna, wife of Ellis Miner, who is 
engaged in the wholesale dr}--goods business 
at Heppner, Ore.; and Kate, wife of Samuel 
Zike, who is engaged in the hotel and livery 
business in Nebraska. Jacob Hill was born in 
Bedford County, Pa., where he early became 
prominent in political life, although he was 
educated for the Lutheran ministry. He was a 
power in his party and filled many offices in his 
section of the country. 

When our subject was nine years of age his 
father died and he was taken into the home of an 
older brother, a farmer and business man of Bed- 
ford Count)', who owned a farm of four hundred 
acres, also a sawmill, blacksmith's and shoe- 
maker's shop. He was fourteen when he began 
teaming for his brother and became so expert in 
his work that he could drive six horses with a 
single line; his skill as a driver caused his asso- 
ciates to say: "Show Hill a knot hole and he 
will drive the team through." In 1854 ^^ mar- 
ried Miss Delilah, daughter of John Boone, who 
was a great-nephew of Daniel Boone. After his 
marriage he continued teaming and also engaged 
in farming. In 1862 he left the business in the 
care of his brother and visited Iowa with a view 
to locating there. After a year he came to Kan- 
sas and spent some months, then returned to 
Iowa. His brother sold out in the east and lo- 
cated in Anderson, while our subject, settling at 
Weston, Iowa, became the leading business man 
of the town, where he operated a brick yard, a 
shoe store, a meat market and a general con- 
tracting business. In 1867 he disposed of his 



250 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



business there and came to Kansas, settling at 
Cherry Mound, Anderson County, where he em- 
Iiarked in fanning and the stock business. On 
account of his wife's ill health he came to Doug- 
las County in 1869 and settled in Lecompton 
Township, two miles south of the village of Le- 
compton, where he planted and carried on a fruit 
farm, also engaged in raising sheep and cattle. 
Some ten years later he removed to Jefferson 
County and for four years was foreman of the 
Ivlliott farm of nine hundred and sixty acres, 
meantime clearing the farm of mortgage. From 
there he returned to Douglas County and bought 
his present farm in Lecomiiton Township. 

By his marriage Mr. Hill had seven children, 
namely: William, a prominent business man of 
Oklahoma City; Charles, who is with the Poehler 
Mercantile Company in Lawrence; George, a ris- 
ing young business man of Kelso, Wash.; Je.sse 
B., who is a partner of his brother in Kelso; 
Frederick, who is in the Klondike; Anna, wife of 
C. T. Spencer, a farmer of Douglas County; 
and Lulu, who married E. M. Duncan and re- 
sides upon a farm in this county. The wife and 
mother died in July, 1897. She was an earnest 
worker in the United Brethren Church and was 
highly esteemed by all who knew her. Mr. Hill 
has contributed to the support of the church and 
also to other worthy movements. He is a sup- 
porter of the Republican party and, had he so 
desired, might have been elected to any of the 
local offices, but he prefers to devote himself to 
his private interests. 



PJI-:rV rev. T. J. DOWNEY, pastor of the 
\ / Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church of 
V Leavenworth, has held his present pastorate 
since August, 1885, when he organized the parish 
and congregation and at first held services in the 
school building. In 1SS6 work was begun upon 
the church building, which was constructed of 
brick, with two floors and basement, the first 
floor being u.sed for the .school and the second for 
the church. The parsonage, a substantial build- 
ing, was erected in 1895. The membership of 
the church comprises about one hundred families. 



while the school has an attendance of one hun- 
dred and fourteen pupils, who, under the direc- 
tion of Sisters of Charity from the Cathedral, are 
instructed in the various branches up to and in- 
cluding the sixth grade. The church has the 
various societies to be found in all progressive 
congregations, and these have proved of great 
assistance to the pastor. 

Father Downej- was born in Paris, Ky., No- 
vember 17, 1 85 1, the third among eleven chil- 
dren, all but one of whom are living, eight of 
these being in Clinton County, Mo., while one is 
engaged in the lumber business in Kansas City, 
Kans. John Downey, father of the family, was a 
native of Ireland, a son of Michael Downey, a 
farmer. In 1848 he and four brothers, having 
lost everything in the famine of those years in 
their countrj', sought a new home in America. 
They landed in New Orleans and settled in Ken- 
tuck}', where they learned the stonemason's trade 
and worked together as contractors. In 1857 
John migrated to Plattsburg, Clinton County, 
Mo., where the others later joined him. Each 
.settled upon farm land and with the aid of oxen 
broke the prairie soil and improved the land. 
All but one are now dead. John, who was a 
county official and a man of influence in his lo- 
cality, was a stanch free-stale man and during 
the war was a non-commissioned officer in a Mis- 
souri Federal regiment of Home Guard. He 
died September 13, 1898, when .seventj'-three 
years of age. His wife, Johanna, was a daugh- 
ter of John McQuinn, a farmer in Ireland, and is 
now living on the old homestead in Clinton Coun- 
ty, Mo. 

In 1870 the subject of this sketch, having pre- 
viously gained a country-school education, en- 
tered the Seminary of Assumption in Topeka, 
Kans., where he was a student for two and one- 
half years, during which time he was also a 
teacher of mathematics in the same institution. 
Next he spent eighteen months as a student in 
•St. Benedict's College, AtchLson, and while there 
taught private classes. Afterward he spent five 
years in Salesianum Seminary in Milwaukee, 
Wis., where he took a complete course in philos- 
ophy and theology. During that time he as- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



253 



sisted in defrajing his expenses by teaching the 
classics. In the cathedral in Leavenworth, July 
5, 1879, he was ordained to the priesthood by 
Bishop L. M. Fink, O. S. B. He was appointed 
chaplain at St. Mary's Academy, where he re- 
mained for three months. Afterward he was made 
pastor of St. Ignatius' Church in Fort Leaven- 
worth, and at the same time had charge of a mis- 
.sion at Delaware for almost three and one half 
years; also attended the state penitentiary, the 
military prison and the county poor farm, where 
he gratuitously ministered to the spiritual needs of 
the inmates. The pressure of so much work, 
with its attending responsibilities, broke down 
his health, and he was obliged to seek a field 
where duties would be lighter. He was trans- 
ferred to Holy Cross Church in Pottawatomie 
Count}', where he remained for two years and 
three months, meantime regaining his health. 
From Holy Cross he returned to Leavenworth, 
where he has established and built up the Sacred 
Heart Church. He is also dean of Leavenworth 
and president of the diocesan .school board. He 
has done much toward maintaining the schools at 
a high standard and has been deeply interested in 
educational work, realizing the importance of a 
good education in preparing for the responsi- 
bilities of life. 

EHARLES PILLA. Among our German- 
American citizens who have been success- 
ful since settling in Kansas mention be- 
longs to Mr. Pilla, the well-known business man 
of Eudora. Mr. Pilla was born in Rhenish Ba- 
varia, Germany, February 19, 1830, and received 
a good education in the German language. At 
nineteen years of age he came to the United 
States, arriving in New York March 26, 1849. 
For fourteen years he remained in the vicinity of 
thatcitj', and during ten years of the time he was 
employed as clerk and bookkeeper for the pub- 
lishing house of E. Walker & Sons. In 1865 
he came to Kansas for the purpose of entering 
into partnership with his brother F. L-, who had 
started a small store in Eudora. The title of the 
firm became Pilla Brothers, which contiiuicd 
until his brother's death in 1871. 
8 



Being thus left sole proprietor of the store Mr. 
Pilla continued the business alone. In 1872 he 
enlarged the building and increased the quantity 
of stock carried. His store is now the largest of 
its kind in Eudora. In connection with the 
mercantile department, for some years he carried 
a stock of drugs, but this is now discontinued. 
Besides his mercantile interests he has engaged 
in farming in Douglas and Johnson Counties, 
where he owns large tracts of farm lands; and, 
while these places are operated by tenants, he 
nevertheless maintains an active supervision of 
the land and directs its management. 

Upon the organization of the State Bank of 
Eudora, in which he was interested, Mr. Pilla 
was elected its president in 1893 a position 
which he has filled with the greatest efficiency. 
As a member of the firm of Pilla & Statler he 
also carries on a brick manufacturing business. 
In 1894 he erected a beautiful residence on a hill 
overlooking the village and commanding a fine 
view. At the time of the erection of the sweet 
corn factory, in 1883, he was one of the principal 
contributors to the same and became a stock- 
holder in the company. He is a stockholder and 
director of the Eudora Creamery Company, and 
was a stockholder in the Leis chemical works, of 
Lawrence, Kans. When the Kimball plow fac- 
tory was started in Lawrence he assisted in the 
organization of the company controlling the 
plant, but the enterprise did not prove successful. 
All movements of a progressive character where 
the benefit accruing to the people is unquestion- 
able have received the impetus of his encour- 
agement and practical aid. 

Since attaining his majority Mr. Pilla has al- 
ways been a stanch Republican. As mayor of 
Eudora, and as a member of the city council, also 
as a school director, he has been able to greatly 
promote local projects, and has given an impetus 
to the welfare of his town and fellow- townsmen. 
In 1S71 he received appointment as postmaster, 
and continued to fill the office until 18S5. Prior 
to this, from 1S65 to 1S71, he served as assistant 
po.stmaster, having practically the entire charge 
of the office. Fraternally he is a member of 
Doric Lodge No. 83, A. F. & A. M; Lawrence 



254 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Commander}' No. 4, K. T. ; and Eudora Lodge 
No. 28, I. O. O. F. , in which he is past grand. 
In religion he worships with the German Evan- 
gelical Church. He was married September 10, 
1865, to Alice B. Smith, daughter of Paul and 
Catherine Smith. She was born on Staten Is- 
land and died in Eudora, January 15, 1899, 
leaving three daughters: Alvena E., wife of 
John E. Dolisi; Louisa P., wife of Spencer J. 
Lawson; and Molvie E. , who has had charge of 
the home since her mother's death. 



HON. HARVEY W. IDE. Since coming to 
Leavenworth in 1857 Judge Ide has occu- 
pied a position of prominence among the 
people of this city. Both at the bar and on the 
bench, he has proven himself to be a man of 
sound judgment, keen intuition, close discrimina- 
tion and clear reasoning faculties, which quali- 
ties, joined with determination of character, al- 
most invariably bring success. He is interested 
in all enterprises for the benefit of Leavenworth, 
with whose progress he has been identified from 
its early days, and to whose growth he has been 
a contributor. 

Judge Ide was born in Saratoga County, 
N.Y., April 19, 1833, a son of Rodman and Elvira 
(Herrick) Ide, also natives of Saratoga County. 
His paternal grandfather migrated from New 
England to that county and engaged in farming 
there for years, but finally removed to James- 
town, N. Y., and there died. The maternal 
grandfather, Thomas Herrick, served in the 
Revolutionary war, and afterward engaged in 
farming in New York. He lacked but little of 
having rounded out a full century when death 
removed him from the sphere of his activity. 

While engaged in farming in York state Rod- 
man Ide served as justice of the peace and town- 
ship trustee for some years. In 1847 he removed 
to Wi-sconsin and settled upon a raw tract of land 
near Janesville, Rock County, where he improved 
a farm. After settling there he held numerous 
minor offices. Fraternally he was a Mason and 
in religion a Methodist. At the time of his 
death, in 1872, he was sixty-eight years of age. 



His wife, who was born in 181 1, died inWiscon- 
sin in 1886. Of their eleven children all but one 
attained years of maturity and five are living. 
The brothers and sisters are named as follows; 
Sarah J., widow of Isaac Howe, of northern 
Wisconsin; Harvey W. ; Thomas H., v^'ho died 
in Janesville, Wis.; Polly, wife of G. W. Cox- 
head, living near Edgerton, Wis. ; Stephen C, 
who died near Janesville; Frances, who was a 
school teacher, but died in young womanhood; 
Plinj', a mechanic, of Janesville; Elvira, Mrs. 
Fessenden, who lives in Wisconsin; Lsaac, who 
graduated from Rush Medical College, and after- 
ward engaged in practice at Stevens Point, Wis., 
where he died in 1887; and Fremont, who resides 
in Edgerton, Wis. 

The subject of this sketch was educated prin 
cipally in New York, although after coming 
west he had the advantage of a cour.se of study 
in Milton Academy (now Milton College). 
When seventeen years of age he began to teach 
near Rockford, 111., and in that occupation he 
continued for some years, meantime giving his 
leisure hours to the studj' of law. He was ad- 
mitted to the bar at Janesville in 1856, when 
United States Senator J. R. Doolittle was judge. 
After practicing for one year in Wisconsin, the 
Kansas excitement began and many northern 
men removed to this state in order to cast their 
fortunes in with the free-state movement. April 
16, 1857, he arrived in the then frontier town of 
Leavenworth. Here he at once began the prac- 
tice of law, and from the start met with gratify- 
ing success in his profession. 

The first office held by Judge Ide in his new 
home was that of city attorney, to which he was 
elected in 1861 and which he filled for one term. 
In 1863 he was elected a member of the state 
legislature, and his service of one term in that 
body was characterized by fidelity to the inter- 
ests of his constituents and his party. \\'hen 
Leavenworth and Wyandotte Counties were the 
first judicial district he was elected district attor- 
ney and at the close of a term was re-elected, 
when the district was divided and an attorney 
elected for each county. While he was filling 
this position the present Justice Brewer was dis- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



255 



trict judge. When Judge Ide was elected dis- 
trict judge, in 1868, Justice Brewer was chosen 
prosecuting attornej'. In 1872 he was re-elected 
district judge, serving until January 1877. 

On his retirement from the bench, Judge Ide 
resumed the practice of law, to which he gave 
his attention exclusive!)' for some time, but of 
late years his business interests have to some 
extent encroached upon his professional work. 
During the Price raid he served as lieutenant in 
a company of militia. For two terms he was 
chosen to serve as a member of the school board, 
of which he was president continuously after his 
first year, but before the end of the .second term 
he moved from the ward and resigned the posi- 
tion. He is the owner of property in different 
parts of the state, has also engaged in the real- 
estate business in Leavenworth and erected a 
business house on Cherokee street, besides his 
residence on Seventh street. He is a member of 
the First Congregational Cliurch, in which he 
officiates as a trustee. Politically he is a Re- 
publican. 

In Waverly, Mo., Judge Ide married Miss 
Mary Johnson, who was born in Brunswick, Me., 
and was a school teacher prior to her marriage. 
She died in Leavenworth, leaving three chil- 
dren. Lizzie v., a graduate of Rockford (111.) 
Female Seminary, is the wife of L- A. Knox and 
resides in Leavenworth; Mary A., who is the 
wife of C. J. Schmelzer, is also a graduate of the 
seminary at Rockford, and now a resident of 
Kansas City, Mo.; and Harvey J. died in boj-- 
hood. Mrs. Mary Ide was a daughter of Ebe- 
nezer M. and Elizabeth Johnson, natives of Con- 
necticut, the latter a daughter of a physician 
who served in the war of 1S12. Mr. Johnson 
was a merchant in Brunswick, Me., and after 
retiring from business he removed to Ohio, set- 
tling near Springfield, where his last years were 
spent. His death occurred when he was visiting 
Judge Ide in 1862. In Leavenworth Judge Ide 
was united in marriage to Miss Ella Catlin, who 
was born in Connecticut and in 1863 came to 
Leavenworth with her father, Shelden G. Catlin, 
who was a wholesale jobber in shoes. She died 
in 1879, leaving a daughter, Ella C, who is now 



attending the School of Dramatic Art in New 
York Cit}'. The present wife of Judge Ide, 
whom he married in Chillicothe, Mo., in 1886, 
was Mrs. Lottie G. (Giltner) Phillips, who was 
born in Indiana and accompanied her parents to 
Chillicothe, where her father was a merchant and 
her first husband an attorney. 



EAPT. MILTON PETTIBONE, of Lawrence, 
was born near Pembroke, Genesee County, 
N. Y., January 15, 1822, a descendant 
of a prominent English family and a relative of 
Roswell Pettibone, for whom Roswell P. Flower 
was named. His father, John R. , and grand- 
father, Roger Pettibone, natives of Vermont, 
served respectively in the first and second wars 
with England, the father being a commissioned 
officer. By occupation he was a carpenter and 
builder and also a farmer. In 1829 he settled at 
Ypsilanti, Mich., where he engaged in contract- 
ing. In 1836 the Huron River was swollen by a 
spring fre.shet and was about one-half mile wide. 
One day, with three companions, he crossed in a 
boat to get some tools. When making the return 
trip he was drowned while endeavoring to save 
a woman's life. His wife, who bore the maiden 
name of Susanna Hovey, was born in Vermont 
and died in Michigan. They were the parents 
of twelve children, nine of whom grew to matur- 
ity, but Milton alone survives. He was reared 
in Michigan and, being fourteen years of age 
when his father died, from that time he assisted 
in caring for his mother until she died eight 
years later. He was employed at the cooper's 
trade until 1858, when he came west to assist in 
making a free state of Kansas. His brother 
John had come in 1S56, and at the same time he 
had determined to come as soon as arrangements 
could be made. Settling at Wellsville, Franklin 
County, he cleared and improved a farm of one 
hundred and sixt)' acres. 

At the opening of the Civil war our subject 
volunteered in Company D, Second Missouri 
State Militia, which was composed of seven com- 
panies from Kansas that went into Mis.souri to 
fight bushwhackers and guard Kansas from 



2S6 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



guerillas. While at Independence with only a 
few men he was attacked at night by a very 
large force, and was wounded, taken prisoner, 
but soon paroled and mustered out at Kansas 
City two weeks later, after a service of seven 
months. Next he was commissioned captain of 
Companj^ E, Tenth Kansas Militia, by Governor 
Carney, and at the time of the Price raid took 
part in the battle of Westport and aided in driv- 
ing the Confederates out of Kansas. 

After the war Captain Pettibone resumed 
farming. In 1873 he settled in Lawrence. For 
two years he owned a farm on Mud Creek, but 
traded it for city propertj-, and improved a place 
at No. 472 Lincoln street. His first vote was 
for Whig candidates. From the organization of 
the Republican party he was identified with it. 
He is a member of Washington Post No. 12, 
G. A. R. For many years he has been chairman of 
the board of trustees of the Pilgrim Congrega- 
tional Church. 

In Michigan, Captain Pettibone married Al- 
mira E. Putnam, who was born in New York 
and died in Michigan; both of her children are 
also deceased. The second marriage of the cap- 
tain took place in Washtenaw County, Mich., 
and united him with Mrs. Eleanor (Vought) 
Bacon, a native of New York, and the widow of 
Hiram A. Bacon, who was a farmer in Michi- 
gan. By her first marriage she had two sons. 
One died in childhood; the other, Philip G. V. 
Bacon, is engaged in the lumber business in 
Texas. Her marriage to Captain Pettibone re- 
sulted in the birth of three children, namely: 
Almira Eliza, who is married and lives in North 
Lawrence; Mrs. Nellie Wilkins, of Portland, 
Ore.; and Charles, in North Lawrence. Mrs. 
Pettibone is the only survivor of the twelve 
children of Philip G. and Leah (Manning) 
Vought, natives respectively of New York and 
New Jersey. Her grandfather, Capt. John 
Vought, a native of New Jersey, and an officer 
in the Revolutionary war, .settled in Schenec- 
tady, N. Y. Philip G. Vought settled in Wash- 
tenaw County, Mich., in 1834, and afterward 
carried on farming there. He married a daugh- 
ter of Samuel Manning, a farmer of New Jersej-. 



Enterprises pertaining to the welfare of Law- 
rence always receive the .sympathy and co-oper- 
ation of Captain Pettibone. For two terms he 
served as a police officer of the sixth ward, and 
for one term represented the sixth ward in the 
city council. During his residence in Franklin 
County he held the office of county commissioner 
for one term, also served on the school board 
during the entire period of his residence in that 
county and aided in building the first school 
there. For some time he held office as justice of 
the peace, resigning when he removed from the 
county. 

HON. JOSEPH J. COX came to Kansas in 
1869 with his parents and settled on a farm 
in the eastern part of Wakarusa Township, 
Douglas County. This property he operated for 
a time and also bought and cultivated a farm of 
one hundred and sixty acres near the homestead. 
For eight years he served as a member of the 
school board, of which he was president and 
treasurer. In the fall of 1884 he was the Repub- 
lican nominee as representative of the thirteenth 
district in the legislature and was elected bj- a 
fair majority. Two years later he was elected by 
twice as large a majority as he had received be- 
fore. In the session of 18S5 he served as a mem- 
ber of various committees. In the session of 
1887 he was chairman of the committee on state 
affairs and a member of three other committees. 
With his colleague he secured the passage of a 
bill appropriating nearly $400,000 for the Quan- 
trell sufferers. During the extra .session of 1886, 
at the time of the redistricting of the state, he 
served on the legislative apportionment com- 
mittee. He supported John J. Ingalls for the 
United States senate in 1885. After the session 
of 1887 he .settled in Lawrence. He was given 
the contract to build the north and south wings 
of the state capitol, at a cost of $500,000; also a 
second contract for the roofing of the capitol and 
the building of the dome, at a cost of over $250,- 
000. The completion of both contracts took his 
entire time from 1887 to 1S93, and he has since 
engaged in general contracting. He has had the 
contract for some of the business blocks in 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



257 



Topeka, the new Fort Bliss at El Paso, Tex., a 
detached ward in the Osavvatomie insane asylum, 
the Santa Fe hospital at Topeka, a large pump- 
ing station in Topeka, several bridges across the 
Kaw River, a number of buildings at the Haskell 
Institute, the Br3-ding & Lansing Railroad, 
some work at the University of Kansas, and 
numerous residences in Topeka and Lawrence. 
Without doubt he is one of the most successful 
contractors in the state. 

Mr. Cox was born in Seymour, Jackson 
County, Ind., October 9, 1853, a son of Richard 
A. and Margaret (Cosand) Cox. His father, 
who was born near Goldsboro, N. C, April 4, 
1820, was a son of Isaac, and grandson of Rich- 
ard Cox, whose ancestors, from England, were 
among the earliest .settlers of North Carolina. 
Richard Cox removed from that state to Illinois 
about 1824 and died there. At the time of his 
removal his son, Isaac, also came north, wishing 
to free himself from the influences of slavery. 
He settled in the midst of the woods in Indiana, 
where he cleared a farm. He was a leader in the 
Society of Friends. Politically he adhered to 
Whig principles until the organization of the 
Republican party, which he then joined. He 
died in 1862, at the age of about sixty-two years. 
He married Milicent Parker, who was born near 
Goldsboro, N. C, a daughter of Isaac Parker, 
who was of English descent ; he moved to Indiana 
prior to 1824 and afterward engaged in farming 
and also was a minister in the Friends' Society. 
He died when seventy-five j'ears of age. 

Richard A. Cox was the third among ten chil- 
dren. Of his brothers, Benjamin came to 
Kansas and was a prosperous farmer here, but, 
later removed to Tulare, Cal. He himself re- 
moved from Bartholomew Countj', Ind., to Jack- 
son County, the same state, and from there, in 
1869, .settled in Douglas County, Kans. , buying a 
farm of one hundred and seventy-six acres. In 
1890 he retired from business cares and has since 
made his home in Lawrence. He was among the 
first Quakers to settle in Douglas County and is 
identified with that society in Lawrence. In 
Washington County, Ind., he married a daughter 
of Benjamin Cosand, who was born, reared and 



married in North Carolina, and was a pioneer in 
Washington County, Ind., where he was a 
prominent worker in the Friends' Societj-. The 
Cosand family is of English descent. Mrs. Mar- 
garet Cox was born in Pasquotank County, 
N. C, and died in Douglas County, Kans., in 
1879, aged sixty-two. Of her five children three 
sons are living. Charles resides on a farm in 
Douglas Count}' and Albert L- lives in Lawrence. 
In Lawrence, November 25, 1872, Mr. Cox 
married Miss Belle T. Trueblood, who was born 
in Salem, Ind., a daughter of William N. and 
Isabelle (Albertson) Trueblood, natives of North 
Carolina. Her father, who was of English de- 
scent, was a farmer and extensive miller, and 
took a leading part in the work of the Society of 
Friends. His wife, who was also a member of 
an English Quaker family, was the daughter of a 
ph3'sician who moved from North Carolina to 
Indiana. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Cox 
is Flora Margaret, a graduate of the high school 
and a student in the University of Kansas. The 
family are identified with the Society of Friends. 
Fraternally Mr. Cox is connected with the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen, Acacia 
Lodge No. 9, A. F. & A. M.; Lawrence Chap- 
ter No. 4, R. A. M.; DeMolay Commandery No. 
4, K. T., and Abdallah Temple, N. M. S., 
at Leavenworth. 



pGJiLLIAM R. CARTER came to Kansas in 
\ A / March, 1870, and after a short time in 
Y V Topeka, in June of the same year settled 
in Lawrence. Here, for many years, he was 
foreman for O. P. Smith, a large contractor, who 
erected a number of buildings for the state, also 
built Washburn and Bethany colleges at Topeka. 
In 1883 he began contracting and building, 
which he has since followed, and, in addition, he 
has drawn plans and specifications for buildings. 
He had charge of the carpentering in the first 
buildings erected at Haskell Institute, built the 
Merchants' Bank, Chancellor vSnow's residence, 
depots for the Santa Fe road along the line in 
Kansas, the Hiawatha National Bank, Pliawatha 
Academy, the academy at Oswego, Kans., and 
numerous residences and business houses. 



258 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



The Carter family is one of the oldest in Sussex 
County, England, where successive generations 
have lived as far back as the record can be traced. 
Thomas Carter, who was a bricklayer and con- 
tractor, was the first of the name to settle in 
America. He crossed the ocean in 1850, and 
established his home on a farm in Grant County, 
Wis. His son, Richard, who was born in Eng- 
land, was a clerk at Brighton, Sussex County, 
for some years. He did not accompanj' his father 
to America, but remained at Brighton, and there 
he died at seventy-six years. He married Sarah 
Beeching, who was born at Cowfold, Sussex 
County, a daughter of William Beeching. She 
died in 1851, leaving two children, but the 
daughter, Elizabeth, died at the age of twelve 
years. The son, who is the subject of this 
sketch, was born in Brighton January 30, 1845. 
He was six years old when he lost his mother. 
His education was obtained in the Brighton 
schools and St. John's College at Hurstpier 
Point. Afterward he was apprenticed to an 
architect and builder, and served for four years, 
later following his trade in his native land for 
five years. 

In 1869 Mr. Carter came to America. For a 
year he worked at his trade in Lancaster, Grant 
County, Wis. From there he came to Kansas, 
and has since built up a large business in con- 
tracting. The accuracy of his work and his close 
attention to every detail has made him prominent 
as a contractor, and has won for him the confi- 
dence of the people. Politically a Democrat, his 
attention is given clo.sely to his business affairs, 
and he has therefore never identified himself with 
politics, nor has he sought office of any kind. He 
is a charter member of the Fraternal Aid Asso- 
ciation, and belongs to Lawrence Lodge No. 6, 
A. F. & A. M., and Lodge No. 4, I. O. O. F., 
in which he has been a trustee for many years. 
In his native land he became identified with the 
Church of England, and still adheres to that 
faith, being now identified with the Episcopal 
Church of Lawrence, and for years a member of 
its board of vestry. 

In Lancaster, Wis., occurred the marriage of 
Mr. Carter to Miss Alice E. Carter, who was 



born in England, and accompanied her parents 
to Wisconsin in girlhood. Of their union six 
children were born. The eldest, Richard W., 
graduated in civil engineering from the Uni- 
versity of Kansas in 1894, and is now engaged in 
his chosen profession at Trenton, N. J. The 
other children are Bessie, Edwin, Alfred, Anna 
and Frances. 



•gURDON GROVENOR, a resident of Law- 
_ rence since 1857, ^'nd, in point of years of 
^ business activity, the oldest lumber dealer 
in Kansas, traces his ancestry to the Grosvenor 
family, who crossed the channel with William 
the Conqueror and were given Cheshire County. 
The founder of the family in England was Gilbert 
Le Grosvenor, a Norman nobleman and a 
nephew of the noted Norman conqueror. The 
name means "the great hunter." After 1066 
the family w^as prominent in the wars of England 
and a number of the name joined the ranks of 
the Crusaders who marched to the Holy Land. 
From the same ancestor descended the Earl of 
Westminster. In 1685 John Grosvenor came 
from Cheshire County to America and settled in 
Roxbury, Mass., where he died in 1691. The 
familj' coat-of-arms may still be seen on the stone 
that marks his resting place. His son, Ebenezer, 
and grandson, Caleb, made their home at Pom- 
fret, Conn., in which town the great-grandson, 
Moses, was born and spent his entire life. Next 
in line of descent was Willard, who was born in 
Pomfret, became a farmer in Suffield, and later 
settled at West Springfield, Ma.ss. , where he 
died. Willard's son, Gurdon (our subject's 
father), was born in Suffield, where he followed 
farming and the transfer business. He died at 
forty-one years. His wife, Maria, a native of 
Suffield, was a daughter of Capt. Seth Phelps, 
who served in the Indian wars in Ohio .shortly 
after the Revolution and al.so, under General 
Scott, was a captain in the war of 1812. His en- 
tire life, with the exception of the period of his 
military service, was spent in Suffield, where he 
died. His father, Aaron, who was born in 
the same town, was a son of Timothy Phelps, a 
native of Northa'.npton, Mass., whose father. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD, 



259 



Nathaniel, born in Windsor, Conn., was a son of 
Nathaniel, Sr. , a native of England. The latter 
was a son of William Plielps, who was born in 
Tewksburj', England, in 1599, and in 1630 
brought his family to America, settling in Massa- 
chusetts, but soon moving to Windsor, Conn. 
His father, William, Sr. , lived and died in 
Tewksburj', and was a son of James Phelps, born 
in that place in 1520. Capt. Seth Phelps married 
Phoebe, daughter of Rev. John Hastings, and 
granddaughter of Rev. Joseph Hastings, who 
were among the pioneer Baptist clerg3-men in 
Suffield, Conn., and were very active in building 
up that denomination in their locality. Mrs. 
Maria Grovenor died in Connecticut at fifty years 
of age. She had one son by her marriage with 
Mr. Grovenor, Gurdon, who forms the subject 
of this article. Maria Grovenor afterward mar- 
ried Warren Lewis, by whom she had two 
children, John and Mary Lewis. Gurdon was born 
in Suffield, Conn., September 13, 1830, and was 
reared on a farm. After completing his education 
he taught school for five years. In October, 1857, 
he came to Lawrence, via the Missouri River to 
Wyandotte, and thence to Lawrence. Restarted 
a grocery, which he conducted until 1863. Mean- 
time, in 1859, he embarked in the lumber busi- 
ness, and after selling his grocery he gave his 
entire attention to his lumber trade, having a 
large yard on Massachusetts and Warren streets. 
During the Quandrell raid, in common with all 
the business men of the cit)-, he suffered heavy 
losses, his residence being burned to the ground, 
but, in some miraculous way, his store, which 
was set on fire, was saved from destruction. In 
1866 he located his yard at Massachusetts and 
Berkeley streets, where it has since remained. 
He assisted in organizing the Merchants' Na- 
tional Bank, in which he has since been a di- 
rector. In May, 1899, on account of the failing 
health of Mr. Grovenor and his son, he sold his 
entire lumber business to Funnell & Co. of 
Topeka. 

In Suffield, Conn., Mr. Grovenor married 
Ellen M. Crane, who was born in Washington, 
Mass., and died in Lawrence, Kans. They had 



three children, Charles P., John C. and Fanny 
M., onlj' one of whom is living, Charles P., who 
was interested in business with his father. The 
second marriage of Mr. Grovenor took place in 
Monson, Mass., and united him with Miss L. 
Maria Bliss, who was born in Wilbraham, Mass., 
and is a member of an old family of the state, 
For more than twenty-five years our subject has 
been a member of the Baptist Church, in which 
he has been deacon for many years, has served 
as chairman of the board of trustees, was a 
member of the building committee, and has also 
for years been a trustee of the Baptist state con- 
vention, of which he has twice been chosen 
president. For more than a quarter of a century 
he has been a trustee of Ottawa University, and 
has several times been president of the board, 
of which he was the oldest member until his res- 
ignation in June, 1899. 

The first presidential ballot cast by Mr. Grove- 
nor was in favor of Winfield Scott. Since the 
organization of the Republican party he has .sus- 
tained its principles by his vote. Several times 
he has been a member of the citj' council, once 
held office as county commissioner, and for three 
terms (1865, 1870 and 1871) was mayor of the 
city. He has been a member of the school 
board, and was interested in the erection of 
Central building, the first schoolhouse built in 
the city. 

0SGOOD A. COLMAN, who is engaged in 
agricultural pursuits in Douglas County, 
began farming in Kanwaka Township in 
187 1. Seven years later he purchased his pres- 
ent farm in the same township, where he has 
since engaged in general farming and stock-rais- 
ing. He is the owner of one hundred and eighty 
acres of land, all improved and under cultivation. 
Notwithstanding the limited advantages he had 
in his youth he has become one of the well-to-do 
farmers of his locality, and has proved himself a 
useful and honorable citizen. A Republican in 
politics, he has been a leader in local matters, 
but has never sought office for himself, several 
times refusing nominations offered him. How- 



26o 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



ever, he has consented to serve as school director, 
which office he has filled since 1889 in district 
No. 15. 

Onr subject's father, li. A. Colman, was born 
in Ashby, Mass., and in early manhood moved 
to Boston, where he learned and afterward fol- 
lowed the paper manufacturing business. He 
was successful and furnished employment to sev- 
eral men. In 1854 he sold out and moved to 
Douglas County, Kans., settling in Lawrence. 
On Christmas day of that year he took up a 
quarter-section of land, on which he made some 
improvements and remained for two years. In 
1856 he sold the place and opened in Lawrence a 
general store, which he carried on for one and 
one-half years. Upon selling the store, he pur- 
chased a farm in Kanwaka Township, and there 
remained until 1894, when he disposed of the 
property and went to California. There he died 
in 1S98, at eighty-four years of age. He was a 
man of intelligence and kept posted concerning 
public affairs. In politics he was stauchly Re- 
publican. For several years he served as justice 
of the peace, and several times was a delegate to 
county and state conventions. During the Civil 
war he served as lieutenant of the first colored 
regiment organized in Kansas, and was commonly 
known by the title of captain. His ancestors 
were early settlers of Massachusetts, and one of 
them was killed in the battle of Bunker Hill. By 
his marriage to Mary J. Wendell, a native of 
Marblehead, Mass., he had fouiteen children, 
but the only survivors are: C. T. ; Osgood A.; 
Mary, Mrs. J. R. Topping, of Kanwaka Town- 
ship; and William A., also of this township. Of 
those deceased, Charles Jackson Colman enlisted 
in Maj', i86i, as a private, and was advanced to 
a first lieutenancy in the fall of 1S62. He was 
killed at the battle of Poison Springs, April 14, 
1864, while commanding a company of the First 
Kansas colored troops. 

Born in Boston, Mass., in 1S50, our subject 
was four years of age when his parents came west 
to Kansas. He had only such advantages as the 
early schools of Douglas County afforded. For 
a time he clerked in a store owned by George 
Ford, in Lawrence, after which he turned his at- 



tention to his present occupation — agriculture. 
In 1875 he married Miss Flora R. Richardson, 
who was the first graduate of the University of 
Kansas, and who.se daughter is the first gradu- 
ate'schild who will have completed the university 
course. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Colman 
are: Alice, Nellie, Minnie, Fred, Clara, Asa and 
Ralph. 

GlLBF-RT GRIFFIN. In the spring of 1S78 
1 1 Mr. Griffin rented a farm of one hundred 
I I and sixty acres in Kudora Township, Doug- 
las County. Three years later he bought the 
property, to which he has since added by the 
purchase of an eighty-acre tract. Giving his at- 
tention closely to general farming and stock- 
raising, he has met with gratifying success, 
which is especially praiseworthj- when it is noted 
that, at the time of coming to his present place, 
he had nothing but one team and a few head of 
stock. He was the first charter member of the 
Farmers' Alliance, in the organization of which 
he took a very active part, and afterward he 
served as vice-president and then as president of 
the society for several years. For four terms he 
was treasurer of school district No. 44 and was 
the first to agitate the question of erecting a school 
building in the district. The People's parts- re- 
ceives his support and he always advocates its 
principles by his influence and his vote. 

In Niagara County, N. Y., Mr. Griffin was 
born January 31, 1844, ^ son of James and Jane 
(Brazee) Griffin, natives of the same localitj-. 
His paternal grandfather, William Griffin, carried 
on a cooper factory and an extensive milling busi- 
ness. James Griffin was a farmer during nmch 
of his life, but did not confine his energies to 
that occupation. He was also engaged in the 
grocery business iu Niagara County. He was 
active in the local ranks of the Democratic party. 
In 1867 he removed from his native place to Polo, 
Ogle County, 111., where he engaged in farming 
until his death, in 1873, at the age of sixty-seven 
years. His wife had died it New York ten years 
prior to his demise. They were the parents of 
eight children, five of whom are living, namely: 
Ann, wife of H. M. Carter; Eliza Jane, who 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



263 



married William Newell; Sarah, Mrs. William 
Lower}^; Carrie, wife of Saimiel Debolt; and Al- 
bert. 

Until twenty-one j-ears of age our subject re- 
mained with his father, meantime obtaining his 
education in common schools and in the academj- 
at Gasport, Niagara County. In 1865 he went 
to Michigan, where he followed photography for 
a year. In 1866 he .settled in Polo, 111., where 
the following four years were spent in farming. 
In 1870 he came, overland, to Kansas, and set- 
tled in Lawrence, where he engaged in teaming 
for four j'ears. In 1874 he rented a farm on 
Wakarusa Creek, and two years later purchased 
one hundred and twenty acres at Bellevue Corner, 
remaining there until he moved to his present 
property in the spring of 1878. 

November 24, 1869, Mr. Griffin married Jean- 
nette Lawson, of Polo, Ogle County, 111. She 
died in 18S6, leaving three children, namely: 
Mary, wife of S. F. McGleget; Charles and 
Eugene. The second marriage of Mr. Griffin 
united him with Miss Emma Lawson, a sister of 
his first wife, a lady of estimable character, who 
shares with him the regard of acquaintances. 



iA ATTHEW RYAN, JR. For years clo.sely 
Y associated with the business interests of 
(9 Leavenworth, Mr. Ryan is remembered as 
one of the most capable and successful business 
men this city has ever had. Although at the 
time of his death he was only in the prime of his 
mental and physical vigor, he had already gained 
a success not always enjoyed by men whose lives 
are prolonged to three score and ten years. In 
his character were combined qualities which 
almost invariably bring their possessor prosperi- 
ty — wise judgment, energ3% determination and 
keen foresight. These qualities, however, depict 
only one side of his nature. In disposition he was 
large-hearted and sympathetic, helpful to those 
less fortunate, and genial and companionable. 
His partner, George C. Richardson, described 
him as a very magnanimous man, and certainly 
this quality of magnanimitj- was one of his most 
striking characteristics. 



The history of the Ryan famil>' appears in the 
sketch of Matthew Rjan, Sr. , father of the sub- 
ject of this sketch. It was in 1857 that the fam- 
ily became established among the pioneers of 
Leavenworth, and from that day to this its mem- 
bers have been prominent in business and in pub- 
lic life. Matthew, Jr., was born in Cincinnati, 
Ohio, November 15, 1851. When he was a boy 
of fourteen he began to assist his father and soon 
was given full charge of the cattle business. In 
partnership with George C. Richardson he es- 
tablished the largest cold storage plant in Leaven- 
worth, this being located at No. 519 Cherokee 
street. He also became identified with other 
local industries. As a director in the First Na- 
tional Bank he was associated with one of the 
foremost financial institutions in the west. He 
was president of the Leavenworth Coal Company 
and the Ryan Brothers Cattle Company for years, 
and until his death. His time was so closely 
given to his varied business interests that he had 
no leisure, even had he the inclination, to engage 
in public affairs, and, aside from voting the Dem- 
ocratic ticket, he took no part in politics. 

In Leavenworth occurred the marriage of Mr. 
Ryan to Miss Dacotah Skinner, who was born in 
Prairie du Chien, Wis., a daughter of Archibald 
and Anna E. (Swinehart) Skinner, and a grand- 
daughter of Morris Skinner, a farmer of Penn- 
sylvania. Her father was born in western Penn- 
sylvania and became a pioneer of Prairie du 
Chien, and later of Kansas. In 1864 he settled 
in Lawrence, Kans., where he engaged in ihe 
hotel business and also had charge of his farm 
near the town. He died at the age of seventy- 
two. He was of remote Scotch descent, and 
traced his ancestry to Revolutionary soldiers. 
His widow is still living and makes her home 
with her daughter, Mrs. Ryan, besides whom 
she has two children, P. N., of Portland, Ore.; 
and Mrs. S. M. Kelsey, of Los Angeles, Cal. 
Mrs. Ryan was reared and educated in Lawrence 
and received her education in the university there 
and in St. Mary's Convent at Leavenworth. She 
is the mother of four children, namely: Grace, 
wife of Eugene Burr, of Leavenworth; Mary L-, 
who is attending a seminary in Chicago; Clarence 



264 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



R. and Anna Florence. Mrs. Ryan is actively 
identified with the Presbyterian Church. 

While in the midst of his business activities, 
when fortune had rewarded his efforts and domes- 
tic happiness and warm friendships blessed his 
life, Mr. Ryan was suddenly called from earth. 
When riding, November 29, 1897, his horse 
stumbled and threw him, injuring him in such a 
way as to cause death. This sudden catastrophe 
was mourned as a heavy loss to the citizenship 
and business circles of Leavenworth, and the 
sympathies of a host of warm personal friends 
were extended to the family, thus suddenly be- 
reaved of husband and father. 



(Tamils gray, clerk of the first judicial dis- 
I trict of Kansas, is one of the most popular 
Q) citizens of Leavenworth, and also one of its 
leading politicians. While he was born near 
Woodstock, Canada, his life has been almost 
wholly pa.ssed in Leavenworth County, where his 
parents settled in his very early childhood. His 
father and grandfather, both of whom were named 
Andrew Gray, were natives of Kilmarnock, a 
town twelve miles from Ayr, in Ayrshire, Scot- 
land, and both came to America, settling in Can- 
ada. The former, a farmer by occupation, was 
one of the pioneers of Kansas, and in 1858 settled 
in Kickapoo Township, Leavenworth County. 
After a time he removed to the James Stone 
farm, three miles south of Leavenworth. In 
1869 he purchased property on the Delaware res- 
ervation in Stranger Township, and here he has 
since made his home. He is now (1S99) sixty- 
seven years of age. He has always been a stanch 
patriot, devoted to the Union, and during the 
Civil v^-ar he joined the army that defended the 
state in the Price raid. By his marriage to Mar- 
garet Robertson, who was born in Scotland, he 
had seven children. Five are still living, viz. : 
Matthew G. , who lives in Stranger Township; 
William, who lives near Woodstock, Canada; 
James; Alexander, a stock-dealer and merchant 
at Ordway, Colo.; and Mrs. James P. Dillon, 
who occupies the old homestead in Stranger 
Township. 



James Gray was two years of age when his 
parents removed to Kansas, and he grew to man- 
hood in Leavenworth County, meantime atteiid- 
ind district schools in High Prairie and Stranger 
Townships, and, in 1879, graduating from Skill- 
man's Commercial College. During the time of 
the great Leadville boom he went to that citj-, 
and for two years engaged in pro.specting in Col- 
orado. After his marriage he went to Wichita, 
Kans., where he engaged in the grocery business, 
remaining for two years. His connection with 
politics dates from 1888. During that year he 
was appointed under-sheriff, a position that he 
filled for a period of four years. From S. F. 
Neeley he received an appointment as traveling 
deputy United States marshal, with headquarters 
in Leavenworth. During his term of service in 
this office he participated in .settling the Coxey 
strikes and the railroad strikes on the Santa Fe. 
While holding the position, in 1895, he was nom- 
inated for city clerk and was the only candidate 
on the Democratic ticket who was elected. He 
served for two years, and during his last year in 
office he was nominated for district clerk and was 
elected by a fair majoritj-. January 11, 1897, ^^^ 
took the oath of office as district clerk, and the 
following year was re-elected by a good majority, 
to serve until January, 1901. He is one of the 
leading Democrats of the county, and has wielded 
a large influence in the ranks of his party. March 
2, 1881, he married Miss Gretta Hazlewood, who 
was born in St. Clairsville, Ohio, and died in 
Leavenworth, November 5, 1897, leaving one 
son, Malcolm Melville. 



30SEPH B. CUNNINGHAM. A position 
among the leading farmers of Douglas Coun- 
ty is held by the subject of this sketch, who 
for years has owned and occupied a valuable 
farm in Lecompton Township. While he has 
engaged in general farming he has devoted his 
attention principally to the stock business, his 
specialt}' being the breeding of thoroughbred 
swine, and through his judicious management of 
affairs he has become comfortabl}' well off. A 
man of vigorous constitution, he is fitted bv 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



265 



nature, as well as by inclination, for the arduous 
duties of farm life. In the educational, religious 
and business affairs of his township he has been 
active, and, being a man of sterling integrit}-, 
has won the confidence of his associates. 

Born in Tuscarawas Count}-, Ohio, October iS, 
1839, Mr. Cunningham early began to make his 
way in the world. In 1856 he settled in Johnson 
County, Iowa, where he married and engaged in 
farming. After eight years in that state he came 
to Kansas, spending a short time in Lawrence, 
and thence removing to Lecompton Township. 
For years he has been deeply interested in Lane 
University, and at this writing he is chairman of 
its executive board, in which position he is 
largely responsible for its management. His 
name appears prominently on the honorary mem- 
bership roll of Zetgathean Literarj- Society, the 
continued prosperity of which is due in no small 
measure to his encouragement. When its days 
were less sunny than now, he opened his purse 
to tide it over difficulties. The society library is 
largely made up of books presented by him, and 
it was principally through his efforts that its 
spacious hall was finished and furnished. Each 
of his four sons was for years influential in its 
councils. 

Of the children of Mr. Cunningham, F. M. is 
deceased. The others are as follows: Lester B., a 
farmer in Wabaunsee and Pratt Counties; H. L. , 
who is engaged in the grocery business at 
Ottawa; F. B., a farmer in Douglas County; 
MaryE., wife of William Zellers, 'a farmer of 
Wabaunsee County; and Katie V., who is at 
home. 



HON. JOHN McKEE is one of the oldest 
settlers of Leavenworth, having come here 
in the spring of 1855. He was born in St. 
Louis, Mo., Angust 31, 1827. His father, Stew- 
art McKee, came from Belfast, Ireland, to 
America when about twenty-two years of age, 
landing in New York and going from there to 
New Jersey, but worked his way west until he 
reached St. Louis, where he followed the mill- 
wright's trade. In 1834 he removed to Grant 
County, Wis., and built a mill there. Politic- 



ally he was a Democrat. By his marriage to 
Miss Fine, of St. Louis, he had seven sons, of 
whom two are now living, John and Henry E. 
The boys were reared on the farm and worked in 
the mill and lead mines in the vicinity. They 
were educated at St. Louis Universitj'. 

In 1852 the subject of this sketch returned to 
St. Louis, and in the spring of 1855 came to 
Leavenworth, and with his brother Henry en- 
gaged in surveying and civil engineering. In the 
fall of 1857 ^''s was appointed city treasurer of 
Leavenworth, and the next year was elected 
to the position, .serving for two terms. In the 
fall of i860 he was chosen citj' marshal, filling 
the office for a year, after which he was deputy 
county treasurer for two years. In 1863 he was 
elected sheriff, which office he filled for four years, 
from January, 1864, to January, 1868. In the 
fall of the latter year he was elected state senator, 
and during his term introduced the present reg- 
istration law for cities of the first class, which 
became a law at that session of the legislature, 
and which, with slight modifications, remains in 
force at this time. He is a Republican, with 
which political party he has been identified since 
the commencement of its existence, having pre- 
viously been an active free-state man when that 
was the vital issue in Kansas and the countrj'. 

In 1868 Mr. McKee was appointed receiver for 
Carney & Stevens, and conducted their business 
until it was closed out. For three years he was 
city treasurer under Mayor Fortesque, after 
which he was postmaster under President Ar- 
thur, serving from April, 1883, until the election 
of President Cleveland, and for six months after 
his inauguration. Later he was interested in the 
ramufacturing business in Leavenworth until he 
retired in 1892. In 1858 he built the residence 
at No. 517 Chestnut street, where he has since 
made his home, and he also erected in 1868 a 
business house on Delaware street that at the 
time of its erection was one of the finest in the 
town. Fraternally he is a member of Leaven- 
worth Lodge No. 2, A. F. & A. M.; Leaven- 
worth Chapter No. 2, R. A. M.; Leavenworth 
Commandery No. i, K. T. ; and Abdallah Tem- 
ple, N. M. S. October 7, 1S58, he married Jo- 



266 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



sephine E. S. Lewis, of Potosi, Wis. Thej- had 
ten children, three of whom died in infancy. 
The others are: Stewart (a practicing physician 
in Leavenworth), Sj-rena (who served as deputy 
city treasurer for about ten years continuously 
under Mayors Hacker, Dodsworth, Hook and Ed- 
mond), Josephine Eugenia, Madge, Rose T., John 
and Lydia. 

(p\ UGUSTUS H. GRIESA, proprietor of the 
Lj Kansas home nursery, in Wakarusa Town- 
/ I ship, Douglas County, was born in Biele- 
feld, German^', in January, 1845, ^ son of Charles 
and Henrietta (Schall) Griesa. His father, who 
was a cabinet-maker, brought the family to 
America in 1853 and settled in Lima, N. Y., 
thence removed to Naples, and later to Cohoc- 
ton, where he remained until his death. Of his 
eleven children one died in Germany- and one 
when crossing the ocean. Seven are now living, 
three being in western New York and four in 
Kansas. The education of our subject was be- 
gun in Germany and completed in New York. 
For a time he taught German in a select school 
in Naples. He remained with his parents until 
twenty-one years of age. From 1857 to 1867 he 
worked in a nursery in Naples, from which place 
he came to Kan.sas, being the first of the family 
to seek a home in this state. He brought with 
him some nursery stock, which he planted in 
Kanwaka Township, four miles west of his pres- 
ent homestead. He bought forty acres of slightly 
improved land, with a small log cabin. Later 
one of his brothers joined him and remained in 
partnership with him for ten years. 

In 1880 Mr. Griesa purchased property at the 
northwestern limits of Lawrence, to which he 
moved his nursery and on which he has since 
resided. The land had been used previously for 
raising corn and wheat. Since his partnership 
with his brother was di.ssolved, in 1879, he has 
been alone. In 1880 he commenced to erect the 
nursery buildings now on the place. His nur- 
sery covers over one hundred acres of his own 
land, besides what he leases. Of late years he 
has made a specialty of experimenting in new 
fruits. He has originated the Kansas, Lawrence 



and Cardinal raspberries, the Mele strawberry, 
Catalpa umbrella tree, and the Superb apricot. 
In the growth of the latter he has been remark- 
ably successful. Many horticulturists have de- 
clared it to be the choicest fruit they ever tasted, 
and the Massachusetts Horticultural Society ten- 
dered him a first-class certificate on it. All of 
the brands are recognized by his competitors gen- 
erally as being of the highest order. The Kansas 
raspberry is recognized from New Mexico to 
Minnesota and from Oregon to Maine as the 
hardiest variety of that fruit grown. The Cardi- 
nal, which is not so well known, is even hardier 
than the Kansas, and, having passed through the 
extremely hard winter of 1898-99 without the 
least injury, may be said to be able to stand the 
coldest weather. He cultivates only the best 
varieties of peaches and apples, discarding all that 
are not up to the high standard he has established. 
While this plan has entailed heavy expense, yet 
he adheres to the plan of maintaining, notwith- 
standing expense, a high standard of fruit. He 
grows all kinds of trees and shrubbery adapted 
to this climate. One of the finest of his trees is 
the umbrella catalpa, which he originated, and 
shipments of which are made to distant states. 
His sales are mostly in wholesale lots, through 
agencies, selections being made from the cata- 
logues which he issues annually. 

In 18S0 Mr. Griesa built a substantial farm 
house. In 1892 he remodeled and enlarged the 
residence, making of it a comfortable home. He 
also has three tenant houses, occupied by his 
men. He furnishes steady employment to five 
men, besides which he hires from thirty to forty 
men by the sea.son. To aid in the work he has 
six horses of his own, and in the spring hires a 
number of others. In addition to his chosen oc- 
cupation he is a taxidermist of no mean skill, 
and his collection of mounted birds is worthy of 
study by all interested in ornithology. Among 
other rare specimens he has one eagle measuring 
seven and one-half feet from tip to tip of wings. 

Mr. Griesa was formerly a Republican, but is 
now a Prohibitionist. He attended the national 
Prohibition convention at Pittsburgh, where Mr. 
Levering was nominated for president, but as the 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



267 



platform adopted by that convention did not en- 
tirely represent his views, he gave his support to 
George Bently, whose platform stood for woman 
suffrage as well as the remonetization of silver. 
He assisted in the organization of the Congrega- 
tional Church of his township, in which he was 
for years Sunday-school superintendent, and is 
still a leading worker. In July, 1869, he married 
Amelia, daughter of Lewis Beebee, of Lima, 
N. Y., who was identified with the establishment 
of the Lima Seminary as one of its founders. In 
that institution the members of his family were 
educated. 

At the silver wedding anniversary of Mr. and 
Mrs. Griesa the following poem was read by 
Rev. A. M. Richardson: 

Once on a time, when skies were bright, 
And Cnpid's wings were plumed for flight, 
A youth and maiden, blithe and fair. 
Became a happy, wedded pair. 

They made their home on Kansas soil 
Resolved to test the fruits of toil. 
An humble home— no outward sign 
Proclaimed the wealth within enshrined. 

With patient hearts and willing hands. 
They labored long on house and lands. 
The heavens smiled, the earth, caressed, 
Gave forth the treasures she possessed. 

Rare fruits and flowers and golden grain 
Bedecked the hills, adorned the plain, 
The social board with plenty spread, 
Gave ample proof of daily bread. 

But, strange to tell, there came a day 
Its inmates longed to hie away 
To broader fields, and settle down 
Anear to market and the town. 

Hither they came — before our eyes. 
Behold this stately mansion rise! 
Its pleasant rooms, in bright array. 
The mistress' taste and skill displaj-. 

While trees and shrubs and fruitful fields, 
Show what the master's labor yields. 
.\ bonnie home! whose peace and love 
Give foretaste of the Home above! 

How swift the years have flown away, 
That bring this silver wedding day! 
We give you joy — that all these years — 
'Mid sun and storm, 'mid smiles and tears — 



The chain of love has stronger grown 
Binding each heart fast to its own. 
No changes can your souls divide! 
You still are bridegroom and his bride! 

The echoes of 3'our marriage bells, 

In richer, sweeter music swells. 

Than when in youth's fair bridal morn, 

They chimed the vows that made you one! 

The silver threads that crown your brows, 
Like silken ties, hold fast those vows, 
More sacred still, as life moves on. 
Until the heavenly home is won. 

We wish you joy! dear, precious friends! 
What e'er the lot our Father sends. 
May coming years bring peace and rest. 
And all that makes life rich and blest. 

While gifts of boundless love and grace 
Find in your hearts a larger place. 
May this, your silver wedding's date 
Its golden glory celebrate. 

Lawrence, July 20, 1804. 



~DWARD E. MURPHY, member of the 
^ board of directors of the Modern Woodmen 
_ of America for Kansas, was appointed to 
this position in July, 1899, and in addition has 
also officiated as assistant head counsel of the 
order, and from July, 1895, to July, 1899, served 
as state deput}'. Under his supervision the work 
was greatly promoted and its success enhanced. 
He has traveled over the entire district, deliver- 
ing addresses, organizing camps and forwarding 
the work of the fraternity. When he became 
state deputy in 1895 the order had eleven thou- 
sand members in Kansas; now there are more 
than forty-three thousand, which remarkable 
growth is largely due to his wise management. 
He was a charter member of Leavenworth Camp 
No. 367, in which he has held the various offi- 
ces, and at the head of which he stood for eight 
years. His home is at No. 411 Chestnut street, 
Leavenworth. 

The grandfather of Mr. Murphy was Arthur 
Murphy, a native of County Kerry, Ireland, who 
brought his family to America and settled in Mas- 
sachusetts, where he died. He had two sons in 
the Civil war. One, Thomas, was on board the 



26S 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



"Monitor" (luring its celebrated battle with the 
"Merrimac;" the other served in the army. The 
father of our subject, Hon. John C. Murphy, 
was born in County Kerry, Ireland, and learned 
the trade of plasterer and bricklayer in Worcester, 
Mass., where he carried on a large business. In 
iSsShecame to Leavenworth and began con- 
tracting and building. For many years he was 
foreman for the government at Forts Sill and 
Lyon, and in the state penitentiary at Leaven- 
worth. In 1881 he went to Denver, Colo., later 
engaged in cattle-raising in New Mexico and 
Arizona. During the Cleveland administration 
he was postmaster at Duncan, Ariz In 1897 he 
returned to Leavenworth, where he died in Au- 
gust, 1898, at theage of sixty-six years. Forone 
term he was a member of the Kansas state legis- 
lature, and was the author of the mechanics' lien 
law. During the war he was a commissary ser- 
geant in the militia. His wife, Margaret (born 
in Connecticut, and died in Leavenworth in 
1S79), was a daughter of Edward Costello, a na- 
tive of Ireland, who settled in Connecticut and 
later was employed as a corder in Fox's woolen 
mills at Worcester, Mass. He died at seventy- 
two years, while visiting in Leavenworth. 

The family of Hon. John C. • and Margaret 
Murphy consisted of the following-named chil- 
dren: Edward E.; Winnifred, who died in Leav- 
enworth; Fannie, of this city; Henry, who was 
connected with the Missouri, Kansas & Texas 
Railroad at Sedalia, Mo., and died therein 1890, 
when twenty-.six years of age; Maggie, Mrs. R. 
Springer, of Leavenworth; Mrs. Mollie Williams, 
of this city; Hampton, who died in infancy; and 
John C, who issecondlieutenant of Company C, 
Twentieth Kansas \'olunteers, now in .service at 
Manila, Philippine Islands. The eldest of the 
family, our. subject, was born in Worcester, Mass., 
May 14, 1853. In 1859 he was brought to 
Leavenworth, the family traveling from St. Louis 
on the Steamer "Sky Lark." When he was 
fourteen his father removed to a farm six miles 
south of Leavenworth, in Delaware Township, and 
there he remained until twenty-one years of age. 
After returning to Leavenworth in 1874, he was 
employed by different business houses, also was 



for nine months on a government survey in the 
Indian Territory. He was one of the earliest let- 
ter carriers in Leavenworth, there being but five 
carriers in the town at the time he became con- 
nected with the postoffice. After holding the po- 
sition for seven years he resigned and accepted a 
situation as city circulator of the Leavenworth 
Slaiidard. In 1883 and 1884 he was weigh clerk 
at the penitentiary coal shaft, under Governor 
Glick. In 1884 he obtained a contract for an 
output of coal and traveled through Kansas, sell- 
ing to local dealers. In 1887 he became a deputy 
under John J. Roche in the office of register of 
deeds, after which he was deputy to Sheriff 
Churchill, later turning his attention to the insur- 
ance business. In 1893 he was appointed deputy 
revenue collector of the first division under R. B. 
Morris, and served for almost four years, resign- 
ing to accept the position of state deputy of the 
Modern Woodmen of America. 

In Leavenworth Mr. Murphy married Agnes, 
daughter of Col. Thomas Moonlight. She is a 
graduate of the Leavenworth high school and an 
intelligent and refined woman, with artistic abil- 
ity. She has filled the office of secretary of the 
Art League and of the Orphan Asylum, and is a 
director in the Leavenworth Hospital Associa- 
tion. The four children of Mr. and Mrs. Mur- 
phy are: Thomas Moonlight, Edward Emmett, 
Jr., Margaret and Bryan. 

Mr. Murphy is past master workman of the An- 
cient Order of United Workmen and has six times 
been elected to the supreme lodge of the order. 
He is grand vice-chancellor of the Knights of Py- 
thias of Kansas, past grand of Lodge No. 27, 
I. O. O. F. , past chief of the Degree of Honor, 
member of the Royal Neighbors, Leavenworth 
Lodge No. 2, A. F. & A. M., Knights and Ladies 
of Securit}', Fraternal Aid Association, Select 
Knights, Code of Honor, Royal Fraternity and 
United Commercial Travelers. With his wife 
he holds membership in the Episcopal Church, of 
which he is a vestryman. He is one of the local 
leaders of the Democracy, and has been a mem- 
I)er of the state central committee, the executive 
committee of the state central committee, the 
county central committee (of which he has been 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



269 



chairman) and the citj- central committee (of 
which he is now chairman). He has also served 
as chairman of the congressional committee of his 
partj'. Though active in politics, he has never 
sought office for himself. He is an energetic, 
enterprising man, and the success which he has 
gained in life is due entirely to his own unaided 
efforts. 



HENRY WILLIAM WUL FEKUHLER. 
From the time that he came to Leavenworth 
(April, 1858), Mr. Wulfekuhler has been 
identified with the business interests of the city 
and has assisted in developing its commercial re- 
sources. Quietly but energetically he has pur- 
sued his chosen business calling, and by judg- 
ment and energy he has acquired a competence. 
He has made many friends during the more than 
forty years of his residence in Leavenworth, and 
has gained the confidence of his business asso- 
ciates through the reliability of his transactions. 
With his brother, Frederick William, he is pro- 
prietor of the wholesale grocery house of Rohlf- 
ing & Co., which is one of the oldest and largest 
concerns of its kind in Leavenworth. 

The house in which Mr. Wulfekuhler was 
born, August 9, 1834, stood in Osnabriick, prov- 
ince of Hanover, Germany, and was built genera- 
tions ago by one of his ancestors; it is still stand- 
ing, and is the property of one of the family. 
His father and grandfather, both of whom bore 
the name of Christopher, occupied the old home- 
stead, and were well known in their part of the 
province. Chri.stopher Wulfekuhler, Jr., mar- 
ried Charlotta Wissman, a native of Versmold, 
Prussia, and a daughter of William Wissman. 
They were the parents of three sons and three 
daughters, of whom the two surviving sons are 
Henry William and Frederick William, and the 
two surviving daughters still reside in Germanj'. 

In 1854, when nineteen years of age, our sub- 
ject came to America on the sailing vessel "Her- 
man," which crossed from Bremen to New Or- 
leans in forty-two days. He was the first of the 
family to settle in the United States. He trav- 
eled up the Mississippi to St. Louis, where he 
clerked until 1858. On coming to Leavenworth 



he started in business on Cherokee street with 
Mr. Rohlfing as Rohlfing & Wulfekuhler. In 
i860 he bought out Mr. Rohlfing, who went to 
Denver, Colo., and opened a wholesale and retail 
grocery, but died in that city in September of the 
same year. The business at Leavenworth has 
since been owned and conducted by our subject 
and his brother, and they also freighted with mule 
and ox-trains across the plains until the comple- 
tion of the Union Pacific Railroad. The grocery 
business is a large one, and the trade extends 
throughout Kansas and Missouri, the stock of 
goods occupying three large buildings. 

In addition to his interest in the grocery, Mr. 
Wulfekuhler owns stock in the Globe Canning 
Company, and is interested in the Leavenworth 
National Bank, the Manufacturers National Bank 
and the Union Savings Bank, and he also owns 
numerous farms in this state. During the Civil 
war he was a member of the home militia. At 
the close of the war he returned to his old home 
in Germany and spent two years there. While 
abroad he also visited the exposition at Paris. 
He adheres to the Lutheran faith, which was the 
religious belief of his ancestors. In politics he is 
a Republican. The residence which he owns at 
No. 722 Oak street was built by himself in 1868. 
He was married in Leavenworth to Miss Louisa 
Rohlfing, a native of Prussia. The children born 
of their union are named as follows: Otto and 
Albert, who assist their father in business; Eu- 
gene, who was connected with the Manufactur- 
ers' National Bank of Leavenworth, and died in 
this city in 1897, at twenty-seven years of age; 
and Louis H., a graduate of the University of 
Kansas and the Columbian Law School in Wash- 
ington, D. C. , and now a member of a prominent 
law firm of Leavenworth. 



0ANIEL R. ANTHONY, JR., postmaster of 
Leavenworth, was born in this citj' August 
22,1870, and is a son of Col. D. R. Anthony, 
Sr. After having acquired the rudiments of his 
education in local public schools, he entered 
Michigan Military Acadeni)- at Orchard Lake, 
Mich., from which he graduated on the comple- 



270 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



tion of the regular course. In 1 891 he graduated 
from the State Univer.sit)- of Michigan. T'pon 
his return home he became connected with the 
Leavenworth Times, and has since held the posi- 
tion of business manager. 

Reared in the faitli of the Republican party, 
Mr. Anthony has always adhered to its princi- 
ples and has taken an active part in its affairs. 
As a delegate to county and state conventions 
he has rendered good service, and he is now 
state committeeman for his district. In recogni- 
tion of his .service for his party, as well as his 
ability to fill a responsible position with honor 
and efficiency. President McKinley appointed 
him po.stmaster of Leavenw-orth July 8, 1898, 
and this office he has since held, filling it to the 
satisfaction of the people of the city. His double 
duties as postmaster and as business manager of 
the paper make his life a very busy and active 
one, and leave him little leisure for outside mat- 
ters. However, he is always foremost in enter- 
prises for the benefit of the city and the promotion 
of the welfare of the people. 

In June, 1897, Mr. Anthony married Bessie, 
daughter of Paul E. Havens, of Leavenworth. 
They have one daughter, Eleanor. 



IILLIAM SMALL. The prominent posi- 
tion held by Mr. Small in the business 
circles of Leavenworth and of Kansas 
has come to him as the result of his excellent 
judgment and great energy. During the long 
period of his connection with the business inter- 
ests of Leavenworth he has built up a mer- 
cantile establishment that is one of the most 
complete in the entire state; and, at the same 
time, he has gained an enviable reputation 
for accuracy of business methods and sagacity of 
judgment. The firm of William Small & Co. 
occupies a four-story building, 48x125, at Nos. 
413-415 Delaware street, where a large trade in 
dr)' goods has been successfully conducted. 

In addition to his identification with the dry- 
goods business, Mr. Small was one of the 
organizers, and is now president of, the Leaven- 
worth & Mexico Agricultural Company, which 



owns eleven hundred acres in the Isthmus of Te- 
hauntepec. The company has improved, from 
the forest primeval, a coffee plantation on which 
is raised coffee, besides other tropical productions. 
The superintendent of the plantation is a practical 
man, and his successful management of the place 
has greatly increased its value. The headquar- 
ters of the company are in Leavenworth. 

Mr. Small was born and reared in Hamilton, 
Ontario. His parents, William and Mary J. 
(Harkness) Small, were natives respectively of 
Dundee, Scotland, and County Tyrone, Ireland, 
but spent their lives principally in Canada, where 
he was employed as a bookkeeper in Hamilton. 
They had only two children, and the younger of 
these, James, died ih St. Paul, Minn., .so that 
William is now the sole survivor of the family. 
When he was thirteen he became an apprentice 
to the drj'-goods trade, at which he served for 
three years. In 1866 he removed from Hamil- 
ton to St. Louis, Mo., where he was employed 
as a wholesale and retail dry-goods clerk, being 
for some time with what is now the William 
Barr Dry-Goods Company. 

Coming to Leavenworth in 1871, Mr. Small 
filled a position as clerk in the dry-goods store of 
Leibenstein Company and after the failure of that 
firm he was with H. Saunders, later Weaver & 
Saunders. About 1880 he became a partner in 
the firm of Weaver & Small. Three years later 
the firm was changed to Small, Ram.say & Vories, 
and afterward to Small & Vories, finally Mr. 
Small became the sole proprietor. He conducted 
the business alone for two years. In August, 
1893, the admission of others to the business 
caused the name to be changed to William 
Small & Co. 

While in Canada Mr. Small married Miss 
Zephy Steele, who was born in Edinburgh, Scot- 
land. Fraternally he is a member of the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Eellows; Modern Wood- 
men of America; Knightsof Pythias, in which he 
is past chancellor; and Knights of Honor, in 
which he was formerly dictator. In matters po- 
litical he has been allied with the Republican 
party. He is a member of the First Presby- 
terian Church of Leavenworth. In conclusion it 




u/<Cd^, y^^'^C^a-^'f-^^-^ 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



273 



may be said of him that he is a man whose 
success has been gained by perseverance, deter- 
mination and tireless energy. In youth he was 
taught habits of self-reliance, which afterward 
proved invaluable to him. By his apprenticeship 
to the dry-goods business he was grounded in 
the fundamental principles of the business. He 
is known for sound and careful judgment as a 
business man and for a progressive spirit as a 
citizen. 



EOL. HORACE L. MOORE. The Moore 
famih^ was founded in America by Andrew 
Moore, who came from England and settled 
in Poquonock, Conn., being married there Feb- 
ruary 15, 1671, to Sarah, daughter of Samuel 
Phelps, and granddaughter of William Phelps, 
the first representative of the Phelps family in 
America. He continued to reside in Connecticut 
and died at Windsor November 29, 17 19. In 
his family the eighth child was Benjamin, who 
was born in Windsor, Decembers, 1693, and died 
at Poquonock, February 23, 1732. His marriage 
united him with Emma, daughter of Nathaniel 
Phelps, whose father, George Phelps, came to 
this country in an early day. 

Next in line of descent was lyieut. Joseph 
Moore, who was born in Simsbury, Conn., July 
21, 1720, and during the Revolutionary war 
served as lieutenant in Captain Buttolph's Eight- 
eenth Connecticut Troops. During the battle of 
lyong Island he was taken prisoner and confined 
in the prison ship "Jersey," in New York Har- 
bor, where he died November 3, 1776. He had 
married Mary, daughter of Thomas and Miriam 
(Buell) Stevens, and. granddaughter of Peter 
Buell, whose father, William Buell, came to 
America at an early date. Gen. Don Carlos 
Buell, of Civil war fame, belonged to the same 
family. 

Samuel, son of Lieutenant Moore, was born in 
Simsbury, Conn., May 24, 1764, and died in 
Portage County, Ohio, November 3, 1816, he 
having been a farmer in Ohio from 1806 until his 
death. He married Eunice, daughter of Capt. 
Isaac and Susanna (Root) Gillett. The captain 
was born March 5, 1744, and served in the Revo- 

9 



lutionary army as a captain. He was a son of 
Deacon Isaac, son of Isaac, son of Nathan, whose 
father, Nathan Gillett, Sr. , settled in Dorchester, 
Mass., in 1630 and afterward served in the 
Pequod war. 

Samuel, son of Samuel Moore, Sr. , was born 
in Granby, Conn., and served in the war of 1812, 
he being then eighteen years of age. In 1806 he 
had accompanied his parents to Portage County, 
Ohio. He was the third among his parents' 
children. His brother, Mark, was one of the 
first to enlist in the war of 1812, and was sent to 
Detroit, where he was taken prisoner. Later he 
was exchanged and returned home, but died one 
moiith later as a result of exposure. Samuel 
Moore, Jr., improved a farm of two hundred and 
twenty-five acres on the western reserve, and 
there resided until his death, meantime frequent- 
ly serving as an official. 

On Christmas day of 1817 Samuel Moore, Jr., 
married Elizabeth Keyes, who was born in Mid- 
dlesex, N. Y., a daughter of Amaziah and Nancy 
(Crafts) Keyes. Her father was born in Ply- 
mouth, Mass., August 13, 1771, and married a 
daughter of Maj. Edward Crafts, who was born 
in Boston October 12, 1746, and served through- 
out the Revolutionary war as a major. In 1763 
he enlisted as a private in Paddock's artillery 
company of Boston. His brother, Thomas, was 
first a lieutenant and afterward colonel of a regi- 
ment of which Paul Revere was lieutenant-col- 
onel. Just before the Revolution Edward Crafts 
entered the continental service, enlisting at Wor- 
cester April 19, 1775, as a private. He took part 
in the battle of Bunker Hill, after which he was 
made captain in Colonel Gridley's regiment, and 
at the close of the war was breveted major. 
From Worcester he removed to Murrayfield (now 
Chester), Hampden County, Mass., where he be- 
came a large farmer. In 1792 he settled in Mid- 
dlesex, Ontario County, N. Y. During the jour- 
ney his daughter, Hannah, fourteen years of age, 
was captured by Indians. As soon as she was 
missed, her brother, Edward, twenty-three years 
of age, started in pursuit and after following the 
Indians for more than a week succeeded in rescu- 
ing her. Major Crafts died in New York April 



274 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



II, 1806. His wife died in Auburn, Ohio, De- 
cember 17, 1832. She bore the maiden name of 
Eliot Winship, and was a daughter of John 
and Bethia Winship, and a granddaughter of 
Edward and Rebecca (Barshaw) Winship. She 
was named for the "apostle" Eliot, the missionarj- 
among the Indians. 

Amaziah Keyes was a son of Abijali Keyes, 
who was born September 17, 1746, a sou of 
Oliver and Rebecca (Patterson) Keyes, and a 
grandson of Thomas and Elizabeth (Howe) 
Keyes. Thomas Keyes was a son of Elias and 
Sarah (Blauford) Keyes, and a grandson of 
Robert Keyes, who with his wife, Sarah, resided 
at Watertown, Mass., in 1633. 

The family of which the subject of this sketch 
is a member consisted of nine sons and one daugh- 
ter. Of these, Mark M., M. D., who was the 
oldest of the family, is living in Wesley ville, Pa.; 
Homer H., D. D., who was chaplain of the 
Third Kansas Infantry during the Civil war, now 
resides at Chautauqua, N. Y., and is a noted 
Methodist divine. Amaziah, M. D., deceased, 
was captain of Company D, Second Kan.sas 
Cavalry; Samuel died in Mantua, Ohio; Halsej- 
G. died in Mantua when twenty-two years of 
age; Elizabeth is the wife of George H. Fair- 
banks, a minister of the Congregational Church 
in Cleveland; Francis died in Kansas; Mortimer 
G., M. D., deceased, was a physician in Cleve- 
land, Ohio; Walter Watson reside^ on the old 
homestead. Horace Ladd Moore, who was next 
to the youngest of the ten children, was born in 
Mantua, Portage County, Ohio, February 25, 
1837. He was educated in Hiram College when 
James A. Garfield was a teacher there and was 
ever afterward a firm friend and admirer of that 
great statesman. When eighteen years of age he 
began to teach school. 

In June, 1858, Mr. Moore came to Kansas, 
and after a short time in Atchison County came 
to I<awrence, where he studied law in the office 
of Christian & Lane, the latter one of the most 
prominent men of Kansas. He would have been 
admitted to the bar in June, 1861, but on the 
14th of May prior to this he enlisted as a private 
in Company D, Second Kansas Infantry, and was 



mustered in at Kansas City for three months. 
He joined General Lyon at Springfield, Mo., and 
took part in the battles of Forsythe, Wilson's 
Creek and Shelbiua. He was mustered out at 
Leavenworth as corporal, October 31, 1861. The 
following day he re- enlisted and assisted in rais- 
ing Compauy D, Second Kansas Cavalry, of 
which he was commissioned second lieutenant 
December 11, 1861. He was promoted to be 
first lieutenant May i, 1862, and was commis- 
sioned lieutenant-colonel of the Fourth Arkansas 
Cavalry by Secretary of War Stanton, in Feb- 
ruary, 1864. He was mustered out June 30, 
1865, at Little Rock, Ark. While a member of 
the Second Kansas he took part in the battles of 
Cane Hill, Prairie Grove, Van Buren, Reed's 
Hill, Fort Smith and Devil's Backbone. 

In 1867 a battalion of four companies of the 
Eighteenth Kansas Cavalry organized for service 
on the plains against the Indians, and he was 
commissioned major. The campaign lasted about 
four months and included one battle on Prairie 
Dog Creek with the Cheyennes in northwestern 
Kansas. In the fall of 1868 a regiment known 
as the Nineteenth Cavalry, consisting of twelve 
companies, was organized by order of the secretary 
of war. Gov. S. J. Crawford resigned his office 
to take command of the regiment and Mr. Moore 
was mustered in as lieutenant-colonel. Upon the 
resignation of Governor Crawford in Januarj', 
1869, our subject was made colonel of the regi- 
ment and commanded the last Indian campaign 
for Kansas. A winter campaign was conducted 
and the plains Indians forced back to their reser- 
vations. 

After the war Colonel Moore engaged in the 
mercantile business, having charge of a grocery 
in Lawrence until 1876, when he embarked in a 
similar business at Trinidad, Colo. As a mem- 
ber of the firm of Moore, Bennett & Co., he was 
connected with stores in Las Vegas, Otero, 
Trinidad, Albuquerque and San Marcial, mak- 
ing his home part of the time in Las Vegas and 
for a time in Albuquerque. In 1882 he sold out 
and returned to Lawrence. For two years he 
served as couutj- treasurer. In 1892 he was 
Funston's opponent for congress, being the candi- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



275 



date of the Democratic and People's parties. The 
election was in doubt, and was contested by- 
Colonel Moore. After a long contest he was 
seated, in August, 1894, and served in the Fifty- 
third Congress, after which he was not a candi- 
date for re-election. Since then he has been re- 
tired from business, though still superintending 
his various interests. Politically he was a Re- 
publican until the candidacy of Horace Greeley, 
after which he allied himself with the Democrats; 
but at the time of Garfield's candidacy he sup- 
ported him for personal reasons. He is a Knight 
Templar Mason, is a member of Washington 
Post, G. A. R., the Sons of the Revolution and 
contributes to the Congregational Church, of 
which his family are members. 

At Mantua, Ohio, September 16, 1864, Colonel 
Moore married Esther Amelia, daughter of Capt. 
Samuel and Jane (Deming) Harmon. Her fa- 
ther, who was born in Suffield, Conn., in 1808, 
was a son of Alexander, and grandson of Deacon 
Samuel Harmon, whose father, Samuel, was an 
early settler of Connecticut. Colonel and Mrs. 
Moore had four children, two of whom are living. 
Samuel A., who was educated in the University 
of Kansas, is engaged in the shoe business in 
Atchison. Frank H., a graduate of the Uni- 
versity of Kansas and Columbia College, D. C, 
is a practicing attorney of Kansas City. During 
the summer of 1899 Colonel and Mrs. Moore 
made a tour of Europe. 



(JOSEPH M. RAYMOND, a prosperous farmer 
I of Douglas County, is engaged in cultivat- 
(2/ iug three hundred acres in Kanwaka Town- 
ship and is known as one of the enterprising 
farmers of this region. In former years he made 
a specialty of the fruit business, but now gives his 
attention largely to general farming. One of 
the most noticeable improvements of his farm is 
the substantial barn, which is the work of his 
own hands. In 1896 he cut timber in the woods 
and with the help of a hired man erected a frame 
barn, with a stone basement, which, when com- 
pleted, made one of the best buildings of the kind 
iu the township. 



In Reed Township, Seneca County, Ohio, Oc- 
tober 6, 1837, our subject was born, a son of 
William and Alatha (Murray) Raymond, natives 
respectively of Steuben County, N. Y. , and Fair- 
field County, Ohio. His father, who was a son of 
George, and a grandson of Daniel (son of Daniel, 
Sr.,) had very few educational opportunities, 
and never attended school but nineteen days in 
his life. He was seventeen years of age when 
the family settled in Ohio, they being the third 
family to settle in Reed Township, where they 
improved land from the dense forest. He was 
there at the time the Chippewa and Delaware 
Indians started west. From his youth he was 
an active worker in the Methodist Church. In 
politics he was first a Whig, later a Republican. 
He had three brothers (triplets), Abraham, Isaac 
and Jacob, who became large, robust men, Abra- 
ham being, in manhood, six feet tall; Isaac, five 
feet eleven and three-fourths inches; and Jacob, 
five feet eleven and one-half inches. 

By the marriage of William Raymond to Miss 
Murray, which was solemnized near TifSn, Seneca 
County, seven children were born, namely: 
Henrietta, who died at two years; George, of 
Gibsonburg, Ohio; Joseph M.; James, a farmer 
living on the old home.stead; Susannah, who died 
at eighteen years; William Jepperson, a traveling 
salesman with headquarters in Topeka; and Han- 
nah A., wife of Frederick Pfeiffer, of Paulding 
County, Ohio. 

The schools in our subject's boyhood days were 
not graded as now, and the instruction was mea- 
gre and crude, but he obtained sufiicient educa- 
tion to enable him to successfully teach several 
terms of boarding school, "boarding round" as 
was the custom then. August 13, 1862, he en- 
listed in the Union army, becoming a member of 
Company I, One Hundred and First Ohio Infan- 
try, which took part in -the battles of Perry ville, 
Ky., October 8, 1862; Liberty Gap, Tenn.; 
Chickaraauga (where he was taken prisoner, but 
soon paroled) ; and all the engagements of the 
Atlanta campaign from June 10, when he rejoined 
his regiment, to its close, including Jonesboro 
and Eovejoy. From the loth of June to the 27th 
there was not a moment, night or day, when the 



276 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



whistle of bullets through the air could not be 
heard. On the 27th, in a charge, the Union 
forces lost two thousand men in one hour. Al- 
though he was in the thickest of the fight he did 
not receive a scratch. At the conclusion of the 
Atlanta campaign, General Sherman arranged 
his army for the march to the sea, sending a 
detachment (including the One Hundred and 
First Ohio Infantry) to join General Thomas at 
Nashville. This small force successfully with- 
stood Hood's whole arm}' at Franklin, Tenn. 
(where Crockett was killed November 30, 1864), 
taking many pri.soners, killing and wounding 
thirteen of the rebel generals and safely joining 
General Thomas at Nashville the next day. 
Mr. Raymond was introduced to President Hayes 
as a soldier of the Cumberland army, and he asked 
him at once if he was in the battle of Franklin. 
He answered that he was, and President Hayes 
promptly said, "I consider that the hardest-fought 
battle of the war. ' ' December 1 5 General Thomas 
demoralized Hood's army. Mr. Raymond was 
honorably discharged at Cleveland, Ohio, June 
13, 1865. Returning home he carried on the farm 
for two years. 

In 1854 Knott Crockett came to Kansas, and, 
by pre-emption and purcha.se, secured two hun- 
dred and forty acres in Douglas Countj-. At the 
opening of the Civil war he determined to offer 
his services to his country. He returned to his 
father's home in Ohio and enlisted with Mr. Ray- 
mond in the same company. During the war he 
was killed. Having been a great friend of Mr. 
Raymond, the latter came to Kansas and took up 
the work where his comrade had left off. He 
broke ground, planted crops, erected buildings 
and planted the seeds from which sprang all the 
trees now on the place. In 1874 he was eaten 
out by the grasshoppers and returned to Ohio, 
where he remained for six years. In 188 1 he 
came back to Kansas, but soon went to Missouri 
and started a lumber }-ard at Bolivar, where he 
remained for five years. On again coming to 
Kansas he completed the improvements on his 
place. 

Ardently supporting the Republican party, Mr. 
Raymond has been a delegate to its conventions 



and has served as township clerk and in other 
positions. As chairman of the building commit- 
tee he was one of the prime movers in securing 
the erection of the Congregational Church in his 
vicinitj-. He has been chairman of the board of 
trustees and is now officiating as deacon. At 
different times he has been Sunday-school super- 
intendent. Prior to coming to Kansas he was a 
member of the Methodist Church, but since then 
has been an active Congregationalist. At one 
time he was master of the Grange in his town- 
ship. In Masonry he has attained the rank of 
Knight Templar. He was instrumental in the 
organization of the Good Templars and is a mem- 
ber of the Royal Arcanum. 

The marriage of Mr. Raymond, in Seneca 
County, Ohio, solemnized at the homestead of 
his grandfather, April 7, 1868, united him with 
Miss Hila K. Bennett, daughter of Abraham 
Bennett, a native of Steuben Count}-, N. Y. 
They are the parents of two sons now living, 
and lost two children in infancy. William Mur- 
ray, who took the complete course in the Uni- 
versity of Kansas, is now in charge of the adver- 
tising department of theSedalia Democrat. Fred- 
erick Newton, who is also a graduate of the state 
university, is city passenger agent in New York 
for the Chicago & Alton Railroad. 



EAPT. ROBERT CARPENTER. Of the 
many thousands who responded to the call 
for men to defend the Union none has a 
record more honorable than that of Captain Car- 
penter. In the warfare against the guerillas on 
the frontier he accomplished some brave and dar- 
ing feats. When men were called upon for some 
achievement more than ordinarily hazardous he 
was always the first to respond and was always 
to be found, in the front, leading his men on to 
gallant victory. As a cavalry officer he was un- 
surpassed, often defeating from five to ten times his 
own number, and apparently with little loss to 
his command. Though taken ill during the latter 
part of the Price raid he recovered sufiiciently to 
continue on the frontier until the close of the 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



277 



A resident and businessman of lyawrence, Cap- 
tain Carpenter was born in Portage, Wyoming 
County, N. Y., October 20, 1828, a son of Nicho- 
las C. and Miranda (Boggs) Carpenter. His 
grandfather, Zachariah Carpenter, was born of 
English parentage and served as an officer under 
Washington in the Revolution. He was a black- 
smith and died in Orange County, N. Y. In 
that count}', near Goshen, occurred the birth of 
Nicholas C. Carpenter, who became a pioneer of 
the Genesee Valley, but was twice driven from 
there b}' the Indians. When his son, Robert, 
was three years of age he settled in Farmersville. 
His last years were spent in Lawrence and he 
died in his son's home at eighty years of age. 
His wife, who was a member of the family to 
which belonged Governor Boggs, of Missouri, 
was born in New York, daughter of Robert 
Boggs, a farmer of Cattaraugus County. Of her 
three children (all sons), our subject was the 
only one that lived to maturity. He attended 
the public .schools in Cattaraugus County and 
Sandusky Seminary. From sixteen to twenty- 
four years of age he taught school. In October, 
1855, he settled in Sparta, Monroe County, Wis., 
where he engaged in lumbering. He also built 
and operated a tannery in that town, and carried 
on a real-estate business. 

In October, 1861, our subject was commis- 
sioned first lieutentant of Company A, Third 
Wisconsin Infantry, which company he assisted 
in raising, but refused to accept the captaincy. 
He was assigned first to the department of Mis- 
souri, then to that of Kansas, and served as 
provost- marshal at Troy, Doniphan County, 
Kans. , until August 15, 1862, after which he was 
ordered to Leavenworth and the field. His first 
battle was at Plattsburg, but he had previously 
participated in man}' skirmishes. He joined the 
army in the field just after the battle of Newtouia, 
in October, 1862, was at Cane Hill, November 
28, Prairie Grove, December 7, 1862, and March 
3, 1863, was commissioned captain, after which 
he served as such, although most of the time he 
had seven companies under him. During the 
Price campaign, in October and November, 1864, 
he had some exhausting marches and his health 



was seriously impaired by hardships and exposure. 
Soon after he was placed in command of the post 
at Fort Scott. In addition to the impairment 
of his general health, his e}'es were .so seriouslj^ 
affected that, while commanding at Fort Scott, 
he had to be led to and from the post. While 
there he found things in an unfortunate con- 
dition, but as soon as his eyes grew better, with 
the aid of his company he caused a revolution in 
matters and brought about peace and order. 
Absolutely without fear he was always at the 
front in every desperate undertaking; he was the 
leader of his men and inspired them with much of 
his own enthusiasm and courage. For weeks he 
went without rest and sleep, and in 1865 he ap- 
plied for a discharge. Without any order but his 
own request. Governor Solomon mustered him 
out, but the department would not let him go, 
General Dodge stating, in a personal interview, 
that he could not spare him, and promising his 
work would be limited to a general superintend- 
ence. He was stationed at Marysville, Marshall 
County, and had charge of the escorting of trains 
across the plains, between the Missouri River 
and Denver. March 9, 1865, he was commis- 
sioned captain of Company L, Third Wisconsin 
Cavalry, by Governor Lewis. However, his 
health continued to grow worse, and his second 
resignation, August 11, 1865, was accepted by 
General Sherman. His colonel spoke of him in 
the highest terms, saying that he was the peer of 
any soldier for courage, fidelity and skill. 

After leaving the army Captain Carpenter 
.spent months in the hospital at St. Louis and 
for two years he was unable to do work of any 
kind. He had come for the first time to Law- 
rence in August, 1865, and as soon as he was able 
to engage in work once more he returned to this 
city. He followed various lines of business, in- 
cluding that of dealer in hides and leather, from 
which he drifted into the manufacture of harness. 
From 1870 he was in partnership with Adam 
Brueggen until the latter's death in 1877, after 
which he was in partnership with F. Gnef kow 
until February, 1887. Since then he has con- 
tinued the manufacture of harness, the sale of 
saddlery, hides and furs, his location being on 



278 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Massachusetts street. From 1882 to 1898 he was 
treasurer of the Kansas Fruit Vinegar Company, 
which had a large business here. In religion he 
is a Presbyterian. 

In Missouri Captain Carpenter married Miss 
Mary E. Dodge, who was born in Papinsville, 
that state. She was an eye witness of the first 
fight with the guerillas and some of the bullets 
struck the house where she lived. Her father, 
Jonathan, who was from Vermont, went to the 
gold fields of California and died there. Her 
mother was a daughter of Rev. Dr. Austin, a 
Presbyterian minister and a relative of Dr. Storrs, 
of New York. The family was among the first 
to establish the mission at Papinsville, settling 
among the Osage Indians there. Her mother 
died in 1896. Her uncle. Dr. Leonard Dodge, 
makes his home in Papinsville and is the most 
influential citizen of the town. Captain and Mrs. 
Carpenter have two sons, namely: James R. and 
Walter Storrs, both graduates of the Lawrence 
high school. The older son is with his father in 
business, and the younger is traveling salesman 
for the American Tobacco Company. 



HON. P. P. ELDER, vice-president of the 
Ottawa Publishing Company and a pioneer 
of 1857 in Franklin County, was born in 
Somerset County, Me., September 30, 1823, a 
son of Isaac and Mary (Quint) Elder. The El- 
der family is of Scotch- Irish lineage. In an early 
day some of that name crossed the ocean from 
the north of Ireland. From 1717 they were 
identified with the history of Cumberland County, 
Me. There the paternal grandfather was boni 
and reared, and from there he accompanied a 
company of soldiers to engage in the service of 
his country during the Revolutionary war. As a 
private in General Stark's army he endured all 
the hardships and perils incident to that memora- 
ble struggle. In the battle of Bennington he was 
wounded in one eye, but with that exception es- 
caped unharmed. 

Born and reared in Cumberland County, Isaac 
Elder removed from there to Somerset County 
and cleared a farm in the midst of the woods. In 



addition to agricultural pursuits he engaged in 
the lumber business for many years. He con- 
tinued to make his home in Maine until his death, 
which occurred in 184S, at seventy years of age. 
His wife, who also spent her entire life in Maine, 
was the daughter of a Revolutionary hero, who 
took part in the battle of Bennington and other 
engagements. In a familj' of eight children, all 
of whom reached mature years, the subject of 
this article is the only one now living. One of 
his brothers, Alva, who was a soldier in a Maine 
regiment during the Civil war, came to Kansas in 
1868 and died in Franklin County in July, 1898. 

The first thirty years in the life of Mr. Elder 
were passed in Maine. His education was ob- 
tained in Farmington Academy and Maine Wes- 
leyan University at Reedfield. From sixteen un- 
til twenty-four j-ears of age he taught school, af- 
ter which he bought a farm near his old home 
place and engaged in agricultural pursuits. While 
he had never traveled to anj- extent, his mind 
had broadened by reading, and he kept posted 
concerning the issues before the people. Not 
everyone who had traveled the length and breadth 
of our country was as familiar with its problems 
as he, although he had never been out of New 
England. He was always opposed to the institu- 
tion of slaverj', which he regarded as a menace to 
the prosperity of a nation. In 1844, upon attain- 
ing his majority, he began to identify himself with 
public affairs, and cast one of the sixteen votes 
for Abolition principles in the old town. From 
that time onward he was pledged to the abolition 
of slavery and gave his support to men of similar 
belief. When the question arose as to whether 
Kansas should be a free or slave state he decided 
to come west and cast in his fortunes with the 
free-state people. Coming to Franklin County 
in 1857, he took up a claim and at the same time 
became a member of the state militia. Eighteen 
months later he brought his family to the west. 
The family settled on the farm near Ohio City, 
which he had entered for $1.25 an acre. 

Shortly after Abraham Lincoln became presi- 
dent he appointed Mr. Elder agent to the Osage 
and Seneca Indians at Fort Scott, a position that 
he filled for four years. Meantime he recruited a 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



279 



regiment of Osage Indians and kept that tribe 
and other Indian nations on the side of the Union, 
his work in that line being invaluable. He re- 
signed as agent April 30, 1865. On his return to 
Franklin Countj' he settled in Ottawa, which 
had recentlj' been organized and in which he 
built the first substantial house in 1865-66, haul- 
ing the material for the residence from Kansas 
Citjf and Lawrence. In 1866 he established the 
banking firm of P. P. Elder & Co. , which con- 
tinued in business for five years. In the fall of 
1871 he organized the First National Bank of Ot- 
tawa, of which he was president for two years, 
and then sold his interest. Since then he has de- 
voted himself largely to the cattle business. For 
more than thirty years he handled and fed more 
cattle than anyone in the count}', and at one time 
he owned twelve hundred acres of land, the most 
of which was in one body. 

Mr. Elder has been closely identified with terri- 
torial and state politics. In 1859 he was elected 
clerk ofthe territorial house. The following year 
he was elected to the territorial council, which 
met at Lecompton and adjourned to Lawrence, 
where the session was held. The second session 
opened at Lecompton January i, 1861, and ad- 
journed to Lawrence as usual. Under the Wyan- 
dotte constitution Mr. Elder was elected to the 
state senate and served in the first session that 
met at Topeka, under the proclamation of Gov- 
ernor Robinson, in March, 1861. In 1868 he 
was chosen to fill a vacancy in the state senate. 
In 1875, 1876 and 1877 he served as a member of 
the house, in which he was chairman of the com- 
mittee on ways and means, and was elected 
speaker in January, 1878. In 1870 he held the 
chairmanship of the Republican state central 
committee. In the fall of the same year he was 
elected lieutenant-governor of Kansas and served 
as president of the senate for two years. While 
he was serving as a member of the house of 
representatives in 1883 the first railroad bill be- 
came a law, and he was a member ofthe last con- 
ference committee. In 1891 he was elected to 
the "alliance" house of representatives, and was 
unanimously chosen to act as speaker. 

While identified closely with the history of the 



state, Governor Elder (for by this title he is best 
known) has never neglected or been indifferent to 
the welfare of Ottawa, his home city. From the 
time of its start to the present he has been one of 
its most progressive citizens. Its progress has 
been ever near to his heart. Measures for the 
advancement ofthe city or the prosperity of the 
people have alwaj^s been given his aid and sj'm- 
pathy. As mayor of the city he labored to pro- 
mote its prosperity and enlarge its business 
interests. Largely to his efforts was due the 
building of the first railroad to Ottawa. He 
organized a company, of which he was president, 
and which built a railroad (now a part of the 
Santa Fe system) from Ottawa to Olathe, thus 
making a short cut to Kansas City. Through 
his negotiations the machine shops were located 
in Ottawa. He is interested in the gas company 
here and in other enterprises calculated to pro- 
mote the prosperity of the place. In 1896 he 
founded the Ottawa Times, of which he was editor 
and proprietor, but after two years, by consolida- 
tion, the i?f/'?^^//Vw«- Z'/wrj' was established. This 
paper is owned by the Ottawa Publishing Com- 
pany, of which he is vice-president. It is one 
ofthe leading daily papers of the state, and much 
of its popularity is due to his concise, keen and 
pointed editorials, which frequently appear in its 
columns. 

During his residence in Maine, in 1845, Gov- 
ernor Elder married Catharine, daughter of 
Daniel Felker, a farmer of that state. They are 
the parents of two children: Aldama P., who is 
engaged in business in Ottawa; and Lena E., 
wife of E. E. Fuller, also of this citj\ 



GILBERT A. ALLEN, M. D., D. D. S., of 
T\ Ottawa, was born in Jerseyville, Jersey 
/l County, 111., a son of A. A. and Elizabeth 
(Close) Allen, natives respectively of New Jer- 
sey and Jersey County, 111. His paternal grand- 
father, who was a member of an old family of New 
Jersey, became a pioneer of Michigan, settling in 
Oakland, where he followed the trade of tanner 
and currier until his death. The maternal grand- 
father, George Close, owned boats that plied the 



28o 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



waters of the Mississippi and engaged in the 
steamboat business until his death, which oc- 
curred in Illinois. 

The father of our subject was a physician 
whose skill and knowledge brought him a large 
practice. He practiced in Janesville, Wis., and 
Jersey ville. 111., and from the latter place, in 
April, 1859, brought his family to Kansas, .set- 
tling on a claim in Allen County near what is 
now the village of Kincaid. There, in addition to 
farming, he practiced his profession. During the 
Civil war he offered his services to the Union army , 
but at the earnest request of his neighbors, who 
felt the county could ill afford to lose his services 
as a physician, he gave up his plan of entering the 
army. In religion he was a Baptist and fraternal- 
ly was connected with the Masons. He continued 
to reside near Kincaid until his death, which oc- 
curred in 1893, at sixty-four years of age. His 
widow is still living on the homestead. Of their 
four children two are living. Our subject, who 
was the eldest of the four, was born July 31, 1852, 
and was less than seven years of age when the 
family moved to Kansas. Hence his life has been 
identified almost wholly with this state. He at- 
tended the academy at Geneva, Kans., after 
which he taught one term of school. For his 
life calling he first selected dentistry, which he 
studied in Leavenworth under Dr. J. K. Merrick. 
In 1879 he opened an ofSce in Osborne, of which 
place he was the first regular practicing dentist. 
After two years he removed to Linn County, and 
was one of the first to put up a business block in 
Blue Mound, where he erected a large double 
store, with the intention of using a part of the 
building as a drug store. 

In the mean time Dr. Allen had become inter- 
ested in the stud)' of medicine, which he carried 
on in the Kansas City Homeopathic Medical Col- 
lege, taking two full courses of lectures. He then 
engaged in the practice of medicine at Lincoln 
Center, Lincoln County, where he remained for 
three years. In 1889 he came to Ottawa and has 
since given his attention principally to the medical 
profession, although to some extent he practices 
dentistry. Politically he is a Democrat, but has 
never been active in party aflfairs. He was mar- 



ried in Allen County to Miss Hattie C. Martin, 
who was born in Ogle County, 111., a daughter of 
Freeman Martin, a wealthy farmer now residing 
in Allen County, Kans. They are the parents 
of three daughters, Elizabeth Mathilda, Lillian 
Frances and Bessie Lou, all of whom possess 
musical ability and are being given excellent ad- 
vantages in that art. 



r" RANK P. FITZ WILLIAM, a practicing at- 
r^ torney of Leavenworth, has spent his life in 
I this city, where he was born June 7, 1873. 
He was reared here and his education was ob- 
tained in the public schools. After graduating 
from the high school in 1891 he began the study 
of law in the office of Mr. Wheat, where he con- 
tinued until he was admitted to the bar in June, 
1894. From his father, the late ex-Senator 
FitzWilliam, he inherited powers of mind that 
enable him to master the most intricate problems 
connected with the law. He is well posted in 
everything that pertains to the profession. His 
studies did not cease with his admission to the 
bar; he has been a constant student, ever eager 
to broaden his knowledge of law in its many 
branches. 

Upon the Democratic ticket, in April, 1896, 
Mr. FitzWilliam was elected justice of the peace, 
and ser\'ed for two j-ears in that capacity, after 
which he was not a candidate for re-election, but 
resumed the practice of law. In the fall of 1898 
he was nominated for representative of the 
seventh district in the legislature on the straight 
Democratic ticket. Notwithstanding the fact 
that the district is largely Republican, he re- 
ceived such stanch support that he tied his op- 
ponent, F. B. Dawes. However, the vote of the 
few soldiers in Cuba enabled Mr. Dawes to se- 
cure the seat. In a subsequent contest at the 
same election for prosecuting attorney it was 
shown that eighty votes had not been counted, 
which mistake would have elected Mr. FitzWil- 
liam by over twenty-five votes. The record 
made by Mr. FitzWilliam was the best ever made 
in this district by a Democrat. He has served as 
a member of the city and countj' committees of 




BENJAMIN B. MOORE. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



2S3 



his party and in other ways has promoted Demo- 
cratic principles. In religion he is a member of 
the First Presbyterian Church. 



gENJAMIN B. MOORE, deceased, was a 
pioneer of 1854 in Leavenworth County, 
and long held a position among the most 
honored and influential business men of Alex- 
andria Township. His early years were spent 
in Fauquier County, Va., where he was l^orn 
August 2, 1820, and where for a time he was 
employed as an overseer, but, foreseeing the 
development of the great western plains, he early 
came to Kansas. The first employment he se- 
cured was with Mr. Russell in freighting across 
the plains, and he was given charge of the out- 
fitting and starting of trains running to Salt Lake 
City. Later he came to Alexandria Township 
and superintended Mr. Russell's large sawmill 
on the Big Stranger, where he often had as many 
as one hundred men under him. An excellent 
judge of timber, he could estimate very closely 
the quantity in any tree, and was equally expert 
in judging as to quality. He took up one hun- 
dred and sixty acres of the finest bottom laud 
here, and then began the improvement of the 
property. In this work he was aided by the 
sympathy and appreciation of Mr. Russell, who 
assisted him both materially and by advice. He 
continued in the employ of Russell, Majors, 
Waddell & Co. , until their partnership was dis- 
solved in the spring of 186 1, after which he gave 
all of his time to the cultivation of his land and 
to the buying and selling of farm property. From 
the beginning of his agricultural ventures he 
invested in stock. Aided by his industrious and 
energetic wife he prospered as a farmer, and 
while he was managing his landed investments 
his wife took care of the chickens and the cows, 
thus assisting him greatly in getting a start. 
Unlike many men he made his brains earn more 
than his hands, and used intelligence in every 
business enterprise. Not only was he energetic 
and persevering, but economical as well, and in 
all his dealings he was strictly honest and fair. 
Generosity was one of his leading attributes of 



character. As an instance of his kindness of 
heart, it may be stated that, meeting his former 
employer, Mr. Russell, when on a visit to New 
York, he learned that Mr. Russell had lost every- 
thing and was almost destitute, but thought he 
saw a favorable opening, and stated that if he 
had $400 or $500 he could make another start. 
Immediately upon his return home Mr. Moore 
sent him $500 as a gift. 

Actively interested in local politics as a Demo- 
crat Mr. Moore cared nothing for oflBce, but con- 
sented to serve as one of the county commission- 
ers. He was a member first of High Prairie 
Lodge No. 25, A. F. & A. M., and later of 
Easton Lodge No. 45. His death occurred 
August 19, 1898, and his funeral was attended 
by members of the Masonic lodges of Leaven- 
worth and Easton. He was twice married; 
first, January 10, 1850, to Cecelia A. Tansell, 
who died February 27, 1854. Three children 
were born of their union: Susan C, who is the 
wife of Rev. J. O^. Forsman; Robert W., de- 
ceased; and Mary Frances, Mrs. Alfred Rhodes. 
February 9, 1857, Mr. Moore was united in mar- 
riage with Caroline Aldridge, of Muskingum 
County, Ohio. Her father, Azel Aldridge, was 
born in Baltimore of English parentage, and was 
a millwright by trade. He married Catherine 
Flesher, whose father came from Germany, and 
settled in Ohio when the Indians were still 
numerous there. Mrs. Moore was one of seven 
children, and the youngest of three now living. 
To her marriage three children were born, name- 
ly: Charles O., a farmer in Alexandria Town- 
ship; Henry S., deceased; and Virginia Louise, 
wife of Dr. W. B. Wood, formerly of Leaven- 
worth County, but now living in California. 



QHARLESO. MOORE, who is engaged in 
jr farming in Alexandria Township, Leaven- 
U worth County, was born in the township 
where he now resides, March 30, 1859, ^^^ is a 
son of Benjamin B. and Caroline Moore. He 
was educated in the district schools here, and 
also attended school in Platte City, Mo. When 
his education was completed he began to assist 



284 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



in the cultivation of the home farm, and has 
since been connected with agricultural interests. 
When about twenty-one he settled upon a farm 
in High Prairie Township, but later returned to 
Alexandria Township, and settled upon the 
place which he now occupies. He cultivates 
eighty acres in his home place, and also rents 
one hundred and sixty acres in High Prairie 
Township. 

In political views Mr. Moore is a supporter of 
Democratic principles. Fraternally he is con- 
nected with Easton Lodge No. 45, A. F. & A. M. ; 
Topeka Consistory No. i, Scottish Rite, and 
Abdallah Temple, N. M. S., of Leavenworth. 
As a citizen he favors all measures for the benefit 
of the people of his county, and is actively iden- 
tified with various enterprises calculated to ad- 
vance the interests of his township. His first 
marriage took place October 3, 1881, and united 
him with Miss Ida McCune, daughter of Adam 
McCune. Two sons were born of that marriage, 
Claude L- and Raymond A. His second mar- 
riage occurred January 3, 1893, ^^^ united him 
with Octavia Adams, daughter of Ross Adams, 
of Leavenworth County. This union has been 
blessed by two children, Ernest M. and Caro- 
line L. 

HON. F. P. FITZ WILLIAM, deceased, for- 
merly a well-known citizen of Leavenworth 
and a member of both the lower and the 
upper houses of the legislature, was born in 
Washington County, Pa. He was a son of 
Francis Fit?. William, who descended from Earl 
Fitz William of England, and was a farmer of 
Pennsylvania, where he took part in the early 
whisky riots of that state. In Washington and 
Jefferson College (the college which James G. 
Blaine attended) our subject received his classi- 
cal education, and afterward he read law with 
Judge Montgomery, of Washington, Pa. Ad- 
mitted to the bar in 1855, he remained in his 
home state for two years. At that time consid- 
erable excitement was being aroused in behalf of 
Kansas. Its destiny, as free or slave state, lay 
in the hands .of its people; consequently thou- 
sands from both north and south cast their for- 



tunes in with the territory, hoping their influ- 
ence might count for the cause they espoused. 
In 1855 a free state constitution was framed at 
Topeka and in 1857 a pro-slavery constitution 
was drawn up at Lecompton, but neither became 
operative. The struggle between free-soilers 
and slave-state supporters continued until finally 
the war settled, forever, the great problem that 
had so long confronted our country. 

It was during the height of the political agita- 
tion, in 1857, that Mr. Fitz William came to 
Kansas. He opened an office in Leavenworth, 
where he continued to reside for twenty years, 
or until his death, in 1877. I" 1S65 he was a mem- 
ber of Governor Carney's staflf, with the rank of 
lieutenant-colonel. In politics he supported the 
Democratic party. He was a member of one of 
the first senates that met after the admission of 
Kansas into the Union, and he also served in the 
assembly, besides holding the local offices of 
county and city attorney. 

The marriage of Mr. FitzWilliam in June, 1868, 
united him with Eliza Clay Jack.son, who was 
born in Bowling Green, Kj'., a daughter of John 
Jackson, and a member of a Virginian familj' to 
which belonged General " Stonewall " Jackson. 
She was reared in Kentucky and graduated from 
the seminary in that state. She is now living at 
the familj' residence, where her son F. P., and 
daughter, Miss Elizabeth, also reside. Her other 
daughters are, Mrs. E. L. Carney and Mrs. Omar 
M. Abernathy, both of Leavenworth. 



30HN W. CRANCER. Not only as a pioneer 
of Leavenworth, but also as one of its pro- 
gressive and enterprising business men, Mr. 
Crancer is well known in the business circles of 
this city. Since he arrived in Leavenworth, 
February 22, 1857, he has witnessed many 
changes in the town and has been personally 
interested in its development. Through his 
efficiency as a business man he has not only 
promoted his own success, but the prosperitj- of 
the city as well. Since 1884 he has been the pro- 
prietor of a large wholesale hardware establish- 
ment, and has built up a trade that extends 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



285 



through this state and into Colorado and Okla- 
homa. On the corner of Delaware and Third 
streets he has a building with a frontage of fort}^- 
eight feet and three stories in height, besides 
which he has two warehouses of four floors each, 
on Delaware and Cherokee streets respectively, 
the total floor space aggregating thirty-two 
thousand feet. 

John W. Crancer was reared in St. Louis and 
when fifteen years of age was apprenticed to the 
tinner's trade, which he followed for some years 
in that city. For a time he was employed as 
bookkeeper with the firm of L. F. Hastings & 
Co., and it was while in this position he decided 
to engage in business in Leavenworth with 
Stewart Hastings, firm of Crancer & Hastings. 
With a capital of $700 he embarked in business 
here. They opened a small shop on Cherokee 
street, between Main and Second, and began 
to manufacture tinware in a building eighteen 
feet square. They also sold stoves and house 
furnishing goods. 

One year after coming to Leavenworth Crancer 
& Hastings built a two-story structure 24 x 75, 
on Delaware, between Fourth and Fifth, and in 
that building the firm of Crancer & Hastings 
carried on business. In 1861 he bought his 
partner's interest and continued alone. After a 
time he built a store across the street from his 
former location. In the meantime he became 
interested in a business of which he had pre- 
viously known nothing. He was asked to make 
a cornice for which he was furnished plans. At 
once giving his attention to the work, within a 
day he had put himself in possession of the de- 
tails. Soon he had the cornice completed. His 
estimate of the first cost was within a few dollars 
of the exact amount, and the work still stands, 
although more than thirty-five years have passed 
since its completion. Afterward he was given 
work of a similar nature throughout the state, 
including some important contracts in Leaven- 
worth and throughout the state. In order to 
carry on the business with a better understand- 
ing he went to New York City, where he found 
two cornices. These were the only shops in the 
entire country besides his own. While con- 



ducting this business he continued the manu- 
facture of tinware and also had contracts for 
roofing, etc. When he first settled in Leaven- 
worth there were more than seventy-five tinners in 
the town, but the business changed in subsequent 
years, by the introduction of machinery, etc., 
and now there are only about six, these being em- 
ployed simply for repair work. It was this fact 
that caused him to turn his attention to the hard- 
ware business. He bought out John F. Richards 
and has since built up a large wholesale trade, 
which is conducted under the firm name of J. W. 
Crancer & Co., the other member being his son, 
Edwin W., who is general manager of the busi- 
ness. 

The marriage of Mr. Crancer, in St. Louis, 
united him with Miss Mary Nichols, who was 
born in Manchester, England, and is an estimable 
lady, and an active member of the Episcopal 
Church. Five children were born of this union, 
four girls and Edwin W. In addition to his 
business interests Mr. Crancer has been con- 
nected with mining enterprises in Colorado, and 
is also the owner of a stock farm of eleven 
hundred acres in Tonganoxie Township. The 
only ofiices he has ever consented to hold have 
been those of an educational nature, and as school 
director he was instrumental in promoting the 
welfare of the cit}' schools. Prior to the presi- 
dential campaign of 1S96 he was a Democrat, but 
when that party declared for free silver in its 
platform he left it and has since been independent. 



Gl LFRED H. SLATER is one of the enter- 
Ll prising business men of Franklin County. 
/ 1 In 1895 he opened a general store at Nor- 
wood, Hayes Township, and has since built up a 
large trade, having by fair dealings and courteous 
manners won the confidence of the people of his 
locality. His sales amount to about $7,000 per 
annum, and his trade extends all through the 
surrounding country. The store and residence 
which he occupies were erected on property that 
he purchased after coming here. He is also the 
owner of one hundred and sixty acres of pasture 
land, which he uses for the grazing of stock. In 



286 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



addition to the management of his store he bu)s 
live stock, which he feeds and then ships, having 
been engaged in the shipping business since 
1883. He is a stockholder in the Ottawa Re- 
publican and Times, and is interested in all 
enterprises aiming at the promotion of the coun- 
ty's welfare. 

William Slater, our subject's father, was born, 
reared and educated in England, and engaged in 
farming there. At thirty years of age he came 
to America and settled in Putnam County, 111., 
thence removed to Grundy County, the same 
state, where his son, Alfred, was born June 30, 
1857. In religion he was a Baptist. Until the 
time of Horace Greeley's candidacy he was a 
Republican, but after that he adhered to Demo- 
cratic principles. His first wife died in England, 
leaving a son, John. After settling in Illinois he 
married Hypatia Hume, b}' whom he had three 
sons, Alfred H., William and Edward H., all 
residents of Hayes Township. In the spring of 
1882 the father came to Kansas and settled in 
Franklin Couuty, where he died. In financial 
matters he was successful, and on leaving Illinois 
sold his farm of two hundred acres for $75 an 
acre, investing some of this money in the pur- 
chase of five huudred acres in Hayes Township. 

After leaving grammar school our subject 
attended a normal school for four years. After 
coming to Kansas his father gave into his charge 
the care of the farm property, and he engaged in 
stock-raising there, buying and feeding on a 
large scale. Since 1895 he has also been pro- 
prietor of a store. As clerk of the school board 
he has done all within his power to advance edu- 
cational matters in his locality, and was one of 
those who succeeded in having district No. 97 
established. Active in the Democratic party, he 
has served as delegate to county and congres- 
sional conventions. His business has been such 
as to prevent his attendance at the state conven- 
tions. For seven years he served as township 
trustee, and for two years each he filled the office 
of treasurer and clerk. Had he the time to en- 
gage in politics actively he would undoubtedly 
be one of the leaders of his partj^ in the county. 
In the Christian Church he has served as clerk and 



deacon, and he assisted largely in the erection of 
the house of worship owned by this congregation 
in Norwood. He is a member of the Fraternal 
Aid Association. September 2, 1884, he married 
Alice Dell Haley, by whom he has two children, 
Walter Gay and Gertrude. 



WILLIAM W. ERASER, a hero of the Civil 
war, and since 1869 a resident of Ottawa, 
was born in Ayr, Ayrshire, Scotland, 
March 7, 1844, a son of James and Jean (Doug- 
las) Eraser. His grandfather, Simon Fraser, 
was born in the highlands of Scotland, and was 
a direct descendant of one of the same name 
who fought under Wallace. He had a brother 
who was killed at Montreal while serving in the 
French and Indian war. After having been for 
some years superintendent of a coal mine in 
Ayrshire, in 1858 James Fraser brought his fam- 
ily to America and settled in Alton, 111., where 
he died at the age of sixty-three years. His 
wife, who died in the same city at fifty-five years, 
was the daughter of a Scotchman who served in 
the British army and died in India. James and 
Jean Fraser were the parents of ten children, of 
whom our subject was sixth in order of birth. 
One son, James, who was a .sergeant in Company 
I, Ninety-seventh Illinois Infantry, was killed at 
Vicksburg. Three sons are now living, one of 
these being John, of Milwaukee, who .served in 
Company G, Ninety-se\-enth Illinois Infantrj', 
during the Civil war. 

The subject of this sketch accompanied the 
other members of the family to America in 1858, 
taking passage at Liverpool on the sailing vessel 
"Richard Robinson," and arriving in New York 
after a voyage of twenty-one days. Afterward 
he attended school in winters and worked on a 
farm during summer months. August 4, 1864, 
he enli.sted in what was afterward known as 
Company I, Ninety-seventh Illinois Infantry; 
was mustered into service at Camp Butler, near 
Springfield, 111., October 8, and from there 
marched to Covington, Ky., Lexington, Cynthi- 
ana, Nicholasville and Louisville, and thence by 
boat to Memphis. December 20 the company 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



287 



left Memphis for Vicksburg. He took part in 
the charge at Haines' Bluif under General Sher- 
man, December 30-January i, where the Thir- 
teenth army corps was repulsed. At Arkansas 
Post his regiment occupied the extreme left, and 
was the first regiment to place its colors on Fort 
Hindman. The regiment went down the river 
to Young's Point, opposite Vicksburg, and was 
for three days engaged in digging on the canal 
across the point where the Mississippi now flows. 
The active campaign against Vicksburg com- 
menced April 16, 1863, with the corps under 
Gen. John A. McClernand in the advance, and 
crossed the Mississippi at Bruinsburg, reaching 
Port Gibson, Miss., on the morning of May i. 
The Ninety-seventh made two charges. In the 
first they captured two pieces of artillery; in the 
second they were repulsed. The battle of Cham- 
pion Hills occurred May 16, and the next day 
was the battle of Big Black River, where the 
Ninety-seventh Illinois and the Nineteenth Ken- 
tucky, supported by the Forty-eighth Ohio, 
captured three regiments and their colors, two 
batteries, one of four guns and one of five guns. 
The battle of Vicksburg commenced May 19. In 
the first charge twenty-seven of Mr. Fraser's 
regiment were killed and wounded, among the 
killed being his brother, James. May 22, two 
men from each company volunteered to make an 
assault, as a forlorn hope, on a certain point of 
the enemy's works. They were ordered to leave 
their money and watches, if they had any, with 
their comrades. John G. Miller and W. W. 
Fraser volunteered from Company I, and with 
Edwin lyowe, of Company K, succeeded in 
reaching a point so close as to prevent the Con- 
federates from having a flank fire on the charg- 
ing column, and made it possible for the Union 
men to take and hold the fort for three hours. 
General L,awler, commander of the brigade, and 
Gen. A. J. Smith, commander of the division, 
wrote to Secretary Staunton in regard to the 
three men who showed such remarkable bravery, 
and the secretary granted them three months' 
furlough with six months' pay. Lowe was pro- 
moted to sergeant and color bearer, while our 
subject was promoted to corporal and one of 



eight color guards. John G. Miller was killed 
November i, 1864, while Edwin Lowe fell in a 
charge that resulted in the capture of Mobile. 

Thirty-two years after the battle of Vicksburg 
Mr. Fraser received the following letter from the 
record and pension office in Washington City: 

"Sir: I have the honor to inform you that, by 
direction of the president and in accordance with 
the act of congress approved March 3, 1863, 
providing for the presentation of medals of honor 
to such ofiBcers, non-commissioned officers and 
privates as have most distinguished themselves in 
action, the assistant secretary of war has awarded 
you a medal of honor for most distinguished gal- 
lantry in action at the battle of Vicksburg, Miss. , 
Maj' 22, 1863, while a member of a volunteer 
storming party upon the enemy's works. The 
medal has been forwarded to you to-day by regis- 
tered mail. Upon receipt of it, please advise this 
office thereof. 

"Very respectfully, 

(Signed) "W. C. Ainsworth, 
"Col. U. S. A., Chief Record and Pension Office." 

In addition to the medal of honor Mr. Fraser 
was also awarded a ribbon of the pattern pre- 
scribed and established by the president under 
the provision of the joint resolution of congress, 
approved May 2, 1896, to replace the ribbon to 
which the medal of honor was attached, and a 
knot to be worn in lieu of the medal. He also 
received from Washington a certificate of mem- 
bership of the Medal of Honor Legion of the 
United States. This certificate is highly artistic, 
having on the left the army medal of honor in 
perfect colors of the medal, and underneath a 
battle scene on land. On the right is the naval 
medal of honor in colors and underneath a naval 
engagement, while above is a fac-simile of the 
knot of ribbon to be worn in lieu of the medal. 
At the bottom is the seal of the legion. The 
document reads as follows. "In the name and by 
the authority of the Medal of Honor Legion of 
the United States, to all whom these presents 
shall come, greeting: Know ye that William W. 
Fraser, having received a medal of honor for dis- 
tinguished gallantry in action, in accordance 
with the act of congress, and having rendered 



288 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



faithful service in maintaining the honor, integ- 
rity and supremacy of the United States, was re- 
ceived as a companion of the first class of the 
Medal of Honor Legion of the United States of 
America, on the second day of May, Anno 
Domini, eighteen hundred and ninety-six. 

"In testimony whereof, the names of the com- 
mander and adjutant and the seal of the order 
are hereunto affixed. Given at Washington, 
D. C, this ninth day of June, in the year of our 
Lord, 1897." 

(Signed) Nelson A. Miles, Commander. 
John Tweedale, Adjutant. 

There being only five other medals of the kind 
in the state, the honor conferred upon Mr. Fra.ser 
is no common one, and it is natural that he 
should prize his medal of honor above any other 
earthly possession. Just before his furlough of 
three months he took part in the battles along 
the Mississippi to New Orleans, and accom- 
panied General Banks on the Red River expedi- 
tion. After the surrender of General Lee his 
regiment was sent with others along the gulf 
coast to the Rio Grande River to menace the 
French usurpation under Maximilian. He was 
mustered out at Galveston, Tex., and honorably 
discharged at Camp Butler, August 19, 1865. 
Afterward he attended Shurtleff College in Alton, 
111., for six months, and then clerked in a cloth- 
ing store in that city. In the spring of 1869 he 
settled in Ottawa, where for sixteen years he 
conducted a grocery business. In 1S85 he built 
a brick store, two stories, 25x80, and in 1886 he 
opened a dry-goods business here, which he has 
since carried on succe.ssfully. In politics he is a 
Democrat. He is a member of the Veterans' 
Association of the Ninety-seventh Illinois In- 
fantry and George H. Thomas Post No. 18, 
G. A. R. He is past commander of the Select 
Knights, past master workman of the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen, a pa.st officer in the 
lodge and encampment of Odd Fellows, and a 
member of Franklin Lodge No. 18, A. F. &A. M., 
at Ottawa, having been made a Mason in Alton 
more than thirty years ago. He was married in 
Alton to Mi.ss Jennie Rutledge, who was born in 
Durham, England, and came to America with 



her father, John Rutledge, settling in Alton. 
Mr. and Mrs. Fraser have two children: Mrs. 
Ethel Woodlief, of Brookfield, Mo. ; and Jean, 

at home. 



OLAUDE L. COWDERY, M. D. Thefam- 
1 1 ily represented by this prominent business 
vj man of Ottawa is of English descent, but 
was identified with the early history of New 
England, and some of its members took part in 
the Indian and Revolutionary wars. From its 
original form of Coudray the name was changed 
to its present spelling. Elijah Cowdery was born 
in New Haven, Conn., and moved to Trumbull 
County, Ohio, where he spent his remaining 
3'ears upon a farm. His son, Lyman, a native 
of Trumbull County, went south in early man- 
hood, driving in a two-wheeled gig from Ohio 
to Columbus, Ga. There he opened a general 
store, his goods having been .shipped from the 
north to Savannah and from there conveyed by 
teams to Columbus, four hundred and fifty miles 
distant. He was the youngest of thirteen sons, 
the eldest of whom, Lester, had in youth gone 
.south and settled at Columbus, so that the two 
brothers never met until the youngest arrived in 
Columbus. 

At the opening of the Civil war Lyman Cow- 
dery was drafted into the Confederate armj-; but 
he refused to take up arms against the people of 
the north, with whom he was in sympathy, so he 
was assigned to the conmiissarj- department. As 
soon as possible he left the south and went to 
New York City, where he engaged in business 
until the close of the war. When peace was de- 
clared, in 1865, he returned to Georgia by the 
first steamer that sailed for Savannah. When off 
Cape Hatteras this ship was wrecked and one 
hundred and fifty-six persons were drowned He 
was among those who perished in the wreck. At 
that time he was forty-five years of age. Twice 
married, his first wife was Sarah Lewis, daughter 
of Judge Ulysses Lewis, who was bom in Mil- 
ledgeville, Ga., and removed to Russell County, 
Ala. , where he was district attorney. He was a 
descendant of Welsh ancestors who settled in 
Virginia. His daughter, Sarah, was born in 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



289 



Alabama and died there prior to the war. After- 
ward her sister, Jennie, became the wife of Mr. 
Cowdery, and some years after his death was 
married to Mr. Murdock, a large and prominent 
planter; she died in Alabama in 1880. 

The two children of Lyman Cowdery were born 
of his first marriage. The daughter, Mrs. Sallie 
Freenj', resides in Columbus, Ga. The son, who 
forms the subject of this article, was born in 
Columbus in April, 1856. After his- father's 
death he was sent north and received his educa- 
tion in Warren Academy, in Warren, Ohio, re- 
turning to Columbus after a few years, and grad- 
uating from the Columbus high school in 1874. 
Two years later he graduated from the Atlanta 
Medical College, with the degree of M. D. His 
health being poor he went to Denver, Colo., 
hoping that the change of climate might prove 
beneficial. After a year he returned to Alabama, 
and married Ida Lucas, daughter of William 
Lucas, who was a prominent planter near Mont- 
gomery and died during a visit in Ottawa. 

In 1877 ■D''- Cowdery settled in Ottawa, and as 
a member of the firm of Becker & Cowdery em- 
barked in the drug business. In 1890 he sold 
out to his partner and opened a drug store on 
the north side, where he owns his store building 
and has built up a fine trade. He is a member 
of the board of health and formerly served upon 
the school board. Fraternallj^ he is connected 
with the Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodmen, 
Lodge No. 128, A. F. & A. M., and Chapter No. 
7, R. A. M. In the Episcopal Church he is an 
active worker and a member of the vestry. He 
is a charter member of the Kansas Pharmaceuti- 
cal Association and a member of the Chautauqua 
Association. A Democrat in politics, he has 
served on the city central committee and as a 
member of the county committee. His first wife 
died in Ottawa, leaving two sons, Claude L. and 
Clifford M., both at home. Afterward he was 
married in this city to Alice, daughter of Samuel 
Barnett, who was twice elected treasurer of 
Franklin County and was a prominent farmer of 
this county, where he died in 1S97. " Mrs. Cow- 
dery was born in Ottawa and received her educa- 
tion in the high school of this city, from which 



she graduated. Both Dr. and Mrs. Cowdery 
have many friends among their acquaintances 
and are respected for their worth of character 
and for their interest in all enterprises for the ad- 
vancement of Ottawa. 



•JJEORGE C. RICHARDSON, oneof Leaven- 

□ worth's influential business men, is a mem- 
ber of the firm of Ryan & Richardson, 
wholesale dealers in fruits. Matthew Ryan, Jr., 
his partner, to whose keen business acumen and 
untiring energy their success was in no small 
degree due, is now deceased, so that the responsi- 
bility of managing and carrying forward the 
large business lies entirely with the junior mem- 
ber of the firm. That he has proved equal to the 
emergency the continued success of the enter- 
prise indicates. In the firm's cold storage house 
at Nos. 515-521 Cherokee street there is a stor- 
age capacity of two hundred cars or thirty-five 
thousand barrels, it being the largest cold stor- 
age plant in the city. One hundred thousand 
barrels of apples are handled annually, the busi- 
ness extending through all the northern and 
southern states; for many years the apples have 
been marketed in New York City and exported to 
London, Liverpool and Hamburg. 

In 1897, in partnership with Mrs. Dacotah S. 
Ryan, the widow of Matthew Ryan, Jr., Mr. 
Richardson organized the Missouri Valley Or- 
chard Company, of which he is president and 
manager, and Mrs. Ryan secretary and treasurer. 
The company purchased eight hundred acres of 
laud twenty-two miles southwest of Leaven- 
worth, on the Kansas City & Northwestern 
Railroad, and here they have planted forty thou- 
sand apple trees, which, as soon as they are in 
bearing condition, will prove a very profitable in- 
vestment for the owners. In 1896 Mr. Richard- 
son erected in South Leavenworth an ice manu- 
facturing plant, with a capacity of sixty tons, 
about one-half of whose product is distributed 
through central and southern Kansas. In 1897 
he built a pork-packing house and leased it to 
Wilke & Co., who have since carried on business 
there. 



290 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Mr. Richardson was born in Leavenworth 
November 14, 1856, and was the second white 
child born in this city, and now the oldest native- 
born citizen here. His parents were Jason P. 
and Mary (King) Richardson, who came to 
Leavenworth in 1855. Mr. Richardson engaged 
in the general merchandise business and resided 
here until his death; his widow is still living, in 
Leavenworth. In 1876 our subject entered Barre 
(Vt.) Academy, where he was a student for two 
years. On his return to Leavenworth he gradu- 
ated from Skilhnan's Business College. In 1878 
he was given employment at $1.50 a day with 
Havens & Co., of Leavenworth. After about 
two years he was taken into the firm, being given 
a one-third interest in the business. In 1882 
their mill was destroyed by a mill-dust explo.sion 
and burned to the ground. Afterward, with 
A. B. Havens, as Havens & Richardson, he 
started a canning factory, which he conducted for 
a year. His next venture was the purchase of a 
flour mill at Waldron, Mo., but the high water 
in 1883 damaged the mill to such an extent as to 
impair its usefulness. 

In 1886 the firm of Richardson, Simon & Co. 
embarked in the fruit business in Leavenworth, 
also established a branch at Wichita, Kans., and 
handled and packed all kinds of domestic and 
foreign fruits. In 1891 Mr. Ryan and Mr. Rich- 
ardson entered into partnership, and the firm of 
Ryan & Richard.son afterward carried on a whole- 
sale apple business. As Mr. Ryan was occupied 
with his extensive cattle interests in Arizona, 
Montana and other western points, and also had 
important coal interests, much of the management 
of the business fell upon Mr. Richardson. How- 
ever, in spite of the many other enterprises that 
demanded Mr. Ryan's time he was ever ready to 
counsel and assist Mr. Richard-son, who feels that 
he owes much to his partner's excellent judg- 
ment and shrewd foresight. November 26, 1897, 
Mr. Ryan met with an accident that resulted in 
his death three days later. According to the 
terms of the will, his wife was the .sole legatee 
and the business was continued the same as before. 

Mr. Richardson is a Republican in his views, 
but has always been averse to politics and takes 



no part in public affairs. He is connected with 
the Knights of Honor and the Catholic Mutual 
Benefit Association. On the 3d of August, 1899, 
at the fifth annual convention held at Detroit, 
Mich., he was elected president of the National 
Apple Shippers' Association, besides which he is 
active in the work of the Kansas State Horti- 
cultural Society. His marriage, which took place 
in Leavenworth, united him with Miss Anna 
Draper, who was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, a 
daughter of George and Mary (Ryan) Draper, 
and a niece of Matthew Ryan, Sr. Five children 
were born of this luiion, but one son, George, 
died at the age of sixteen months. The others 
are: Helen May, Mabel Draper, Matthew Rj'an, 
Jr., and Amanda Parker. The family occupy an 
attractive residence on North Broadway. 



[q)EORGE W. SNYDER, who is one of the 
l_l energetic and capable farmers of South 
\^ Centropolis Township, Franklin County, 
was born in Richland Count}-, Ohio, June 12, 
1838. He is a son of John and Elizabeth (Mag- 
ner) Snyder, natives respectively of Pennsylvania 
and Ohio, and the parents of six children, all 
living. About 1830 his father settled in Ohio, 
and afterward was extensively engaged in farm 
pursuits in that state. The years of his boyhood 
and youth our subject spent in the vicinity of his 
birthplace. His education was such as common 
schools afforded, and gave him the necessary 
knowledge which is fundamental to all success. 

When thirty years of age Mr. Snyder deter- 
mined to seek a home in the west, believing that, 
with cheaper land, he might be better able to get 
a start in the world. Accordingly in 1868 he 
came to Kansas and bought one hundred and 
sixty acres of raw prairie laud in Franklin 
County. At once he commenced the work of 
imjiroving the place. After a time he brought 
the land into good condition. On this place he 
has engaged in raising farm products and stock. 
By adding to his original purchase he has be- 
come the owner of four hundred acres, half of 
which is planted in corn. As a farmer he has 
prospered, and the fine improvements on his 




C^rcc<,<^ Ot. (/^^-^--cr-tr/Uf 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



293 



farm speak volumes for his thrift and energy. 
He is never happier than when at work, and 
may be seen daily busying himself in the various 
details of farm management, superintending his 
property, planning improvements and looking 
after the crops and the stock. 

September 29, 1864, Mr. Snyder married Miss 
Martha J. Billow, by whom he has four children: 
Harry C. ; Irvin W. ; Maude, wife of Levi Burns; 
and lyillie, at home. The family stand high in 
social circles in their part of the county, and 
have many friends, who have been won by their 
refinement and genial dispositions. They hold 
membership in the Lutheran Church at Ottawa. 
In educational matters Mr. Snyder has always 
been interested, desiring to aid the public schools 
in every way possible, and his school tax is 
larger than that of any other man in the 
township. 



HON. PAUL R. BROOKS, a pioneer of 1854 
in Lawrence, is one of the most prominent 
men of the city. On the organization of the 
Watkins National Bank, in April, 1888, he was 
elected cashier and a director, in which capacities 
he has since officiated. The bank has a capital 
stock of $150,000 and occupies one of the finest 
bank buildings in the entire state. Under his 
conservative yet energetic management a profit- 
able financial system has been established and 
safe investments have been made. In addition to 
his responsible position as cashier and manager 
of the bank he acts as trustee for the Jewett es- 
tate in Lawrence, and as administrator and ex- 
ecutor for several valuable estates. 

Between 1630 and 1640 Thomas Brooks, a 
Puritan, came from England and settled in Con- 
cord, Mass. From him descended Solomon 
Brooks, who was born in Lincoln, Mass., and 
served as a minute man at Concord and Lexing- 
ton, also took part in the battle of Bunker Hill. 
He filled three difi"erent terms of enlistment in 
the American army. Afterward he removed to 
Temple, N. H., thence to New Ipswich, N. H., 
and later joined his children in York County, 
Me., where he died at eighty-five years. His 
10 



son, Jeremiah, who was born at Temple, N. H., 
-served in the war of 18 12, and later engaged in 
merchandising in York, Me., where he died in 
188 1, at the age of ninety. He was a prominent 
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His 
wife, Eveline, was born in York, a daughter 
of Theodore Parsons, who it is thought served 
in the Revolutionary war. By occupation he 
was a farmer; he died in Maine at seventy-five 
years, and his daughter passed away in 1893, at 
ninety years. They were descendants of English 
ancestors who were among the earliest settlers of 
what is now York County, Me. 

The subject of this sketch was born in York, 
Me., July 22, 1834. He was one of twelve chil- 
dren who attained mature years, of whom three 
sons and five daughters survive. One son, Al- 
bert G., who came to Kansas in i860 and served 
in the Second Kansas Infantry during the Civil 
war, is now connected with the Gulf Railroad in 
Denver, Colo. Another son, Jeremiah, came to 
Lawrence in 1872 and still lives in this city. 

After completing an academic education, in 
185 1, our subject went to Boston, where he 
clerked in a dry goods store for three years. In 
September, 1854, he came to Kansas, making his 
way to Leavenworth by boat. As there was then 
no road across to Lawrence he returned to Kan- 
sas City by boat, and from there made his way 
to Lawrence, arriving here in September. He 
and his cousin, Daniel H. Brooks (who died here 
in the spring of 1855) had heard of this place as 
"Yankeetown," so were led by curiosity to in- 
vestigate the town. The two opened the first 
store in the first building erected in Lawrence, 
this being a log cabin on Massachusetts street. 
During the winter they bought goods in Kansas 
City and hauled them to Lawrence. In 1855, 
when near what was known as the Quaker mission, 
the cousin lost the trail and from exposure caugh 
a cold that resulted in his death. Our subject 
then continued the business alone. Several times 
he went to St. Louis for goods. He soon moved 
into a log building which was the first postoffice 
and which stood on Massachusetts, across the 
street from the old building. He was appointed 
deputy-postmaster. In 1857 he embarked in the 



294 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



boot and shoe business and located in a frame 
)uilding, where he remained until i860. 

Before a charter had been secured for Lawrence 
a city government was organized in 1856 and Mr. 
Brooks was elected a member of the city council. 
Governor Walker, objecting to the establishment 
of a city government without his consent, brought 
troops here from Leavenworth with the avowed 
purpose of dispersing the council, but nothing fur- 
ther came of it. After a year the charter was se- 
cured and the first regular city council was chosen. 
In the fall of 1858 Mr. Brooks was elected to the 
territorial legislature on the free state ticket. 
The legislature first met at Lecompton, but ad- 
journed to Lawrence. It was again called to Le- 
compton by the governor, but again adjourned to 
Lawrence, and here the session was held which 
declared for the abolishment of slavery in Kansas. 

From i860 until after the Quantrell raid Mr. 
Brooks engaged in the real-estate business. Dur- 
ing the war he was quartermaster of the Third 
Kansas Regiment, which was mustered into 
service for defense against Price, and in the field 
he was brigade quartermaster. In September, 
1863, he was appointed city clerk, and in the fol- 
lowing November was elected to fill a vacancy. 
By re-election he served five full terms, and was 
renominated for a sixth term, but decliued. At 
the time of the Quantrell raid his home on Ken- 
tucky street was burned, August 21, 1863. He 
and his wife were visiting in Maine; had he been 
at home he would probably have lost his life, as 
he was one of the first men for whom the gang in- 
quired. The county clerk was killed in the raid, 
and Mr. Brooks, returning at once to Lawrence, 
was appointed county clerk, which office he held 
until 1874. For three years afterward he was 
agent of the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston 
Railroad, and later was for four j^ears deputy 
county treasurer. In the fall of 188 1 he was 
elected county treasurer on the Republican ticket 
and was re-elected in 1883, being nominated by 
both the Republicans and the Democrats, at the 
same hour, on the same daj\ In October, 18S6, 
he retired from the treasurer's office, after which he 
was deputy under his successor. Col. H. L. Moore. 



Since then he has had the management of the 
Watkins National Bank. He has always been a 
leader among the Republicans of Lawrence and 
has frequently served as chairman of the Douglas 
County central committee. He was married in 
this city, October 3, 1858, to Mary A., daughter 
of Rev. Alanson Boughton, a Baptist minister of 
New York. She was born in Cayuga County, 
that state, and came to Lawrence in 1857 with a 
married sister. 

Fraternally Mr. Brooks is connected with the 
blue lodge and chapter of Masonry and is a mem- 
ber of Washington Post No. 12, G. A. R. He is 
familiar with the history of Lawrence from its 
earliest days. There are only five persons in the 
city who came here before he did. All of the 
early movements for the advancement of the town 
received his co-operation. He aided in securing 
the location of the University of Kansas and the 
Haskell Institute in this city. All educational 
and philanthropic movements have received the 
impetus of his encouragement. Few now living 
in Lawrence are as familiar with its history as he, 
and certainly no one takes a more vital interest in 
its progress. Some years before the war he be- 
came identified with a militia organized bj' Gen- 
erals Robinson and Lane, for the purpose of 
building the forts to defend Lawrence in case of 
attack, and he was chosen first lieutenant of a 
company. When the first raid was made on 
Lawrence his store was robbed, and two loads of 
goods on the way here from Kansas City were 
captured. At that time, when the forces were in 
forts here, they were accustomed to call on him 
for requisitions of coffee and sugar, and in return 
provided him with what was known as protection 
scrip, but the value of the goods, amounting to 
about $600, he never received. He remembers 
vividly the struggles of pioneer days and . the 
perils of border warfare and pro-slavery raids, and 
often contrasts with pleasure those times with the 
present day, when Lawrence is one of the educa- 
tional centers of the west, a city beautiful in ap- 
pearance, active in commerce, sub.stautial in 
finances, and elevated in the character of its 
citizenship. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



295 



r^ AUI. E. HAVENS. The family represented 
ry by this influential citizen of Leavenworth 
is was founded in America by William Havens 
of Wales, who crossed the ocean and settled at 
Portsmouth, R. I., in 1636. Capt. Daniel 
Havens, the great-grandfather of Paul E., was 
born on Long Island February 5, 1750, and mar- 
ried Elizabeth Bostwick, whose birth occurred 
March 26, 1755. During his active life he fol- 
lowed the sea. He died at Sag Harbor, N. Y. , 
while still a young man. His son, Paul Havens, 
was born at Sag Harbor October 7, 1777, and 
married Anne Kennedy, who was born December 
2, 1778; she was a daughter of Robert Kennedy, 
a Revolutionary soldier, born September 18, 
1748. C. D. P. Havens, son of Paul and Anne 
Havens, was born November 3, 1808. In 1832 
he married Eleanor, daughter of Philip R. Frey, 
and a descendant of Swiss ancestry. 

In 1688 Henry Frey, a native of Switzerland, 
settled on the present site of Palatine Bridge, 
New York, becoming the 6rst settler in that 
region of the Mohawk Valley. His son, Henry, 
was born September 15, 1712, and had a son. Col. 
Henry Frey, whose birth occurred September 23, 
1735. The last-named was an ofificer in the 
French and Indian war, serving under Sir William 
Johnson. He married Elizabeth, a sister of Gen. 
Nicholas Herkimer, and their only daughter was 
the mother of Eliza Cockburn, the wife of Judge 
Alfred Conkling; their only son was Philip 
Rockell Frey, father of Mrs. Eleanor Havens. 

Paul E. Havens was born in the town of 
Ephrata, Fulton County, N. Y., May 4, 1839. 
When he was eight years old his father died. Six 
years later he became clerk in a store at Elmira, 
N. Y., and continued there until 1856, when he 
came as far west as Iowa. For two years he was 
employed in Davenport. In July, 1858, he came 
to Leavenworth. About that time the territorial 
judges appointed terms of their courts to be held 
in each settled county, and he was appointed a 
deputy clerk of the court for Jefferson Count}', 
under Judge Samuel D. Lecompte, the chief 
justice of the supreme court of the territory and 
judge of the first judicial district. On the 
adoption of the state constitution he was elected 



clerk of the district court for Jefferson County. 
At the next general election he was chosen to 
succeed himself in the office. In 1861 he was 
elected a member of the house of representatives 
from the eighth district, comprising the counties 
of Shawnee, Jefferson and Jackson. 

During 1863 Mr. Havens established his per- 
manent home in Leavenworth. Here he at first 
engaged in the insurance business as local agent 
and as secretary of a local marine insurance com- 
pany, which carried on a prosperous business 
until trafiSc was transferred from the Missouri 
River to the railroads, which reached Leaven- 
worth in 1866. In 1868 he became a.ssociated 
with H. L. Newman in the banking business, 
under the firm name of Newman & Havens. 
This business was discontinued by limitation in 
1874, Mr. Newman removing to St. Louis. Mr. 
Havens was one of the projectors of the Kansas 
Central Railway, an enterprise inaugurated by 
local capital, for the building of a railroad to 
Denver, and he served as a director and as secre- 
tary and treasurer of the company until the road 
was sold to Jay Gould in 1883. He was also 
interested in the construction of the railroad 
between Leavenworth and Atchison, now a part 
of the Missouri Pacific Railway. In connection 
with his brother, A. B. Havens, in 1876 he em- 
barked in the milling business, which was suc- 
cessfully conducted until the property was totally 
destroyed by fire in March, 1882. 

In the organization of the Leavenworth Na- 
tional Bank in 1883 Mr. Havens took a warm 
interest and active part, and he has served as its 
president from the date of its organization. The 
capital of the bank was originally $100,000, but 
after a year was increased to $150,000. Its 
career has been very prosperous. It has paid 
regular dividends of ten per cent, per annum 
and accumulated, in addition, a surplus and un- 
divided profits aggregating over $200,000. This 
highly gratifying result is largely due to the 
wisdom and business ability of its able oflBcials, 
who have guided the finances of the bank in .safe 
channels that have proved profitable. 

From 1887 to 1897 Mr. Havens was vice- 
president of the Leavenworth Light & Heating 



296 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Company, but during the latter year he disposed 
of his interest in the company. In 1890 he was 
elected vice-president of the Leavenworth City 
and Fort Leavenworth Water Company, and on 
the death of L. T. Smith was chosen his suc- 
cessor iu the presidency, which position he still 
holds. Enterprises for the benefit of the city 
have always received his support and co-operation. 
Politically he is a Republican. 

In December, i860, Mr. Havens married Miss 
Matilda Moore, of Wooster, Ohio. Their sur- 
viving children are Eleanor and Elizabeth, who 
is the wife of Daniel R. Anthony, Jr., the present 
postmaster of Leavenworth and business manager 
of the Leavenworth Times. 



(lOHN NAVARRE MACOMB, of Lawrence, 
I is the oldest living representative, in the 
(2/ direct line of descent, of a prominent pioneer 
family of America. He was born in Detroit, 
Mich., 22 September, 1843. His father. Col. 
John N. Macomb, was born in New York City 9 
April, 181 1, and passed the years of his boyhood 
in Newark, N. J., where he received his early 
education. Later he .spent one year in Hobart 
(then Geneva) College, in New York. He was 
graduated from the United States Military 
Academy at West Point i July, 1832. His 
whole life, from his appointment as a cadet in 
September, 1828, was spent in the army. He 
was a lieutenant in the Fourth Artillery and for 
.some years aide-de-camp to his uncle, Maj.-Gen. 
Alexander Macomb. In the year 1838 he was 
transferred to the corps of Topographical Engi- 
neers, of which he remained a member until it 
was merged into the Corps of Engineers in 1863. 
Afterward he continued with the enlarged corps 
until I July, 1882, when he was placed upon the 
retired list, fifty years from the day he was 
graduated from West Point. For eighteen years, 
from 1838, he was connected with the topograph- 
ical survey of the great lakes, having charge of 
that work a large part of the time. In 1856 he 
was placed in charge of surveys in New Mexico 
and adjacent country, having for their object the 
building of a transcontinental railroad. During 



the first two years of the Civil war he was one of 
the engineers connected with the Army of the 
Potomac. Afterward he was in charge of fortifi- 
cations at Portsmouth, N. H., and the improve- 
ment of the western rivers, with headquarters at 
Cincinnati, Ohio, and later at Rock Island, 111. 
In 1877 he was placed in charge of river improve- 
ments in New Jersej-, with headquarters at Phila- 
delphia, and remained in charge of this work 
until his retirement in 1882. He was frequently 
selected to serve as a member of boards appointed 
to examine and report upon engineering works. 

Colonel Macomb received several substantial 
tokens of the appreciation in which his services 
were held by the residents "of Detroit, Buffalo, 
Cleveland and other cities, among which may be 
mentioned a very handsome silver service and a 
Jurgensen watch. 

On 7 March, 1838, Colonel Macomb married 
Czarina Macomb, who was born at Fort Johnson, 
Charleston Harbor, S. C, 21 October, 18 10, and 
the subject of this sketch is the only living child 
of that marriage. 

In 1850 Colonel Macomb married Nainiy, 
daughter of Commodore John Rodgers, and they 
had five children, viz.: Montgomery Meigs, ot 
the Seventh Artillery; Augustus Canfield, of the 
Fifth Cavalry, both now iu Porto Rico; Mrs. 
Thomas W. Peters, Christina and Nanny. He 
made his home after his retirement in Wash- 
ington, D. C. , in which city he died i6 March, 
1889. 

John Navarre Macomb, thecolonel's father, and 
grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was 
born in Detroit, Mich., 7 March, 1774, and was 
a merchant in New York City for several years. 
In November, 1810, he was traveling from Lisbon 
to London on the English packet " Princess Char- 
lotte, ' ' when the ship was attacked by a French 
privateer. The captain requested all passengers 
to go below, but Mr. Macomb asked permission to 
remain on deck and assist in defending the ship. 
While working a gun he was struck by a ball and 
died soon afterward in Falmouth Harbor, 9 
November, 18 10. He was buried iu the church- 
yard at that place. He left a wife and seven 
children, of whom Colonel Macomb was the 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



297 



youngest. His wife, who bore the maiden name 
of Christina Livingston, was born in New York 
City 26 September, 1774, and grew to woman- 
hood in that city, where she was married to Mr. 
Macomb 29 March, 1797. After she became a 
widow she made her home in Newark, N. J., 
where she reared lier children. She died at 
Esperanza, N. Y., at the home of her daughter, 
Mrs. Jane E. Rose, 24 August, 1841. 

Alexander Macomb, great-grandfather of the 
subject of this sketch, was born in Ireland 27 
July, 1748, and was brought to America by his 
father in 1752. His early life was spent in 
Albany, N. Y. About 1769 his father, John 
Macomb, moved to Detroit, accompanied by the 
family. The sons were engaged principally in 
merchandise and real-estate transactions. On 4 
May, 1773, Alexander Macomb married Catherine 
de Navarre, daughter of Robert de Navarre and 
Marie Lothman dit Barrois. Of their ten chil- 
dren John Navarre Macomb was the oldest and 
Gen. Alexander Macomb the seventh. Alex- 
ander Macomb lived in Detroit until 1786, when 
he moved to New York City. He owned and 
resided in the house at No. 47 Broadway that 
was occupied by General Washington at the time 
of his inauguration. He and his family were 
present at the inauguration ball, and some of the 
articles of dress and ornamentation worn on that 
occasion are now in the possession of their de- 
scendants. In 1788-89 he was a member of the 
New York legislature. A merchant bj^ occupa- 
tion, the fluctuations caused by the war of 1812 
and losses of vessels and cargoes wrecked him 
financially. After his death congress granted his 
widow about $30,000 in consideration of these 
losses. About 1792 he bought from the State of 
New York the large tract of land in the Adiron- 
dack region known as Macomb's purchase, con- 
taining nearly four millions of acres. In 1820 he 
moved to Georgetown, D. C. , where he died 19 
January, 1831. His first wife died in New York 
City 17 November, 1789. In 1791 he married 
Mrs. Jane Rucker, nee Marshall, by whom he 
had seven children. 

The father of Alexander Macomb was John 
Macomb, who came from Ireland in 1742 and 



established himself in New York, where he held 
an official position under the colonial govern- 
ment. From 1755 to 1769 he made his home in 
Albany, and thence moved to Detroit. He was 
descended from the MacCoombies of Scotland, an 
ancient and honorable famil}' who moved from 
that country to Ireland during the early part of 
the seventeenth century. 

Gen. Alexander Macomb, the maternal grand- 
father of our subject, was born in Detroit 3 April, 
1782. He married at Belleville, N. J., 18 July, 
1803, Catherine Macomb, who was born in 
Detroit 30 October, 1787, a daughter of William 
and Sarah Jane (Dring) Macomb. She died at 
Georgetown, D. C, 10 September, 1822. After- 
ward General Macomb married in Georgetown, 
26 May, 1826, Mrs. Harriet Wilson, daughter of 
Rev. Stephen B. Balch, D. D. 

The military career of General Macomb was 
very brilliant. In 1798 he entered the militia, 
but, desiring more active service, he entered a 
regiment of New York cavalry in 1799. Ability, 
a fine physique and prepossessing manners ad- 
vanced him rapidly. He was appointed lieu- 
tenant of dragoons and assigned to Philadelphia 
on recruiting service. With the recruits he went 
to the southwestern country and joined General 
Wilkinson's expedition into the Cherokee coun- 
try, remaining for one year. When the corps of 
dragoons disbanded a corps of engineers was 
formed and he was made first lieutenant, after 
which he returned to West Point. He was ap- 
pointed judge advocate in the trial of Colonel 
Butler, and in the handling of that case exhibited 
marked ability. In 1805 he was made captain of 
engineers and had charge of the erection and 
repairing of fortifications on seaboard. In recog- 
nition of meritorious service, in 1808 he was pro- 
moted to be major. When the second war with 
England broke out he was made lieutenant- 
colonel and engaged in the organization of the 
army. Soon after his promotion to the rank of 
colonel he took command of the third regiment 
of artillery and marched to the frontier. In 
active service he displayed his ability as a com- 
mander and realized the fullest confidence of his 
superiors. When England decided to put an end 



298 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



to the war by a decisive campaign General 
Macomb was in command of a small force at 
Plattsburg, N. Y., where he met and put to flight 
the newly re-enforced array of experienced men, 
consisting of fourteen thousand regulars and 
many others who had served under Wellington. 
To meet these soldiers he had only fifteen hun- 
dred regulars, and some scattering militiamen 
hastily gathered from the neighborhood. His 
force was unable to cope successfullj' with the 
whole strength of the enemy, but by good 
generalship he diverted a large part of the English 
forces and completely routed the others, taking 
more prisoners than he had men. His signal 
victory caused the greatest rejoicing and led to 
his promotion to be major-general. He was 
awarded a gold medal commemorative of the 
battle of Plattsburg, the thanks of congress, and 
was presented with a handsome sword by the 
state of New York. 

At the close of the war of 18 12 General Ma- 
comb was given command of the troops at Detroit. 
In 1 82 1 he was called by President Monroe to 
Washington, D. C, and was made chief of the 
corps of engineers. Upon the death of General 
Brown, in February, 1828, he was appointed 
commanding general, and filled the office to the 
day of his death, 25 June, 1841. 

The father of Catherine, wife of Gen. Alex- 
ander Macomb, was William Macomb, a brother 
of the first Alexander. He was born in Ireland 
in 1 75 1 and was brought to America by his 
father, living in Albany, N. Y., until 1769, when 
he went to Detroit with the family. He was a 
partner in business with his brother, Alexander. 
He purchased from the Indians the principal 
islands in the Detroit River. The original deed 
is still in possession of his descendants. It is on 
parchment, and signed by sixteen of the chiefs, 
among them the celebrated Tecumseh. Portions 
of Grosse Isle, the larger of the group, remain 
in possession of and are occupied by some mem- 
bers of the family at the present day. One 
island, Belle Isle, is part of the City park of 
Detroit and is noted for its beautiful scener}'. He 
also owned the farm afterward conveyed by his 
widow and her children to General Cass, upon 



which a large portion of the city of Detroit is 
now situated. William married Sarah Jane Dring 
in 1780. She was a descendant of a Huguenot 
family driven out of France bj- the revocation of 
the Edict of Nantes. His death occurred in 
1796. 

Robert de Navarre, the father of Catherine de 
Navarre, was born in Villeroy, Brittany, France, 
in 1709. He was sent by the French government 
as sub-intendant and roj^al notary to Fort Pont- 
chartrain in Detroit, where he arrived in 1730, 
and took charge of his ofiBce. From him are de- 
scended the numerous and illustrious members 
of the Navarre family in America. In Detroit, 
10 February , 1734, he married Marie Lothman 
dit Barrois, daughter of Francis and Mary Ann 
(Sauvage) Lothman dit Barrois. He died in 
Detroit, 24 November, 1791. His wife died 20 
December, 1799. 

The Lothman family originated in Holland, 
but moved from there to the province of Berry, 
France; hence the name Barrois, a corruption of 
Berrois. Willibrord Lothman, the grandfather 
of Marie Lothman dit Barrois, was sent to 
Canada in 1665 as secretary, counselor and 
general agent of the East India Company. He 
was a great linguist and official interpreter of the 
Portugese language. 

Robert de Navarre was a son of Francois de 
Navarre, who in 1695 married Jeanne Pluyette. 
They resided in the parish of Villeroy, diocese of 
Meaux, in Brittany, France. Francois was a 
son of Antoine de Navarre, who in 1665 married 
Marie Lallemant. Antoine was a son of Jean de 
Navarre, who in 1623 married Susanna le Clef. 
Martin, father of Jean, married in 1593 Jeanne 
Lefebre. The father of Martin was Jean, who 
married Perette Barat. Jean was a son of 
Antoine de Bourbon, Due de Vendome, who be- 
came king of Navarre in 1554. The son of 
Antoine de Bourbon, Henry III. of Navarre, was 
crowned king of France in 1589, under the title of 
Henry IV. The noble family of Bourbon, which 
became a ro3'al family of France, was descended 
from the Baron of Bourbonnais Adhemar, or 
Aimar, who was invested with that barony in the 
latter part of the ninth century. The barony 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



299 



was a rich district, located in the center of France. 
In 1272 Beatrix (of Bourbon) of Burgundy, 
daughter of John of Burgundj' and Agnes of 
Bourbon, heiress of the Bourbon baronj', married 
Robert, count of Clermont, the sixth son of Louis 
IX. (St. Louis) of France. Their son, Louis, 
became duke of Bourbon in 1372. In 1488, by 
the death of John II., the direct line of Bourbon 
ended; the collateral Hue began with John's 
brother, Peter, lord of Beaujeu, who married 
Anne, sister of Louis XL Peter died in 1503, 
leaving onlj' a daughter, Susanne, who in 1505 
married Charles of Montpensier. At his mar- 
riage Charles took the title of Duke of Bourbon. 
He was killed in an assault upon Rome in 1527. 
The fourth in descent from Peter's brother James 
was Louis, count of Vendome. His great-great- 
grandson, Antoine de Bourbon, in 1548 married 
Jeanne D'Albret, heiress of Navarre, and became 
king of Navarre in 1554, as before stated. 

Philip Philip Livingston, father of the wife of 
the first John Navarre Macomb, was born in New 
York City 8 June, 1741, and died in 1781. He 
was a son of Philip Livingston (1716-1778), a 
signer of the Declaration of Independence and a 
member of the continental congress. Philip 
Philip Livingston was a member of the Society of 
the Cincinnati. Tracing this branch of the 
famil}', Robert, the first lord of the American 
manor, was born in Scotland in 1654 and emi- 
grated to the United States, where he died in 
1728. His son, Philip, was father of Philip, the 
signer of the Declaration of Independence. While 
of immediate Scotch descent, the family traces 
its lineage to Livingius, a Hungarian nobleman, 
who came to Scotland in the suite of Margaret, 
queen of King Malcom III., about 1068. The 
genealogy can be traced direct to King Edward 
III. of England and James I. of Scotland, prior 
to which it is a matter of history. 

On the death of James I. of Scotland, in 1437, 
Sir Alexander Livingstone of Calendar was ap- 
pointed by the estate of the kingdom one of two 
joint regents during the minority of James II., 
being himself made keeper of the king's person, 
while his associate, Crichton, received the ofBce 



of chancellor. Later he was appointed to the 
judiciary of Scotland and ambassador to England. 
He died in 1449. He was the ancestor of a 
numerous race. His son, James, became the 
first Lord Livingstone. Alexander, the fifth 
lord, through whom the New York branch of the 
family was descended, was one of the guardians 
of Mary Queen of Scots, being appointed to that 
office in 1543. In 1548 he accompanied his royal 
ward to France and died there in 1553. His 
daughter, Mary, was one of four Marys who 
were playmates and maids of honor to the queen. 
In 1600 Alexander, the seventh Lord Livingstone, 
was created the first earl of Linlithgow, a title 
which descended to the fifth earl, who in 17 13 
was made an earl of the United Kingdom. Two 
years later he joined with the earl of Mar in sup- 
porting the cause of the first pretender, for which 
he lost his earldom, and it has not since been 
restored to his descendants. 

The first earl of Linlithgow had four brothers, 
the third of whom, in 1625, was made a baron of 
Nova Scotia, which title descended to the eleventh 
baron. Sir Alexander Livingstone, in 1853. 
Three other titles, with estates, were conferred 
upon enterprising young sons of the house of 
Livingstone: the earldom of Calendar in 1641, 
which in the course of descent became merged 
with that of Linlithgow; the earldom of New- 
burgh in 1660, which is now extinct, and the 
viscountship of Kilsythe in 1661, which was 
forfeited by the heir in the rebellion of 1715. 
John Livingstone, son of the fifth Lord Living- 
stone, guardian of Mary of Scots, was slain in 
the battle of Pinkiefield in 1547. He was suc- 
ceeded by a son, Alexander, the first of three 
generations of ministers of the Scottish church. 
The second was William, whose son. Rev. John, 
was the father of Robert, the first lord. The last- 
named emigrated to America about 1675 and in 
1686 received from Governor Dongan a grant of 
a large tract of land, which in 1715 was con- 
firmed by royal charter of George I., erecting 
the manor of Livingston, embracing a portion 
of the present counties of Dutchess and Columbia, 
in New York. This tract is still known as the 



3O0 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Livingston manor. Robert Livingston, the first 
lord of the manor, married Alida, daughter of 
Philip Pietersen Schuyler. 

The family of Livingston was very prominent 
in the founding and development of the United 
States, from the early colonial days to the period 
of quiet prosperity after the war of 1812. Its 
members occupied high positions in the various 
legislative bodies and in the army. They con- 
tributed greatly to the success of the struggle of 
the colonies with the mother country. They 
were first among the jurists and clergymen. 
They were successful business men. They pro- 
moted the development of commerce, agriculture 
and manufactures, and their influence was always 
exerted for the amelioration and betterment of 
the condition of the people. 

Having carried the three principal lines of 
ancestry of the family back to noble and royal 
origin, where it is, of course, a matter of history, 
we will take up the life of the subject of this 
sketch. John Navarre Macomb, the third of the 
name, was but two and one-half years of age 
when he lost his mother. His father's sister, 
Mrs. Jane E. Rose, who resided at Esperanza, 
N. Y. , took charge of him. His education was 
begun in private schools and completed in Hobart 
College at Geneva, N. Y., from which institution 
he was graduated in 1861. Returning to the 
farm, he spent the next ten years there in the 
routine of farm work. In the autumn of 1870 
his aunt lost her husband by death and the next 
summer the aunt and nephew moved from 
Esperanza to Branchport, a small village a mile 
di.stant, in Yates Count)-, where he resided until 
1892. In 1892 he came to Kansas and settled in 
Cofi"eyville, but the next year removed to Law- 
rence, in order that his only child, John Navarre 
Macomb, might have university advantages. He 
purchased a fine residence on the corner of Ken- 
tucky and Adams streets, and here he has since 
made his home. 

Mr. Macomb's political affiliations have always 
been with the Repulilican party. His first vote 
was cast for Abraham Lincoln. In Masonic circles 
he has been very active. He has been a mem- 
ber and the presiding officer of Milo Lodge, No. 



108, F. & A. M.; of Penn Yan Chapter, No. 100, 
R. A. M.; of Ontario Council, No. 23, R. & S. 
M., and of Jerusalem Commanderj-, No. 17, 
K. T., all of Penn Yan, N. Y.; also a member of 
Zabud Council, No. 4, of Topeka, Kans. He is a 
life member of the Scottish Rite bodies of the 
Valley of the Genesee, in Rochester, N. Y., and 
a member of those of the Valley of Lawrence, 
and a member of Topeka Consistory, No. i, of 
Topeka, Kans. He was created a Sovereign 
Grand Inspector General and made an honorary 
member of the Supreme Council of the thirty- 
third degree of the Northern Ma.sonic Jurisdiction 
of the United States on 19 September, 1882. 
From 1889 to 1891 he was Grand Master of the 
Grand Council of R. & S. M. of New York. 
For four years he was District Deputy Grand 
Master of the twenty-first Ma.sonic district in the 
Grand Lodge of New York. He is also a mem- 
ber of the Order of the Palm and Shell. He 
was an earnest worker in the Order of Patrons 
of Husbandry, having been master of the Grange 
at Branchport, N. Y. , as well as of the Grange of 
Yates County, N. Y. For several years he has 
served as president of the Douglas County Hor- 
ticultural Societ}'. He is a member of Lawrence 
Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution. 

Mr. Macomb is an active and prominent mem- 
ber of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He 
was one of the incorporators of St. Luke's Church 
at Branchport, N. Y., a vestryman and warden 
from its organization in 1866 to 1893, and always 
during that period a lay delegate, representing 
that church in the convention of the diocese of 
Western New York. He was a lay deputy from 
that diocese to the general convention in 1880 
and 1883. Since coming to Kansas he has been 
a vestryman of Trinity Church, Lawrence, and 
has represented that and St. Paul's Church, 
Coffeyville, in the diocesan convention. 

He has been for many years a trustee of the 
General Theological Seminary in New York City, 
and in 1892 and 1893 .served in the same capacity 
in DeVeaux College at Suspension Bridge, N. Y. 

20 May, 1874, Mr. Macomb married Mrs. Julia 
Louisa Wheeler, widow of B. H. Wheeler, of 
Litchfield County, Conn., and daughter of Peter 




HON. SHERMAN MEDILL. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



303 



Righter, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., where she was 
born. Their onl}' child, John Navarre Macomb, 
the fourth of the name, was born at Branch- 
port, N. Y., 24 Januarj', 1877. 

John Navarre Macomb, Jr. , the fourth of the 
name, spent the first sixteen years of his life 
in Branchport, N. Y. In 1893 he was graduated 
from the Coffeyville (Kans.) high school and the 
same autumn entered the Kansas State University 
at Lawrence. He was graduated in 1898, receiv- 
ing the degrees of B. S. and M. S. at the same 
time. Since that time he has been engaged in 
mining and railroad engineering in southeastern 
Kansas and Oklahoma. He represented the 
diocese of Kansas in the general convention of 
the Protestant Episcopal Church in Washington, 
D. C, in 1898. He is a member of Lawrence 
Lodge No. 6, A. F. & A. M., and of the Scottish 
Rite bodies in Lawrence, Kans. 



HON. SHERMAN MEDILL. One of the 
prominent property owners and public men 
of Leavenworth County is Mr. Medill, who 
is the representative of the sixth district in the 
state legislature. He has for years been an active 
worker in the Republican party and has taken an 
interest in its legislation and served as delegate 
to many of its conventions, but he never accepted 
candidacy for ofiBce until 1898. At that time, 
without solicitation on his part, he was nomi- 
nated for representative. The fact that the party 
had a close fight on its hands induced him to ac- 
cept the nomination, in the hope that he might 
help snatch a victory from the Democrats. Al- 
though under ordinary circumstances the Demo- 
crats would have won by four hundred majority, 
he was elected by a majority of two hundred and 
forty, running six hundred ahead of his ticket, 
a fact which shows his high standing in the lo- 
cality. He was successful in carrying three town- 
ships that usually gave Democratic majorities. 
As representative he has ser\-ed as a member of 
four committees of importance, being on the ju- 
diciary, mines and mining, roads and highway 
and labor committees, and has taken a special 
interest in matters pertaining to his home county. 



In the house in Alexandria Township where 
he now resides, Mr. Medill was born December 
27, 1865. The Medill family descended from 
three brother who emigrated to America, two of 
whom settled in Canada, while Joseph located in 
Ohio. They come from the same family as the 
late Joseph Medill of the Chicago Tribune. 
James, our subject's father, was born in Ohio in 
1824. He continued to reside in Jefferson County 
until 1853, after which he spent four years trad- 
ing on the Mississippi. In 1857 he came to Kan- 
sas and for seven years made his home in Leav- 
enworth. He then settled upon a farm in Alex- 
andria Township, where he successfully followed 
agricultural pursuits. In 1894 he retired and re- 
turned to Leavenworth, where he remained until 
his death, July 3 of that year. Politically he 
was a Republican, and fraternally a Knight 
Templar Mason. In religion he was connected 
with the Presbyterian Church. 

In the public schools and Lawrence Business 
College our subject obtained an excellent educa- 
tion. He afterward spent two years in Colorado. 
Upon his return to Leavenworth County he re- 
sumed work on the home farm, and in 1889 as- 
sumed the entire control of the property, which 
he has since conducted. His specialty is the 
stock business, and the farm of four hundred and 
eighty acres is in pasture for the stock or for the 
raising of grain to be used as feed. During the 
winter he feeds large numbers of cattle, princi- 
pally Shorthorn Durhams. As a stock-raiser he 
has been unusually successful, and is considered 
an authority in this business. He owns one hun- 
dred and sixty acres in Stranger Township, 
within a mile of Tonganoxie, also farmland in 
High Prairie Township and real estate in Leav- 
enworth, his total possessions aggregating seven 
hundred and twenty acres, most of which is 
rented. He has large and important investments, 
which require his close attention. Fraternally 
he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of 
America and the blue lodge of Masonry. 

June 4, 1890, Mr. Medill married Monica, 
daughter of James Morgan, of Leavenworth. 
They are the parents of four children: James 
Sherman, William Harold, George Tabor and 



304 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Joseph McKee. Prior to her marriage Mrs. Me- 
dill was a teacher in the schools of Leavenworth 
Count}-, and her intimate knowledge of educa- 
tional matters has led to her election twice to 
serve as a member of the school board of her dis- 
trict, in which capacity she has given efficient 
service. 



(John LEANDER STRATTON, a promi- 
I nent stockman of Lincoln Township, Frank- 
v2/ lin Count}', residing in the suburbs of Ot- 
tawa, was born near Princeton, Bureau Count}', 
111., August 3, 1848, a son of Abram and Sarah 
(Baggs) Stratton. He was one of six children, 
four of whom are living. Of these, Eliza is the 
wife of Sylvester S. Newton, police judge of 
Wyanet, 111., and the owner of large farm hold- 
ings in Bureau County. The oldest son, Lemuel 
N. Stratton, D. D., for many years held pastor- 
ates in New York and Illinois, also officiated as 
president of Wheaton Theological Training 
School, and took an active part in the work of 
the Congregational denomination; he is now liv- 
ing retired from the ministry at Wheaton, 111. 
The youngest son, Abram M. , is a farmer and 
fruit-grower of Carlton, Ore. Samuel Fay Strat- 
ton, deceased, was for years professor of natural 
science and chemistry in Wheaton College and 
also labored in the Congregational ministry. 

Abram Stratton, Sr. , was born in Dutchess 
County, N. Y., February 18, 1805, a son of Ab- 
raham and Eunice (Mann) Stratton, and died in 
Bureau County, 111., August 28, 1877. The A'rr- 
ord of Bureau County, 111., .speaks of him as fol- 
lows: "At a large meeting of old settlers of Bu- 
reau County in 1865, the oldest settler was called 
for and requested to come forward and take a seat 
on the platform; and Mr. Stratton responded, a 
hale, hearty man of .some sixty or sixty-five 
years." The mother of Mr. Stratton died when 
he was five and his father, a farmer, passed away 
nine years later. When nearly grown he left the 
Hudson Valley. In 1829 he traveled on foot, 
with his knapsack on his back, iii this way mak- 
ing the long journey west to Illinois, guided, 
after he left Detroit, by nothing except Indian 
trails. Between Detroit and Chicago he met the 



pony mail carrier who made trips once in two 
months, carrying the mail between the two front- 
ier towns. At that time Chicago was known as 
Fort Dearborn, and was garrisoned by troops 
that guarded the trading post and the annuity 
office established for the benefit of the Indians, 
who were very numerous in that locality. 

After staking a claim in Bureau County Mr. 
Stratton .spent the winter of 1829-30 in Peoria. 
In the summer of 1830, from some point near St. 
Louis, guided by a pocket compass, he started to 
return to New York, and eventually reached his 
old home. After a short visit he came west via 
the Erie Canal to Bufialo, then by the lakes to 
the mouth of the St. Joseph River in Michigan 
(for at that time boats were seldom run to Fort 
Dearborn). Patiently he towed his goods around 
the lake during a stonny November, and finally, 
buying an ox-team and making a sled, he started 
from Chicago in a December snowstorm over the 
trackless prairies and through pathless woods, 
disturbed by packs of wolves or wandering Indi- 
ans, but buoyed up by high hopes and firm re- 
solves. In the courage he exhibited there is a 
lesson well worthy of emulation by fhe present 
generation who, though never called upon to en- 
dure the hardships he passed through as a pio- 
neer, may nevertheless learn from him lessons of 
determination and perseverance in the midst of 
adversity. And, indeed, no one but a man of 
great courage would have penetrated, as he did, 
the depths of the forests where the foot of white 
men had seldom trod, and the prairies buried be- 
neath snow where cold and exhaustion and peril 
waited upon the intrepid traveler. The one who 
plunged into those deep wastes of dreariness 
could hope to hear few sounds save the fierce 
howling of hungry wolves, and he could hope to 
see few faces except those of savage Indians. The 
conscious sympathy of comrade and fellow- worker 
was not for him during those long trips between 
his old and his new home. 

Shortly after his settlement in Bureau County 
Mr. Stratton establi.shed a home of his own. Oc- 
tober 16, 1831, he married Miss Sarah Baggs, 
this being the second marriage in the then coun- 
ty of Putnam, of which Bureau was a part. In 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



305 



the first list of jurors drawn at Hennepin, the 
county seat, his name appears. During the early 
days of the county (which was settled by three 
New England colonies) all disputes were settled 
by arbitration, and he was a member of the board 
of arbitrators. So honorable was he, so upright 
in life, so genial in association, so hospitable to 
visitors, and so kind in his home, that he won 
universal aifection. For j^ears he was one of the 
county's most prominent men. In the latter part 
of 1876 he was stricken with paralysis and sank 
into a dreamless sleep. He was buried in Forest 
Hill Cemetery at Wyanet. The funeral was at- 
tended by a vast throng of friends, for no man 
ever lived in the county who was more widel)' 
known or sincerely loved. His name and his 
memory are inseparably associated with the an- 
nals of Bureau County. Standing at the head of 
his newmade grave. Rev. T. J. Pomeroy, of 
Wyanet, said. "Kind-hearted and genial, faith- 
ful and resolute, he had many friends and warm 
friends. Of a judicial turn of mind, he carefully 
turned all facts over before deciding any case, 
and his conclusions were generally so accurate 
that his opinions had great weight with his fel- 
lowmen. He was a man of fidelity. He de- 
lighted to show how accurately he could keep his 
promises. Integrity, and honesty are the words 
that best describe his modest and unobtrusive 
life." 

In the early settlement of America two Strat- 
ton brothers arrived in New England in 1730. 
They were Scotch Presbyterian ministers. The 
one from whom this branch descends went to 
lyong Island and the records of the church there 
show a faithful pastorate. He is said to have 
had two children, a son and daughter. The son, 
Abraham (our subject's great-grandfather), 
moved to New Jersey, but did not remain in that 
state permanentl}'. He settled in Schoharie 
County, N. Y., but soon afterward was drowned 
in Schoharie Creek, September 11, 1797, while 
attempting to cross on horseback. 

The wife of Abram Stratton was in every way 
fitted to endure with him the hardships of front- 
ier life, for she was a woman of wonderful cour- 
age, and never evinced the least fear, even in the 



midst of exciting encounters with Indians. She 
was born in Urbana, Ohio, April 19, 1814, a 
daughter of John and Rebecca (Thomas) Baggs. 
Her grandfather. Rev. John Thomas, was said to 
be one of the most eloquent ministers of the Bap- 
tist denomination in his day; he removed from 
Ohio to Illinois, where he amassed considerable 
property. In religion Mrs. Stratton was first 
connected with the Methodist Church, but not 
feeling satisfied with the lack of firmness shown 
by the church at the time of the slavery agita- 
tion, she aSiliated with the Wesley an Church, to 
which she afterward belonged. For some years 
she was a teacher in the Sundaj'-school, having 
about twenty-five in her Bible class. When ad- 
vanced in years she was afflicted with paralysis, 
and for many years she was helpless, but she en- 
dured this affliction with the same cheerful equa- 
nimity' she had displayed in the days of her pio- 
neer privations. Her death occurred September 
18, 1898. 

The education of our subject was acquired at 
Oberlin (Ohio) College, Carlton College, in 
Northfield, Minn., and Wheaton (111.) College, 
from the last of which he graduated in June, 1876. 
After his graduation he purchased an interest in 
a hardware and farm implement business at 
Wyanet, where he remained for four years. On 
selling his business interests in that town he be- 
came a member of the firm of Hudson & Strat- 
ton, dealers in hardwood lumber at Kalamazoo, 
Mich., where he did a successful business for 
eight years. Following this he went to the Wil- 
lamette Valley in Oregon, and for four years was 
cashier of the McMinnville National Bank. At 
the expiration of four years he was obliged to 
come to Kansas to superintend his real-estate in- 
terests, he having acquired farm lands in central 
Kansas while he was living in Kalamazoo. Re- 
signing his position in the bank he settled in 
Rush County, Kans. After two years he re- 
moved to Franklin County in order that his chil- 
dren might have the benefit of the Ottawa 
schools. He is engaged in raising registered 
Jersey and Shorthorn cattle and Poland-China 
hogs. On all matters pertaining to the stock 
business he is well informed. In politics he is a 



3o6 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Republican. He is an active member of the Con- 
gregational Church and holds office as superin- 
tendent of the Sundaj-'-school. 

The marriage of Mr. Stratton to Miss Calista 
L. Thompson occurred May 13, 1884. She is a 
member of an Illinois family, and a daughter of 
Lucius G. Thompson, M. D., a retired physician 
of Lacon, Marshall County, 111., who was for 
more than fifty years engaged in practice in that 
place. He had three brothers, Corwin C, Bur- 
ton and Charles, all of whom were prominent 
lumber dealers; the first-named was for years one 
of the largest wholesale lumber merchants in 
Chicago. Two children comprise the family of 
Mr. and Mrs. Stratton: Baird L., born April 4, 
1885; and Grace Marion, December 21, 1886. 



EHARLES FRANKLIN WOLF. In the 
spring of 18S7 Mr. Wolf came to Franklin 
County and purchased two hundred and 
eighty-seven acres of land in Lincoln Township. 
By subsequent purchases he has become the 
owner of a farm of four hundred and fifty-five 
acres, where he has made a specialty of raising 
regi.stered stock. To-day he is one of the best- 
known breeders of Shorthorn cattle in his part of 
Kansas, and he owns one of the most valuable 
farms in his county, bearing, among other im- 
provements, a comfortable residence and the 
finest barn in the state. He is connected with 
Star Lodge No. 27, Select Knights of Ottawa. 
In religion he is a Methodist, and has served his 
church as steward and trustee, also for a number 
of years held the office of Sunday-school superin- 
tendent. 

In Fairfield County, Ohio, the subject of this 
sketch was born July 12, 1851, a .son of Ezra and 
Barbara (Spangler) Wolf. He was one of twelve 
children, six of whom are living, namely: Salem, 
who is engaged in the drug and hardware busi- 
ness in Adelphi, Ross County, and has served 
his district in the lower house of the Ohio legis- 
lature; Samuel, a farmer of Fairfield County; 
William, who is a retired fanner in Baldwin, 
Kans.; Morris, a dentist in Parsons, Kans.; John, 
who is engaged in farming in Allen County, 



Kans. ; and Charles Franklin. Ezra Wolf was 
born in Frederickstowu, Pa., Januarj' i, 1804. 
When he was a boy he accompanied his father to 
Fairfield County, Ohio, where the latter entered 
land and followed the blacksmith's trade. Here 
the youth grew to manhood, married and settled 
upon a farm. His education was largely self- 
acquired, but, being a broad reader, he became a 
well informed man. In politics he supported the 
Democratic party. He filled a number of county 
and township offices and was frequently .selected 
as delegate to county conventions. For years he 
was trustee, class-leader and steward in the 
Methodist Church. Much of his time was given 
to the stock business, in which he was successful. 
He remained on the home place up to his death, 
in 1876. 

The mother of our subject was born in Fair- 
field County, Ohio, September 6, 1810. She was 
a daughter of Col. Salem Spangler, a prominent 
citizen of Fairfield County, having come there 
from New England and entered land in early 
days. His ability as a leader brought him to the 
front. Several times he was elected to the legis- 
lature, and he was asked to accept the nomination 
for governor of Ohio, but, as he was advancing 
in years, he decided it would be unwise to permit 
his name to be used. He was a member of the 
building committee that built the Ohio state 
house. Other matters pertaining to his county 
and state received his stanch support, and he was 
easily recognized as one of the eminent men of 
his day. During the Revolutionary war he bore 
the rank of colonel. 

When sixteen years of age our subject began 
to teach school. He had previously attended 
common schools, but later, feeling the need of 
more advanced studies, he entered the academy 
at Pleasantville, Ohio, where he remained for a 
time. He continued to teach until 1878. Dur- 
ing this time he married Miss Mary A. Abbott, 
the ceremony being performed August 26, 1873. 
Mrs. Woll''s father, John Abbott, is a descendant 
of one of the oldest American families, and traces 
his lineage to Morris Abbott, who was lord mayor 
of London in 1638. For many years John Abbott 
engaged in the mercantile business in Clearport, 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



307 



Ohio, but some years since he removed to a farm 
in Fairfield County, where he is now living re- 
tired. His wife bore the maiden name of Ellen 
White. 

From 1873 to 1878 Mr. Wolf devoted his win- 
ters to teaching and his summers to farming in 
Allen County. He then returned to Fairfield 
County, where he was employed as salesman in 
a general store in Clearport. In 1884 he deter- 
mined to come west and the fall of the year found 
him settled at Humboldt, Allen County, Kans. , 
where he became interested in the stock business. 
From there he came to Franklin County and es- 
tablished his home on his present farm. He and 
his wife have four children: Ortho Olden, who 
was born June 4, 1874, and is a graduate of the 
Chicago Veterinary College; Frank E., who was 
born January 9, 1876, and is now an instructor 
in the Baldwin (Kans.) Commercial College; 
Retta E., born March 7, 1882, and Max A., 
August 19, 1887. 

["RANK O. HETRICK, mayor of Ottawa, and 
r3 member of the board of trustees of Ottawa 
I ^ University, is one of the successful profes- 
sional men of his city. He was born in Mans- 
field, Ohio, October 5, 1859, and is a son of the 
late Isaac Hetrick, the loved and honored pioneer 
Baptist preacher of Franklin Count}'. From 1867 
he has made his home in Kansas. In 1878 he 
graduated from the Ottawa high school, after 
which he took up the study of dentistry under 
Dr. W. J. Newton, gaining an accurate knowl- 
edge of the profession in this way. He started in 
business for himself in 1880, since which time he 
has taken special courses in dentistry and has 
made it his aim to keep abreast with every devel- 
opment made in the profession. His marriage, in 
Appanoose, this county, united him with Miss 
Hattie St. John, who was born in Franklin 
County in i860, being a daughter of M. St. John, 
of Ottawa. 

Interested in all public enterprises, Dr. Het- 
rick has always supported plans for the benefit of 
his home town and county. In April, 1899, he 
was elected mayor, for a term of two years. In 
this position he has ably guided the affairs of the 



city, advancing its interests and striving to 
increase its commercial importance. He is a 
member of the Ottawa Gun Club, and, when his 
business duties permit, he is fond of taking an 
outing where he may enjoy hunting and other 
sports. Fraternally he is connected with the In- 
dependent Order of Odd Fellows. 

At the time of the erection of the Baptist 
Church Dr. Hetrick was chairman of the build- 
ing committee, and since 1S94 he has been a 
member of the board of trustees. For twelve 
years he was connected with the primarj' depart- 
ment of the Sunday-school, in which work he 
was peculiarly successful and which he greatly 
enjoyed. At this writing he is Sunday-school 
superintendent. He was a charter member of 
the first-formed Y. M. C. A., and at one time ofiB- 
ciated as its president. Everything pertaining 
to his profession enlists his sympathy and atten- 
tion. For many j^ears he has been a member of 
the State Dental Association, of which he was 
elected president in 1892 and also served as treas- 
urer for six years. The National Dental Asso- 
ciation numbers him among its members. Fre- 
quently he has contributed articles to the dental 
journals, and in other ways he has promoted pro- 
fessional progress. 

REV. ISAAC HETRICK was born in the 
suburbs of Baltimore, Md., June 15, 1810, 
a son of Jacob and Sarah (Lemon) Hetrick, 
natives respectively of German}^ and England. 
His father for some years engaged in farming 
near Baltimore, but in 1S12 removed to Richland 
County, Ohio, settling ten miles from Mansfield, 
where he improved a farm and remained until 
his death at eighty-six years. His wife was a 
member of a prominent English family, her father 
having been for many 3'ears a member of the 
house of commons in England, of which he was 
speaker for sixteen years. 

From the age of two years Isaac Hetrick was 
reared in Ohio. During his early years of man- 
hood he was a farmer in Ohio and for twenty 
years he held office as justice of the peace, also 
served for two terms as a member of the Ohio leg- 
islature at the time that James A. Garfield be- 



3o8 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



longed to the state senate. When thirty-five 
years of age he moved into the cit^- of Mansfield, 
where he engaged in mercantile pursuits and ac- 
cumulated a competenc\- . He was converted when 
forty years of age and became a member of the 
First Baptist Church of Mansfield. Five years 
later he began to preach, and in time devoted 
himself almost exclusively to Christian work. In 
1865 he was regularly ordained to the ministr5' 
of the Baptist denomination. To this work he 
devoted himself with zeal and fidelity. Believing 
thoroughly that the Lord had called him to preach 
the Gospel, he gave himself whollj- to it, and 
was the means of helping hundreds of men and 
women in their Christian experiences. Much ot 
his means was given to the spread of the Gospel. 
His work was of a most self-sacrificing nature. 
He gave no thought to himself nor to any remu- 
neration for his work, but labored tirelessly in the 
cause of Christ, content if he could help the lives 
of his associates and lead them into higher spirit- 
ual joys. In September, 1867, he came to Kansas, 
where he was instrumental in organizing cougre- 
gationsat Greenwood, Rehamah, Antioch, Appa- 
noose, Centropolis and Maple Grove, and at four 
of these places he erected church buildings. For 
twenty years he was pastor of the churches at 
Appanoose and Greenwood, preaching at Green- 
wood until within two months of his death and 
at Appanoose until two j'cars before he died. No 
record was kept of the number of baptisms or 
weddings at which he officiated, but it is known 
that during one year he had more than two hun- 
dred baptisms. Though offered $1,000 in an- 
other pastorate, he steadfastly clung to his two 
country churches, although they were able to pay 
him only $400 a year. He was the most sacri- 
ficing of men, generous to a fault, alwaj's thinking 
of others before himself. In mind he was origi- 
nal, having firm convictions of his own and 
thinking for himself. His most successful work 
was in the building up of weak congregations and 
in evangelizing. He was chosen to act as mod- 
erator of the Miami Baptist Association. His 
last years were spent in Ottawa, where he died in 
1891, aged eighty-two years and six months. 
The first wife of Isaac Hetrick was Sarah 



Zeigler and his second wife Elizabeth, daughter 
of Peter Black, of Indiana. She died when her 
son, Dr. F. O. Hetrick, was two years of age, 
and of her seven children four are now living, 
two being in Greenwood, Franklin Count}-, and 
one in Ottawa. The third marriage of Mr. Het- 
rick united him with Mrs. Elizabeth (Paramore) 
Rowland, who was born in Ohio. This union 
was childless, Mr. Hetrick's twelve children hav- 
ing been born of his first two marriages. He had 
two sons in the Civil war. Oneofthe.se, Michael, 
a member of an Ohio regiment, was captured by 
the Confederates and starved to death in Ander- 
sonville. The other, Samuel, served from the 
opening to the close of the war, and afterward 
died in Texas. 



\Ji ARCEXA ST. JOHN, who came to Kan- 
y sas in 1856, was born at Linden Hill, Cat- 
(g taraugus County, N. Y. , a son of Jasper 
and Julia A. (Reynolds) St. John, natives re- 
spectively of Saratoga and Dutchess Counties, 
N. Y. His paternal grandfather, Marcena St. 
John, who was born in Connecticut, became an 
early settler of Saratoga County, N. Y. , and 
thence removed to Yates County, where he made 
his home upon a farm until his death. He was 
the descendant of French ancestors who emigra- 
ted t3 England and at the time of the "May- 
flower" settled in New England. Jasper St. 
John, who was a tanner by trade, built a tannery 
in Cattaraugus County, and remained there until 
1S46. He then removed to East Townsend, Hu- 
ron Countj', Ohio, and built a tannery, which he 
ran for ten years. Afterward he engaged in the 
manufacture of boots and shoes, in connection 
with the tanning business. In 1859 he came to 
Kansas and settled at Centropolis, where he prob- 
ably tanned the first leather ever tanned in 
Franklin County. He manufactured shoes to be 
used in the Pike's Peak region, also tanned a very 
fine grade of harness leather. In later years he 
turned his attention to farm pursuits. During 
1864 he established his home in Centropolis, 
where he acted as postmaster. At the time of 
Price's raid he .served in the state militia. In re- 
ligion he was a Baptist, and in that faith died 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



309 



when eightj--five 3'ears of age. His wife, who, 
at eighty-six years, is living at Centropolis, is a 
daughter of William Reynolds, who was born on 
the Hudson in New York and served in the war 
of 1812. The Reynolds family is of English 
descent. Of eight children (five now living) our 
subject is the eldest. He had two brothers, An- 
drew and Henry H., who served in the Civil 
war, the former being sergeant in the First Kan- 
sas Battery, the latter a member of the Eleventh 
Kansas Infantry. 

On the homestead where he was born April 
20,1831, the subject of this sketch passed the 
years of early boyhood. He accompanied his 
parents to Ohio in 1846, where he learned the 
shoemaker's trade. When he became of age he 
entered into partnership with his father. In 
April, 1856, he came to Kansas, with Col. S. N. 
Woods, but after a few months in Lawrence re- 
turned to Ohio. Again, in April, 1858, became 
to Kansas, settling on a claim in what is now 
Appanoose Township, Franklin County, and im- 
proving one hundred and sixty acres. In 1862 
he entered the state militia as lieutenant, and re- 
mained with it until the militia refused to leave 
the state. He then enlisted in Company M, 
Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, in which he served as 
a corporal. Among the battles in which he took 
part were those at Lexington, Little Blue, Big 
Blue, Westport, Newtouia and Weber's Falls. 
At the close of the war his regiment was sent 
against the Indians on the frontier, and contin- 
ued in the service until November, 1865, when 
he was mustered out as sergeant. 

Returning to Centropolis, Mr. St. John re- 
sumed farming. He remained on his home place 
until 1884, when he came to Ottawa and became 
interested in dental work with his son-in-law. 
Dr. Hetrick, having charge of plate work and the 
mechanical part of dentistry for the latter. He 
is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. 
A Baptist in religion, he was prominent in the 
upbuilding of the Sunday-school and church at 
Appanoose. For many years he was secretary 
of the County Sunday-school Association, to 
which he devoted much time and thought. At 
this writing he is deacon of the Ottawa church. 



He was married in Huron Count}', Ohio, to Miss 
Viola A. Stanton, who was born in Cattaraugus 
County, N. Y. , a daughter of G. R. Stanton, 
M. D. Of the five children born to their union, 
two daughters are living, one of whom is with 
her parents, while the other is the wife of Dr. F. 
O. Hetrick. 



DWIN M. SHELDON, who for some years 
^ has been at the head of one of the im- 
^ portant enterprises of Ottawa, came to this 
city in January, 1870, and for two j'ears held a 
position as deputy register of deeds under his 
brother, Herbert F. Sheldon. During the sena- 
torial session of 1872 he was journal clerk of the 
state senate. On the Republican ticket, in the 
fall of 1872, he was elected clerk of the district 
court, which office he filled from January, 1873, 
to January, 1875. Upon retiring from office he 
bought a soap factory which had been started in 
the spring of 1874 and which he has since con- 
ducted, manufacturing both laundry and toilet' 
soaps. He is also to some extent interested in 
farming. For some years he has affiliated with 
the Populists, being in sympathy with the prin- 
ciples of this party. In 1885-86 he served as a 
member of the city council, in which capacity he 
aided in promoting projects for the benefit of the 
city. He is president of the Ottawa Mutual 
Loan and Savings Institution and secretary of 
the Franklin County Fair Association, with 
which for fifteen years he has been connected as 
secretary or assistant secretary. 

When in middle life Seth Sheldon removed 
from his farm near Pawlet, Vt., to Chautauqua 
County, N. Y. He was accompanied b}' his son, 
Tichenor, who afterward engaged in farming 
near Sherman and died there at seventy-seven 
years of age; he married Lucinda Brown, who 
was born near Boston and died at Sinclairville, 
N. Y. She was a descendant of a New England 
family that was represented in the Revolutionary 
war. The subject of this article was born in 
Chautauqua County, N. Y., March 18, 1847, 
and was the youngest of five children, the others 
being as follows: Milton Brown, who died in 
New York; Hon. Herbert F. Sheldon, state 



3IO 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



senator from this district; Roj-al E., a merchant 
in Chautauqua County; and Fannie, who died in 
Ottawa in 1871. 

In local schools and Westfield Academy our 
subject obtained an excellent education. When 
he left home it was to join his older brother in 
Kansas, where he has since made his home. 
Since coming to Ottawa he married Miss Ennna 
A. Elder, who was born in North New Portland, 
Me., and in 1868 came to Ottawa with her father, 
Alva. Mrs. Sheldon is a member of the Presbj-- 
terian Church, and Mr. Sheldon has also been an 
active worker in this denomination, having 
served as president of the board of trustees for 
ten years, and as chairman of the building com- 
mittee at the time of the erection of the house of 
worship. They are highly respected by the 
members of the church, and also stand high in 
social circles of the city. Their only son, Royal 
E., is engaged in business in Ottawa, being a 
member of the firm of Sheldon & Williams, 
jobbers. Fraternally Mr. Sheldon is connected 
with Ottawa Lodge No. 128, A. F. & A. M., in 
which he is past secretary. 



(lAMES H. RANSOM, who has been a suc- 
I cessful business man, came to Kansas in 
(2/ 1868 and has since been identified with the 
growing interests of this state, his home having 
been in Ottawa for some years past. He is a 
member of a pioneer family of New England. 
His great-grandfather Ran.som, who was a Revo- 
lutionarj- soldier, removed to New York and set- 
tled in Otsego County. From there the grandfather 
went to Chautauqua County, settling upon a 
farm. The father, Willard Ransom, was born in 
Otsego County, graduated from the Cincinnati 
Eclectic Medical College, and practiced his pro- 
fession in Chautauqua County until he died, at 
eighty-two years. Like his father he held mem- 
bership in the Methodist Episcopal Church. He 
married Marietta Briggs, who was born in Chau- 
tauqua County, her father, James Briggs, having 
moved there from Vermont; her entire life was 
spent in that county, where she died in advanced 
years. Of the four children of her marriage. 



James H., the eldest, was born in Harmony 
Township, Chautauqua County, in November, 
1836; Miranda is the wife of A. L. Lewis, of New 
York: John lives in Toledo, Ohio; and Mary 
married H. J. Cook, of New York. 

In 1856 the subject of this sketch left home 
and went to Illinois, where he taught school and 
traveled through different parts of the state. He 
then returned to New York, from there went to 
Pennsylvania, and in 1862 found employment in 
the oil regions. For a time he engaged in freight- 
ing and boating at Pithole City, after which he 
took contracts for sinking wells, and also carried 
on a hardware business in Pithole City. In 1868 
he left the east and settled in Kansas. For a year 
he conducted a business at Burlington, after 
which for several years he ran a flour and saw 
mill in Clinton, Douglas County, and subsequently 
settled on a farm north of Clinton. At the time 
of the building of the Lawrence & Carbondale 
Railroad he furnished all of the timber for 
bridges and all the ties used on the road. Later 
he became interested in the coal business at Car- 
bondale, where he owned and operated two coal 
mines, and supplied the railroad with coal. 

Removing to Lawrence in 1875, Mr. Ransom 
opened a wholesale and retail coal business. 
After three years he located in Williamsburg and 
bought the mines of the Williamsburg Coal Min- 
ing Company, which he afterward operated for 
some years. In the fall of 1886 he moved to Ot- 
tawa and started a retail coal business, later ad- 
ding the ice business, and continuing both until 
he sold to Mr. Bennett. His interest in the mines 
has been continued to the present, and he owns 
one thousand acres of coal land, with a shaft and 
twentj'-inch vein. About 1880 he started the 
town of Ransomville, three miles from Williams- 
burg, and was appointed the first postmaster of 
the place, besides which he carried on a general 
mercantile store and engaged in shipping grain 
and stock from the town. He has continued rail- 
road contracting, his principal contracts being 
on the Santa Fe and its branches. Besides his 
other property he owns a farm of more than two 
hundred acres near Princeton. Politically a Re- 
publican, he has served as a member of the coun- 




(M.IVKR J. FARNSWORTH. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



313 



ty and state central committees, and has been in- 
fluential in the work of his part3'. 

In Chautauqua Countj', N. Y., Mr. Ransom 
married Miss Eunice Glidden, daughter of Dan- 
iel Glidden, who was born in Vermont and en- 
gaged in farming near Harmony, Chautauqua 
County. She was born and reared there and died 
in Ottawa, leaving a son and daughter. The 
former, Willard Ransom, graduated from Cornell 
in 1899 with the degree of M. E. The daughter, 
Myra, is the wife of B. D. Bennett, of Ottawa. 



LIVER J. FARNSWORTH. In reviewing 
the life of Mr. Farnsworth we find in him 
one of the best-known stock-raisers and 
dairymen of Leavenworth County. When he 
came to Kansas in 1872 he bought the property, 
consisting of three hundred and twenty acres, on 
section 18, High Prairie Township, where he 
has since resided. At that time the land was 
fenced, but bore no other improvement. Under 
his personal supervision it has been transformed 
into a finelj' improved estate, with a substantial 
residence and first-class farm buildings. Stock- 
raising is the principal business, and the grain 
and hay raised are used entirelj' for feed. The 
herd of one hundred head of cattle includes Short- 
horns and Herefords, among them some fine 
milch cows. Shipments of milk are made regu- 
larly to Kansas City. The entire place is man- 
aged in a manner that proves the thrift and 
energy of the owner, and no detail is so small as 
to be neglected or overlooked by him. 

The first member of the Farnsworth family of 
whom there is a record was Roger de Farnsworth, 
1297, who lived in Lancashire, near Liverpool, 
England. Joseph, of Dorchester, Mass., came 
to this countr}' in the Dorchester company in 
1628, and died in 1659. He had ten children. 
The first generation in America was represented 
by Matthias, a farmer of Lynn, Mass. By his 
marriage to Mary Farr, of Lynn, he had, among 
his children, a son, Matthias, Jr., born in 1649, 
who married Sarah Mutting and died in the In- 
dian war in 1693. The representative of the 
third generation in America was Josiah, born 
II 



Februarj' 24, 1687. He was taken prisoner by 
Indians and carried to Canada. By his marriage 
to Mary Pierce he had ten children, of whom the 
seventh, Thomas, born April i, 1731, married 
Elizabeth Tuttle, in 1753, and served in the bat- 
tle of Lexington during the Revolutionary war. 
It is thought that he was a minister. He was 
twice married and had eleven children. The 
fifth generation was represented by Thomas, Jr., 
who was born at New Ipswich, N. H., May 29, 
1768, and married Demis Ladd, who was born in 
New Hampshire in 1769. Both died at Alden, 
N. Y., he in 1852 and she in 1863. Their chil- 
dren were as follows: Jerry, who was born in 
September, 1791, and died in 1792; Laura, who 
was born February 6, 1793, and married Paul 
White, by whom she had ten children; Linda, 
who married David Robinson and had nine chil- 
dren; Thomas, Jr., who was born at Williams- 
town, Vt., May 20, 1797; Rachel, who married 
Dr. Martin and died in 1840; Jerry (2d), who 
was born in 1801, and married Eliza Bassett; 
Ozel and Ozel (2d); Lemuel, born in 1809; 
Alonzo, 181 1 ; Alvira, 1813; and Marshall, 1815. 
The sons became farmers and were good citizens 
and prosperous men. The greater number of 
them lived to old age. 

Thomas Farnsworth, the third of that name, 
married Sophia Udell, who was born at Stratford, 
Vt., October 8, 1803, a daughter of Oliver Udell. 
They had five children, viz.: Louisa, born Jan- 
uary 22, 1825; Eleanor Maria, September i, 1827; 
Homer L., 1831; Oliver J., 1837; and Carrie, 
July 30, 1840. The eldest, Louisa, became the 
wife of Mathew Patterson, who was born in 1812; 
their daughter, Lucy Harriet, who was born in 
1863, was married in 1888 to Merton Minot, and 
their marriage resulted in the birth of two sons, 
Brewster (deceased), and George. The second 
daughter, Eleanor Maria, was married in 1850 to 
Dr. John DennLson, who was born in 1819; their 
daughter, Flora Ellen, born in June, 1852, be- 
came the wife of Christopher Dunhart, who was 
born in 1843, and they became the parents of two 
children, Clarence, born in April, 1878, and Flen- 
nie, born in 1889, the latter representing the ninth 
generation of the family in America. The third 



314 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



member of the family, Homer L., was born at 
Aldeii, N. Y. , in 1831, and died at Sweetland, 
Iowa, in 1862. The youngest of the familj', 
Carrie, was married July 7, 1863, at Alden, N.Y., 
to Joseph E. Evvell, who was born January 16, 
1839; they have one child, Florence Josephine, 
born August 7, 1871. 

When twenty-one years of age Thomas Farns- 
worth (3d) drove from Vermont to the Erie canal 
in New York. For nineteen years he followed 
the tanner's trade, but defective hearing caused 
him to retire from that occupation, after which 
he engaged in farming. He was an old-line 
Whig and active in local politics. At the time 
of his death he was ninety-seven j^ears of age. 

In Erie County, N. Y., where he was born in 
1837, our subject received his education. At 
twenty years of age he went to Columbus, Ohio, 
and remained there for four years, engaging in 
mercantile pursuits. On his return to the home 
place in New York he assumed its management, 
and remained there for nine years. In 1868 he 
went to Clifton, W. \'a., where he engaged in 
the manufacture of salt; but not finding the busi- 
ness profitable he traded for a stock of dry goods 
and groceries, and started in business at Middle- 
port, Ohio, just across the river from West Vir- 
ginia. In 1872 he sold his store and came to 
Kansas, since which time he has resided on his 
present farm. He has been interested in Repub- 
lican politics and has attended county and state 
conventions of his party. While he has never 
accepted nomination for political office he has al- 
ways been willing to work in the interests of the 
schools, and for twenty years has been a member 
of the school board, of wliich he is the present 
treasurer. He has been interested in the build- 
ing of the school in the eighth district, which is 
one of the best school houses in the county ; the 
interior of the building is made attractive by 
painted walls and wainscoting, and everytjiing is 
done to make the surroundings pleasant and com- 
fortable for the children. 

Twice married, Mr. Farnsworth's fir.st wife 
was Malvina Mount/.. After her death he was 
married, in April, 1871, to Elizabeth Nichols, 
and they have four children, John T. , Nellie F. , 



Pearl and Myrtle. Their daughter Pearl was 
married to Clarence L. Faulkner April 14, 1897, 
and they have one son, Oliver K., born Decem- 
ber 17, 1898. In religious belief Mr. Farnsworth 
is a firm believer in Christian Science. He is a 
very conscientious man, honest in everj- transac- 
tion and striving in his life to carry out the 
teachings of the golden rule. 



HON. GEORGE J. BARKER, ex-member of 
the senate and legislature of Kansas, is one 
of the most prominent attorneys of Law- 
rence. He is of New England birth and lineage, 
and a descendant of "Mayflower" ancestry. His 
father, Hon. Cyrus G. Barker, was born in Con- 
necticut and reared in Hampden County, Mass., 
where he engaged in farm pursuits for some years. 
About 1844 he removed to Rock County, Wis., 
and settled at Somerville, but later went to Clin- 
ton Junction and continued agricultural pur.suits, 
dying there in 1868. He was one of the largest 
land owners of his county and much of his prop- 
erty is now owned by his son, J. C. Barker, who 
is mayor of Clinton Junction. A pioneer of that 
section, he was known among all the people for 
miles around and stood high as a citizen. At 
various times he was elected to local offices and 
also .served in the legislature. He married Eliza 
King, whose father removed from Connecticut to 
Massachusetts, where she was born. Her ances- 
tors were Congregationalists and pioneers of New 
England. Of her four children, one daughter 
died at the age of sixteen and another after mar- 
riage. The 3''oungest of the family, our subject, 
was born in Hampden County, Mass., November 
6, 1842. He was educated at Allen's Grove Acad- 
emy, where he prepared for Beloit College. In- 
stead, however, of taking a course in college he 
became a student of law in the Chicago Law 
School, from which he graduated in 1S65, with 
the degree of LL-B. He remained in Chicago 
until 1867, when he came to Lawrence and be- 
came a member of the firm of Akin & Barker. 
Later he was with other attorneys, being for 
a time identified with the law firm of Barker, 
Gleed & Gleed, with offices in Topeka and Law- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



315 



rence. He was afterward a member of the firms, 
Barker & Poehler, and Barker, Poehler & Pearse, 
since which he has been alone. 

As attorney for the Western Farm Mortgage 
Trust Company of lyawrence, operating in Col- 
orado, Mr. Barker had an office on Curtis street, 
Denver, where he remained for two years, mean- 
time becoming president of the company. Besides 
his private practice he has been attorney for the 
Santa Fe Railroad. For two terms he held the 
office of prosecuting attorney, during the exi.st- 
ence of the prohibition law, and he made it his 
business to see that the law was enforced. In the 
celebrated Kunkle case he was attorney for the 
defendant, who was acquitted. For twenty years 
he has been connected with the Hillman case, 
one of the most interesting in the civil histor}' of 
the United States, and a case that has been pro- 
tracted for a longer period than any other, in 
which the widow sued the insurance companies 
for the recover)' of insurance money. The al- 
leged killing took place March 17, 1879, after 
which there were six trials, one of these lasting 
sixty days. He was one of the original attorneys 
when the case was brought into court in 1880, 
and mastered its many intricacies and the count- 
less points of law involved. 

The first vote of Mr. Barker was cast for Abra- 
ham Lincoln, and he has since continued to sup- 
port Republican principles. He has attended the 
state conventions of the party and has served on 
the executive committee of the state central com- 
mittee. For one term he was mayor of Lawrence, 
for several years city and county attorne}', also 
served as president of the city council, and as 
state senator from 1886 to i8go. During his 
term in the senate he secured the passing of the 
Quantrell raid bill, which secured to the citizens 
of the county $300,000 for the sufferers from that 
raid. In 1896 he was elected to represent the 
fourteenth district in the state legislature and 
served in the session of 1897 and the special ses- 
sion of 1898. 

In Allen's Grove, Wis., Mr. Barker married 
Lucena, daughter of Sidney Allen, the first set- 
tler of that place. She was born in Rochester, 
N. Y., and died in Lawrence, Kans. , in 1886, 



leaving three daughters, Mrs. Ann E. Spencer, 
of lola, Kans., Lucena Allen and Fannie. The 
present wife of Mr. Barker was Mrs. Emma (De- 
land) Dinsmore, widow of Frank Dinsmore (who 
was superintendent of schools in Lawrence, and 
a daughter of B. F. and Harriet (Bowen) Deland, 
natives of Chautauqua County, N. Y. Her fa- 
ther was for some years a farmer in New York, 
but removed to the copper regions of Michigan. 
She is a graduate of the Ohio Wesleyan College 
and is a woman of culture and broad knowledge. 
She is the only woman who has ever been a mem- 
ber of the school board in Lawrence. By her 
marriage to Mr. Dinsmore she had four children, 
Paul, Kate, Edna and Frances. In religious be- 
lief she is a Presbyterian and takes a warm inter- 
est in the work of that church, which Mr. Barker 
also attends. Fraternally he is connected with 
Lawrence Lodge No. 9, A. F. & A. M., Law- 
rence Chapter No. 4, R. A. M., and DeMolay 
Commandery, K. T. 



I AFAYETTE P. BALDWIN, who is one of 
It the well-known farmers and stock-raisers 
l_2f of Douglas County, residing in Kanwaka 
Township, was born in Delaware County, Ohio, 
September 6, 1850, a son of Israel C. and Lucy 
J. (Preston) Baldwin. He was one of five chil- 
dren, of whom he and his brother, Alvah S., of 
Delaware County, Ohio, are the only survivors. 
His father, who was a native of New York state, 
born in 1806, while still a young man removed 
to Ohio, settling in Delaware County, where he 
married and engaged in farming. In the fall of 
1859 he came to Kansas and established his home 
in Douglas Countj', five miles west of Lawrence, 
where he bought a section of land. He gave his 
attention closely to the development of his land 
and made of it a valuable farm. Engaged in 
agricultural pursuits, his last years were passed 
busily and prosperously. His death occurred 
upon the old homestead in 188 1. 

The education of our subject was obtained in 
common schools. On approaching manhood the 
management of the homestead devolved largely 
upon him, and thus qualities of industry, self- 



3i6 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



reliance and perseverance were earlj^ developed in 
his character. In 1874 he married Miss Marga- 
ret Pierson, who was born in Indiana and came 
to Kansas in 1854 with her father, Thomas Pier- 
son, settling in Kanwaka Township, Douglas 
County. The four children born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Baldwin are named: Laetta, Thomas, Earl and 
Eugene (deceased). After our subject'smarriage 
he was given one hundred and sixty acres of 
land by his father. To the cultivation of this 
property he gave his attention, increasing its 
value by the erection of a substantial farm house. 
He continued to reside there until after the death 
of his father, when he purchased the home resi- 
dence and one hundred and twenty acres of the 
place. Removing to it, he has since resided here. 
He has given his time largely to the cattle busi- 
ness, in which he has been exceptionally .suc- 
cessful. In his labors as a tiller of the soil and 
as a stock-raiser he has displayed practical com- 
mon sense, discrimination and an ability to work 
to a good advantage, and the success that has 
followed his efforts proves that he was fortunate 
in the selection of an occupation. His forefathers 
were Democrats, and he is equally stanch in his 
allegiance to this party. 



I EVI RUSSELL CRAWFORD, who .settled 
It in Ottawa in 1867, was identified with the 
l~) growing interests of this city from that time 
until his death. He was a descendant of Deacon 
John and Sarah (Fisher) Crawford, who came to 
the new world in 1754 and settled upon a farm in 
Warren, Knox County, Me. Although unfamiliar 
with general farming (having been a shepherd in 
his native land) he was industrious and met with 
considerable success. For years he served as a 
deacon in the Baptist Church. His son, Capt. 
James Crawford, was a sea captain and part 
owner of the steamer "Speedwell," which was 
seized by the French. John Crawford, .son of 
Capt. James and Margaret (Rivers) Crawford, 
was born in Warren in 1803 and engaged in 
farming in his native county until he died in 
1870. He married Mahala Russell, a native of 
Warren, and a daughter of Rufus and Mary 



(Fisher) Russell, both of whom died in 1819. 
Levi Russell, father of Rufus Russell, was of 
English descent and a member of a Puritan fam- 
ilj'. He moved from Plymouth, Mass., to Maine, 
where he died. During the Revolutionary war 
he served in the colonial army. His wife was 
Hannah Simmons, of Duxbury, Mass. The 
grandfather of Mary (Fisher) Russell, James 
Fisher, was born in 1760 and died in 1834. Dur- 
ing the Revolution he was sent to America as a 
British soldier, but deserted and joined the 
American ranks; for, being from Scotland, his 
sympathies were on the side of the struggling 
colonies. After the war ended he settled in War- 
ren, Me., and married Elizabeth, daughter of 
Archibald Robinson, a son of Dr. Moses Robin- 
son, who was of Scotch-Irish lineage and settled 
first in Cushing, Me., but later became a pioneer 
of Warren. Archibald Robinson married Mar- 
garet Watson. 

The family of which our subject was a mem- 
ber consisted of nine children, of whom Mrs. 
Luella Burdett and Mrs. Margaret Colbath (both 
of New Hampshire) alone survive. Levi Rus- 
sell, who was the third of the family, was born in 
Warren, Me., June 6, 1834, and was reared on 
the home farm, attending Warren Academy and 
afterward teaching. In Thomaston, Me., he was 
apprenticed to house and ship carpentering, and 
for three years was employed on a ship plying 
between New York and Liverpool. During this 
time he had several dangerous trips, once being 
nearly shipwrecked in a storm. During one win- 
ter he visited Cuba and frequently his ship 
anchored in New York and New Orleans. After 
the Portland fire he engaged in building there 
for a year. In the fall of 1867 he came to Ottawa, 
where he engaged in contracting and building, 
among his contracts having those for the Baptist 
Church, second ward school, Horace J. Smith's 
block, the new building of the Ottawa Uni- 
versity and .some of the finest blocks and houses 
in the city. After the Chicago fire he engaged 
in contracting in that city in 1871-72, but with 
that exception continued to make Ottawa his 
home until his death. He built several houses 
in the city and became the owner of farm lands 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



317 



near by. For years he was a member of the 
board of education and the city council. In 1872 
he was made a trustee of Ottawa University, 
which position he held continuously (except one 
year when away) until 1896, and for fourteen 
years he served as secretarj' of the board. At 
the same time he was a member of the executive 
committee. Fraternally he was a Mason. Dur- 
ing almost his entire life he was a trustee and 
deacon in the Baptist Church. In addition to his 
constant work for the university and church he 
was also foremost in the temperance cause, and 
it was largely due to his efforts that Ottawa was 
able to have prohibition several years before it 
was made a state law. In the temperance cause 
he was an indefatigable worker and he was also 
active in the p''osecution of the violators of the 
law. Through this means he did not a little 
toward making Ottawa one of the most desirable 
residence towns in the state. For years he taught 
a Sunday-school class, and in other ways he did 
all within his power to promote the cause of the 
church. When the new building at the university 
was erected he was one of the most generous con- 
tributors toward it, and at other times the uni- 
versity received other benefactions from him. He 
was a thoughtful reader and thinker, and pos- 
sessed clear-cut convictions upon all important 
questions. Politically he was a stanch Republi- 
can (casting his first vote for Fremont and Day- 
ton) and always remained steadfast to those prin- 
ciples. His death occurred April 18, 1897, in 
the city where for so long he had been an hon- 
ored and influential citizen. 

September 26, 1866, Mr. Crawford married, in 
Warren, Me., Miss Inez J. Kalloch, who was 
born in that town, a daughter of Lermond and 
Sarah (Robinson) Kalloch. Her grandfather, 
Benjamin Kalloch, who was born in 1785, served 
in the war of 18 12, and died in 1838; he married 
Esther Libby, who was born in 1787 and died in 
1832. She was a daughter of Nathan and Eliza- 
beth (Eermond) Libby, the former born in 1761, 
and died in 1837. Nathan was a son of Maj. 
Hatevil Libby, who was a major of militia in the 
Revolutionary war; he was born in 1737 and died 
in 1820. His wife, who was Jane (Watson) 



Libby, was born in 1735 and died in 1819. Ben- 
jamin Kalloch was a son of Alexander Kalloch, 
who was born in 1740, served as a lieutenant in 
the Revolutionary war, and was the first to raise 
the stars and stripes over Warren, where he died 
in 1826. His forefathers were Scotch-Irish; his 
father, Finlay Kalloch, came to America from the 
north of Ireland about 17 19 and after his mar- 
riage to Mary Young removed to Portsmouth, 
N. H., thence to Warren, Me., in 1735. Eliza- 
beth Lermond was a daughter of Alexander and 
Mary (Harkness) Lermond, the latter of Welsh 
descent. The former, who was born in London- 
derry in 1707, came to America with his parents 
in 1719; he owned mills at Warren, where he died 
in 1790. Lermond Kalloch was born in 1810 
and died in 1893; his wife was born in 18 15 and 
died in 1863. She was a daughter of Lewis and 
Eunice (Fairbanks) Robinson, the latter a daugh- 
ter of John and Eunice (Payson) Fairbanks and 
a granddaughter of Capt. Samuel Payson, of 
Revolutionary fame. John Fairbanks was also 
an officer in the colonial army. Lewis Robinson 
was a son of Andrew Robinson, of Scotch de- 
scent. Lermond Kalloch was a prominent farmer 
living in Warren and was active in religious 
affairs, being for many years a deacon in the 
Baptist Church. He had only two children, Mrs. 
Crawford (the wife of the subject of our sketch) 
and Elmus N. The latter, who was a sergeant 
in Company I, Twentieth Maine Infantry, during 
the Civil war, and remained in the army until 
peace was declared, died in Fort Scott, Kans., in 
August, 1887. 

Mr. and Mrs. Crawford were the parents of 
three children. Clarence Buck, who graduated 
from Brown University in June, 1887, died in 
October of the same year, when twenty years of 
age, being accidentally killed while boarding a 
train at Auburudale, Mass. His death, in the 
dawn of manhood, when every prospect was 
bright and his future seemed rich with hope, was 
a severe blow to the family. He was a member 
of the Phi Beta Kappa and Delta Kappa Epsilon. 
The only daughter, Inez Mabel, graduated from 
Ottawa University in 1892 with the degree of 
A. B., and afterward taught in Grand Island 



3i8 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



(Neb.) College for some time, but is now agent 
for the Mutual Life Insurance Companj- of New 
York in Ottawa. Prominent in social life, she 
was the leader in organizing the local chapter of 
Daughters of the Revolution and was for two 
years president of the M. P. M. Club, the oldest 
ladies' literary club here. The only living son, 
Ralph Kalloch, is a member of the class of 1901, 
Ottawa Universitj-. 



pQlLLIAM H. WILLIAMS, who is the 
I A/ o^^''^^'' of fourteen hundred acres, is recog- 
Y Y nized as one of the most extensive and suc- 
cessful stockmen of Harrison Township, Frank- 
lin County. He was born in Phoenixville, Pa., 
December 2, 1845, ^ son of William and Ellen 
(Cohn) Williams, natives respectively of Wales 
and England. His father came to the United 
States in 1844 and twelve years later established 
his home in Kansas, taking up a claim in Cen- 
tropolis Township, Franklin County, and in 
March, 1857, moving his family to the place. 
There he built up a large and important stock 
business, and in time came to be one of the 
largest shippers in the county. His shipments 
were not limited to this country alone, but he 
also shipped beef cattle to Liverpool, England, 
although the most of the shipments were made 
to Buffalo and New York City. For years he 
raised horses, mules and cattle on a large scale, 
and there was no branch of the stock business 
with which he was unfamiliar. At the time of 
his death he owned five hundred acres of laud, 
all of which he had improved and increased in 
value. He died in 1884, at the age of seventy 
years, and his wife passed away when fifty-two 
years of age. They left three sons, William H., 
M. T. and Richard. 

Coming to Kansas in 1855, our subject settled 
with his parents in Centropolis Township in 1857, 
and he has since been interested in farming and 
stock-raising. In 1879 he began feeding cattle 
on a farm of his own in Centropolis Township, 
and in this waj' he secured a start in the stock 
business. In 1885 he sold that farm and moved 
to Cutler Township, where he bought twenty 



hundred and seventy acres, formerlj- owned by 
C. C. Cole, and on it he engaged, in the stock 
business initil his removal to Harrison Township 
in 1893. He is one of the large land owners of 
this township. His attention is given closely to 
the buying, feeding and shipping of cattle and 
hogs, and he is considered a thoroughly ex- 
perienced and successful stockman. He is inter- 
ested in movements beneficial to his township. 
From the age of twenty-one until the Chicago 
convention he was a Democrat, but when the 
Democrats inserted in their platform a plank ad- 
vocating the free coinage of silver he left the 
ranks of that party and has since affiliated with 
the Republicans. He has never been active in 
local elections, nor has besought official positions. 
In 187 1 Mr. Williams married Miss Phoebe E. 
Foster, who died, leaving three children: Eliza- 
beth, wife of W. L. McCandless; William, who 
is married and lives in Peoria Township, and 
Alice. His present wife bore the maiden name 
of Eva Randall and was born in Indiana. 



I YMAN REID. On the corner of Elm and 
It Third streets stands what is without doubt 
[_2f the finest residence in Ottawa. It was 
erected by Mr. and Mrs. Reid in 1898-99 and is 
constructed of buff colored brick, of a style of 
architecture that is modern and imposing. With- 
in may be found every modern convenience and 
improvement, while the whole is furnished with 
an elegance and harmony that reflect the tastes 
of the inmates. The charming eSect is height- 
ened by well-kept grounds and the various ap- 
purtenances of a model home. Indeed, it may be 
safely said that few places in eastern Kansas are 
more beautiful than this. 

A citizen of Ottawa since October i, 1875, Mr. 
Reid was born at Mount Pleasant, Jefferson 
County, Ohio, on the 4th of July, 1852. His 
father, William, who was born at Reidville, Pa., 
moved by wagons to Ohio, and became a manu- 
facturer at Mount Pleasant, where he met with 
large success. For years he served as school di- 
rector and justice of the peace, and was also a 
director of the First National Bank of Mount 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



319 



Pleasant. In politics he was a Republican and 
an Abolitionist, and in religion adhered to Pres- 
byterian doctrines. He married Rachel S. 
Mitchell, who was born at Scott's Ridge, Bel- 
mont County, Ohio, the daughter of a farmer 
and pioneer of that county, and a sister of J. J. 
Mitchell, who is prominently connected with the 
Chicago & Alton Railroad in St. lyouis; and also 
of William H. Mitchell, vice-president of the Illi- 
nois Trust and Savings Bank of Chicago (whose 
son, John J. Mitchell, is president of that famous 
banking institution). 

The family of William and Rachel S. Reid con- 
sisted of four sons and four daughters, of whom 
two sons and three daughters are living. One of 
the sons, G.W., died in Baltimore, Md.; another, 
William H., is second vice-president of the Illi- 
nois Trust and Savings Company of Chicago. 
The youngest son, Lyman, was born and reared 
at Mount Pleasant, where he obtained his rudi- 
mentary education. Afterward he attended 
Mount Union College for two years and the Pitts- 
burgh (Pa.) Commercial College. The years 1871 
and 1872 he spent in Chicago in business, after 
which he returned to college. For some years 
his health was poor, and, hoping that travel 
might prove beneficial, he came west in 1875, 
visiting his sister, wife of Rev. D. C. Milner, in 
Ottawa. He gained in health so rapidlj' that he 
decided to remain in that citj'. He accepted a 
position as bookkeeper for the Forest mills, 
which during that year (1875) carried on an im- 
mense business in the purchase and shipment of 
castor beans. During 1875 Franklin County 
was the banner county in the United States in the 
size of its castor bean crop, there being about two 
hundred thousand bushels raised here, which 
sold at $2.50 a bushel. Almost all of that enor- 
mous crop was bought by the Forest mills, and 
Mr. Reid had charge of its purchase and ship- 
ment. After having remained in the same posi- 
tion for two years he engaged in the hardware 
business on Main street, being a member of the 
firm of Robinson & Reid for three years and Reid 
& HoUiday for two years, after which he sold his 
interest in the store. In 1884 he became book- 
keeper at the Excelsior mills and continued in 



that capacity until June i, 1898, when he re- 
signed. In politics he favors the principles for 
which the Republican party stands. Fraternally 
he is connected with the lodge and encampment 
of Odd Fellows. 

In Freeport, Pa., Mr. Reid married Miss Ida 
M. Warden, who was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., 
and received her education in Mount Union Col- 
lege. Her father, Joseph L. Warden, was for 
years an oil refiner in Freeport, but retired from 
business in favor of the Standard Oil Company. 
He died in Philadelphia. His brother, William 
Warden, was associated with William Rockefeller 
in the starting of the now famous Standard Oil 
Company. Mr. and Mrs. Reid are identified 
with the Presbyterian Church, in the work of 
which they take a warm interest. They became 
the parents of two children, but only one is now 
living, Joseph Warden Reid, who is a student in 
Phillips Academy at Andover, Mass., prepara- 
tory to a course in Yale College. As a pianist 
and vocalist Mrs. Reid has exhibited superior 
talent, and her voice, often heard in solos, has 
won the admiration of all for its sweet and pure 
tones, as well as for the thorough knowledge of 
music displayed. 

HON. WILLIAM H. WOODLIEF. The 
stock and farm interests of Franklin County 
have a prominent representative in Mr. 
Woodlief, who has resided in Ottawa Township 
since 1877. Previously a resident of large cities, 
but tiring of metropolitan life, became to Kansas 
during the year named, with a view to purchasing 
a homestead. He visited his present place for 
the first time by night and was taken through 
the house, but it was impossible to make a thor- 
ough investigation of the property by lamp 
light. However, he saw enough to convince 
him this was the place he wanted, and in about 
twenty minutes he decided to buy. Returning 
to town, he closed the transaction. The place 
not only possesses scenic attractions, but is also of 
historical interest, as it was here that the bor- 
der ruffians commenced their depredations. 
They robbed J. T. Jones (then the owner of the 
place) and burned the dwelling. Afterward Mr. 



326 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Jones erected the present commodious stone resi- 
dence, in which have been entertained many of 
the noted men of the past forty years, among 
them Horace Greeley and Abraham Liticohi. 
The land lies on the old Santa Fe trail and of re- 
cent 3'ears a postofEce and station named Wood- 
lief have been established on the farm on the line 
of the Santa Fe Railroad. 

In Clermont County, Ohio, Mr. Woodlief was 
born December 27, 1839. His father and grand- 
father, both named R. Y. Woodlief, were natives 
of Virginia and farmers there, owning land near 
Richmond. Their ancestors came to Virginia 
from England early in the eighteenth century 
and were planters. They are descended from a 
long line of English ancestrj'. The father, who 
was an old-line Whig and later a Republican, 
served as constable and justice of the peace. 
He was a class-leader and trustee in the Method- 
ist Church. Near Knoxville, Tenn., he married 
Susan Sanders, by whom he had seven children, 
five now living, William H. being the fifth and 
the only one in Kansas. The last years of the 
father's life were spent near Cincinnati, Ohio. 

In public schools, Milford Seminary and the 
Ohio State University at Delaware, Ohio, our 
subject obtained his education. In Cincinnati he 
learned the painter's trade. Subsequently secur- 
ing a position as teacher in Hamilton County, he 
successfully passed the required examination and 
was given a first-class certificate in Cincinnati, 
after which he taught for eight months. The 
war then broke out and his school was selected as 
headquarters for the officers of Camp Dennison. 
August 6, 1 86 1, he enlisted in Company G, First 
Ohio Cavalry, and saw active service with the 
army of the Cumberland, taking part in the bat- 
tles of Shiloh, Corinth, Champion Hills, Stone 
River, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, and the 
march to and siege of Atlanta. He also took part 
in Kilpatrick's raid around Atlanta and other im- 
portant engagements. He received a few wounds, 
though none of which was serious. After a short 
time in the ranks he was made orderly sergeant, 
four or five months later became second lieutenant 
and in a year was promoted to the captaincy, 
which position he held until his resignation in 



October, 1864. He resigned owing to the fact 
that he had been assigned to another company 
than his own and he felt that to be an injustice 
to the companj-. The company had been poorly 
officered and suS'ered misfortune, but he put 
them into shape, and, as the first lieutenant de- 
veloped into an excellent commissioned officer, 
he desired to give him an opportimitj' to prove 
his ability. 

Returning to Ohio, Captain Woodlief engaged 
in the mercantile business at Withamsville and 
in farming and in contracting. Later for five 
years he carried on a cigar factorj- at the above 
place and Miamiville. In 1873 he took a mail 
contract, which business he has continued to 
some extent ever since, having done city work in 
all of the larger cities except Chicago and New 
York. In 1877 he came to Kansas and bought 
nine hundred and sixty acres in Franklin Countj-, 
and now owns a thousand and forty acres in one 
bod}', besides a farm of two hundred and forty 
acres near by. The most of this land is now 
in tame grass. The stock industry has been his 
principal business. He keeps on his place from 
one to three hundred head of Shorthorn cattle. 
He keeps on hand about two thousand head of 
Angora goats for sale and breeding purposes. 
At one time he kept from one hundred to one 
hundred and fifty head of horses and mules, but 
at present does not handle many. 

A prominent Republican, Mr. Woodlief has 
been township trustee and served one term in the 
state legislature, where he was interested in se- 
curing the passage of the bill to build the Locust 
street bridge in Ottawa and also aided other 
needed legislation. He is a member of the Ma- 
sonic order, having attained the Royal Arch de- 
gree, and George H. Thomas Post, G. A. R., 
of Ottawa. In the j-ear 1864, in Ohio, he mar- 
ried Rose, daughter of Benjamin Archer, a farmer 
and at one time county treasurer of Clermont 
Count}-, Ohio. They have five children: Maude, 
wife of James Brazier, residing on the home 
farm; Benjamin, an engineer on the Chicago, 
Burlington & Quincy Railroad, living in Brook- 
field, Mo.; William, who spends his time largely 
in the buying and selling of stock and is now in 




EBEN BALnWIX. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD 



323 



Nebraska; Archer, who is engaged in railroading 
in Brookfield; and Cassie, who is the only mem- 
ber of the family born in Kansas. Mrs. Wood- 
lief died in 1883, and he married his present wife, 
Mrs. Lulu (Allen) Riggs, October 13, 1892. 



BEN BALDWIN. The success which has 
^ attended the efforts of Mr. Baldwin since he 
^ came to Douglas County proves that this 
section of Kansas offers abundant opportunities 
to an energetic, progressive man. In the summer 
of 1867 he bought a farm in Kanwaka Township, 
but soon sold the property, and bought one hun- 
dred and sixty acres in Wakarusa Township, 
where he has since resided. The place was but 
slightly improved and it required constant labor 
on his part to effect the improvements desired. 
From the first he was interested in the stock bus- 
iness, beginning on a ver}' small scale and grad- 
ually adding to his herd, at the same time im- 
proving the grade of his stock. He now manages 
over eight hundred acres, almost all of which is 
in the Kaw bottom, and about six hundred acres 
are devoted to cereals. He makes a specialt}' of 
Galloway cattle, twenty of which are eligible to 
registr}\ He has also engaged in the breeding 
of Clydesdale horses, and carries thirty or forty 
head of mules which are used in his contracts for 
railroad grading. On his farm are situated the 
club house and lake owned by the Lake View 
Fishing and Shooting Association. Through his 
efforts he has had established the station of Lake 
View, which has a store and a telegraph, express 
and post-office. 

Mr. Baldwin was born in Woodville, Sandusky 
County, Ohio, March 15, 1842. His father, 
William, a native of New York, learned the 
blacksmith's trade in youth and when a young 
man went to Ohio, where at first he followed his 
trade, but later cleared and improved a farm, also 
conducted a hotel. He was a Democrat of the 
Jacksonian type and took an interest in local af- 
fairs. In religion he was connected with the 
United Brethren Church. By his marriage, in 
Ohio, to Caroline Kelsey, he had four children: 
Elizabeth, who married Joseph A. Harpel, of 



Olyrapia, Ore.; Eben; Helen, wife of R. W. Gor- 
rill, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this vol- 
ume; and Virginia, wife of Charles H. Taylor, a 
farmer at Eskridge, Wabaunsee County. 

After attending Elm Grove Institute for three 
years our subject assumed the management of the 
home place; his father having died when he was 
a boy of eight years, the responsibilities of life 
were early thrust upon him. He remained at 
home until August, 1867, when he came to Kan- 
sas and settled in Douglas County. His means 
were limited at the time, but through his judi- 
cious management he has become one of the most 
prosperous men of his county. In addition to 
farming and stock-rai.sing he has also engaged 
extensively in railroad contracting. In 1886 he 
began railroad tax work for the Santa Fe Rail- 
road and has since done all of the work of that 
kind for the road in Kansas, except on its branch 
in southern Kansas. He has also had charge of 
the grading for the Chicago, Rock Island & Pa- 
cific road in this state, being associated in these 
contracts with his brother-in-law, Mr. Gorrill, 
and employing four gangs of men. 

In 1887 Mr. Baldwin erected the fine residence 
which he now occupies. About the same time he 
built a granary for corn and hay, which utilized 
twenty-eight thousand feet of lumber in its build- 
ing. His stone barn, built in 1879, has a capac- 
ity of eighty tons of hay, and contains in the 
basement a stable with stalls for thirty head of 
horses. All the modern improvements may be 
found on his farm and in his house. From his 
private gas plant the gas is generated for lighting 
the residence and also for cooking purposes. He 
is a stockholder and director in the Merchants 
National Bank, at Lawrence, and in the Lawrence 
Vitrified Brick and Tile Company. In earlier 
life a Republican, he is now independent in poli- 
tics. For six years he served as township trustee 
and for two years, under appointment by Gover- 
nor Humphrey, he held the position of state house 
commissioner. In religion he is connected with 
the Baptist Church. Fraternally he is a member 
of Lawrence Lodge No. 6, A. F. & A. M.; Law- 
rence Chapter No. 4, R. A. M. ; DeMolay Com- 
mandery No. 4, K. T.; Topeka Council; Abdal- 



324 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



lah Shrine, N. M. S., of Leavenworth, and is also 
associated with the Commercial, Athletic and 
Topeka Clubs. 

At Sandusky, Ohio, Mr. Baldwin married Ette, 
daughter of Enoch and Catharine Nichols, of 
Erie County, Ohio. To this marriage were born 
five children: William E., deceased; Helen M., 
wife of Alexander C. Mitchell, of Lawrence; 
Carrie, who died in infancy; Virginia, wife of 
James Mitchell, of Lawrence; and Carrie (2d) 
deceased. The second marriage of Mr. Baldwin 
united him with Grace Herning, daughter of 
Michael and Sarah A. Herning, of Lawrence. 
They have a daughter, Mary. 



qUDGE CHARLES L. ROBBINS. There 
I are very few of the residents of Franklin 
(2/ County who have been identified with its 
history for a longer period than the subject of 
this article; nor are there many who have been 
more intimately identified with public affairs. 
In April, 1856, he came to Kansas. His first lo- 
cation in Franklin County was at Centropolis, 
but he soon removed to Minneola, one mile dis- 
tant, which was subsequently for a time the 
county seat. In the spring of 1862 he established 
his headquarters at Ohio City. When Ottawa 
was started, in August, 1864, he was one of its 
first settlers, and from that day to this has been 
connected with the advancement of the cit}'. 

The Robbins family is of German extraction. 
Benjamin Robbins, a native of Connecticut and a 
pioneer of Ohio, served with valor in the Revo- 
lutionary war. His son, Joseph Robbins, also a 
native of Connecticut, served in the war of 1812, 
and afterward devoted himself to farm pursuits 
in Ohio, where he died at ninety-one years of 
age. He married Mehitable Hurlburt, who was 
born in Massachusetts and died in Ohio. They 
became the parents of seven sons and three 
daughters, of whom all but one son attained ma- 
turity, and six sons and one daughter are still 
living. Three sons took part in the Civil war, 
James M., Theodore and Charles L. The first 
named, who was a member of the First Kansas 
Battery, came to Kansas in 1856 and is now a 



farmer in Franklin County; Theodore, who was 
a member of an Ohio regiment, is now living in 
Seneca County, Ohio. 

The seventh in order of birth among the ten 
children was Charles L.,W'liowas born in La- 
Grange, Ohio, June 22, 1833. In youth 
he went to Michigan and from there to McHenry 
Countj', 111., where he worked on a farm for a 
year. After spending six months in Kenosha, 
Wis., he came to Kan.sas, arriving in Lawrence 
April 18, 1856, having made the trip from Wis- 
consin to Ohio, then by boat from Cincinnati to 
St. Louis, and from there to Kansas City also by 
boat. The party of which he was a member was 
led by Colonel Wood, who had gathered the 
companj' in Ohio. At St. Louis thej' met a 
Rhode Island company who accompanied them, 
increasing their number to one hundred and 
forty. On reaching Kansas City they hired 
teams and wagons to convey the women and 
children to Lawrence, while the men walked. 

Desiring to secure a timber claim, Mr. Rob- 
bins came into Franklin County and located land. 
He returned to Lawrence on the night Sheriff 
Jones was shot. Coming back to Centropolis, he 
began to make improvements on his property, 
but soon enlisted in Captain Shore's company, in 
which he .served until October, 1856, taking part 
in the battles of Franklin, Fort Titus, Prairie 
City, Bull Creek and Middle Creek. Governor 
Geary, when appointed, disbanded the company. 
Mr. Robbins then returned to Centropolis, but 
was ill for several months, as a result of the 
campaigning. In January, 1858, the governor of 
Kansas appointed him sheriff of Franklin Coun- 
ty, which position he filled until January, i860, 
being the fir.st man in the office. Having made 
several arrests which incurred the di.spleasure of 
certain parties, he was defeated for the nomina- 
tion in 1S59. During the fir.st term of court held 
in the county (1858) there were forty indict- 
ments and he had to make all the arrests. Soon 
after the expiration of his term he was appointed 
deputy -sheriff. In the fall of 1861 he was nomi- 
nated and elected sheriff, and by re-election 
served until 1866, holding the office during the 
perilous times of the Civil war. He was a mem- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



325 



ber of the Tenth Kansas State Militia, belonging 
first to Company A and later to Company C and 
Company K, and at the battle of Westport served 
as sergeant. From 1 866 to 1870 he engaged in the 
livery business and during two years of this time 
' was county assessor. In i86g he was re-elected 
sheriff and served for one term. In 1870 he 
opened a grocery in Ottawa, which he conducted 
until the spring of 1889, and during ten years of 
that time served as county commissioner, hold- 
ing the office longer than anyone else had ever 
occupied it. Since 1889 he has served, by suc- 
cessive re-elections, as justice of the peace. In 
the various positions he has held his service has 
been characterized by integrity, energy and faith- 
fulness to every duty, and has won him an enviable 
reputation as an ofiicial. He has always been 
active in the Republican party and has led in its 
councils in his home city. Fraternally he is con- 
nected with the Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows and has been noble grand of the lodge and 
an officer in the encampment. 

In Centropolis Judge Robbins married Miss 
Mary Brundage, October 4, 1858, who was born 
in Westmoreland County, Pa., and in 1856 ac- 
companied her father, Aaron Brundage, to Doug- 
las County, Kans. She died at Ohio City in 1869. 
Of her three children, Emma died at fourteen 
years; Milton is engaged in business in Los 
Angeles, Cal., and Fannie is the wife of M. T. 
Ferguson and lives in Ottawa. 



(31 MASA T. SHARPE. During the period of 
I I his connection with the history of Ottawa, 
/ I Mr. Sharpe acquired a reputation that was 
not limited to his city or county, but extended 
throughout the state. With his interests politi- 
cally centered in the Republican, he gave his 
time, his thought and his influence to advance its 
welfare and promote its progress in the state 
where he lived. Both personally and through 
the medium of his paper he did much to secure 
the success of his party. However, he was not a 
narrow partisan, but a man of broad views, ever 
conceding to others that liberality and freedom of 
opinion which he demanded for himself One of 



his most important works was in connection with 
the State Board of Charities, of which he was 
appointed a member by Governor Anthony and 
re-appointed by each governor until failing health 
forced him to resign in 1889. His service in this 
appointment was most valuable and reflected 
credit upon his intelligence and wise judgment. 
He assisted in the building up of all the state 
charitable institutions except the Osawatomie 
Asylum. After fifteen years of constant service 
as treasurer of the board, when his accounts were 
balanced and audited, they were not even one 
cent out, which fact goes to show that he was a 
methodical and accurate business man. 

Mr. Sharpe was born in Watertown, N. Y., 
December 16, 1843. His father, Artemus Trow- 
bridge Sharpe, was born in Pomfret, Conn., in 
18 12, and removed to Watertown, N. Y., where 
he was a teacher of the violin and voice culture. 
From there he went to Wabasha, Minn., where 
he was a pioneer farmer. In 1873 he settled in 
Ottawa, where he lived until his death, in 1895. 
During his residence in Watertown he married 
Helen May Trowbridge, who was born in that 
city in 1822 and died in Minnesota. They were 
the parents of four children who attained matur- 
ity. One of these, Edward, was a soldier in a 
Minnesota regiment during the Rebellion, and 
now resides in Franklin County, Kans. The 
next to the youngest of the family, our subject, 
was educated in New York and Minnesota and 
studied law in St. Paul. For a time he was mail 
agent for the Northern Packet Company on the 
"City of St. Paul" and the "Phil Sheridan," 
which ran between St. Paul and Dubuque. From 
1871 to 1873 he edited the Wabasha Herald, after 
which he sold out. In 1873 he came to Ottawa 
and established the Republican, in the publication 
of which he became known as one of the most 
prominent journalists in the state. He built the 
Republican block, which has a frontage of twen- 
ty-five feet. In addition to his city property he 
owned an eighty-acre farm three miles northwest 
of Ottawa. He was a man of sincere Christian 
life and a faithful member of the Congregational 
Church. When he passed away, August 18, 
1890, it was recognized that his church, his 



326 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



party and his home town had met with a great 
loss, and his fellow-citizens united in testifying 
to his worth as a man and his kindness as a 
friend. 

For more than twenty years Mr. Sharpe was 
blessed by the companionship of a lady of noble 
character, one whose admirable qualities make 
her much beloved by her friends. Miss H. Ro- 
sella Moon was born in Gerry, Chautauqua 
County, N. Y., a daughter of John B. and Alzina 
(Babcock) Moon, natives, respectively, of Troy 
and Black River Falls, N. Y. Her grandfather, 
John Moon, was born in York state, member 
of an old family of New England and of English 
descent, and for some years he cultivated a farm 
in Chautauqua County, N. Y., where he died. 
Her father, John B., moved in 1849 to Janesville, 
Wis., and became the owner of a farm in Rock 
County. He is now living in Chicago. His 
wife was a daughter of Thomas Babcock, a farmer 
in New York; she died in Janesville, leaving five 
children. Mrs. Sharpe, who was next to the 
oldest of the family, was reared in Janesville and 
was one of the first graduates from the high 
school in that city. Afterward she taught for 
eight years, becoming principal of a school and 
gaining a high rank among the teachers of her 
locality. At one time she accompanied a num- 
ber of teachers on the "Phil vSheridan" to the 
Teachers' Association convention in St. Paul, 
and it was while on this boat that she first met 
Mr. Sharpe. They were married in Janesville 
on the ist of December, 1869, and their mar- 
riage was blessed by five children, but the eld- 
est, Artemus A., and the youngest, John Moon, 
died in 18S6, when thirteen and two years of 
age, respectively. Frances Louise has made a 
specialty of the violin, which she studied under 
the celebrated Jacobson of the Chicago Conserva- 
tory of Music; she is now engaged in teaching 
music, in which she has been very successful. 
The two living sons are Araasa Trowbridge, of 
New Orleans, and George Anthony, of Ottawa. 
Mrs. Sharpe is a member of the Baptist Church 
and is an active worker in various .societies con- 
nected with that denomination. She is also a 
member of the Woman's Columbian Club. Hav- 



ing associated for so many years with her hus- 
band in his plans and hopes, and having gained 
from him a broad knowledge of public affairs, 
which knowledge she has enlarged by general 
reading, it is but natural that she should continue 
her interest in matters relating to the progress of 
the state and nation, and should keep well in- 
formed concerning the problems confronting our 
country to-day. 

GlLVIN H. WRIGHT, M. D., general .sur- 
Ll geon in charge of the Atchison, Topeka & 
I I Santa Fe Railroad hospital at Ottawa, was 
born in Brookline, N. H., March 23, 1867, a son 
of Moses and Etta (Gardner) Wright, natives of 
New Hampshire. He is descended from a 
colonial family of New England. His great- 
grandfather, Timothy Wright, served with valor 
in the Revolutionary war and afterward made his 
home in New Hampshire until his death, when 
ninety-eight years of age. Timothy Wright, Jr., 
son of this Revolutionary soldier, was a large 
owner of citj' property and countr}- estates, and 
made his home in New Hampshire. In the state 
where he was reared Moses Wright followed the 
trade of mechanic and woodworker, living the 
quiet and u-seful life of a private citizen. 

The eldest of four children born of the two 
marriages of his father. Dr. Wright grew to man- 
hood amid the surroundings familiar to his 
ancestors for several generations. From an early 
age he was interested in hospital work, and 
through his employment as nurse laid the founda- 
tion of his subsequent professional experience 
and knowledge. It was his ambition in boj-- 
hood to become a physician and surgeon. The 
study of anatomy and physiology was his favorite 
among those comprising his curriculum. As 
.soon as circumstances permitted he entered the 
medical department of the University of Vermont, 
and there he took the complete course of lectures, 
graduating in 1S90 with the degree of M. D. 
He has since taken two post-graduate courses, 
one of these being in New York. 

In 1S90 Dr. Wright entered the service of the 
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company, 
with which he has since been connected. He was 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD, 



327 



first assigned to the Carthage mines in New 
Mexico, but in the fall of 1891 was transferred to 
the Ottawa hospital as surgeon, which position 
he has since successfully filled, having entire 
charge of the hospital. Surgery is his specialty 
and in it he is well grounded and thoroughly in- 
formed concerning every detail. His study of 
two years under Maj. J. M. Banister, M. D., of 
Fort Leavenworth, was of great assistance to 
him in the broadening of his surgical knowledge. 
Besides his hospital work he has built up a gen- 
eral professional practice, which extends through 
this part of Franklin County. He is a member 
of the Kansas State and American Medical 
Associations, and keeps in touch with every 
organization and movement connected with the 
profession. 

Prior to leaving New England Dr. Wright was 
married in Burlington, Vt., to Miss Olive San- 
born, who was born in Amesbury, Mass., and by 
whom he has two children, Fay and Alvin. 
Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of 
Pythias, and in Masonry is identified with Frank- 
lin Lodge No. 18, A. F. & A. M.; Chapter No. 
7, R. A. M.; Tancred Commandery, K. T.; 
Topeka Consistor3', and Abdallah Temple, 
N. M. S. In politics he is not active, but he 
keeps informed concerning the principles adopted 
by various political organizations, and votes with 
the Republican party. In religion he is con- 
nected with the Congregational Church. 



GlMBROSE BIGSBY. Of the farms on the 
Li California road there is none that attracts 
I I more attention than does the homestead 
owned and occupied by Mr. Bigsby. It is situ- 
ated on section 28, Wakarusa Township, Douglas 
County. Noticeable among its improvements 
are the commodious brick residence erected in 
1894 3nd the substantial barn, 40x50, built in 
1898. From a large windmill water is pumped 
into tanks to be used in the barn, while the water 
used in the house is supplied by a pump fifty- 
three feet deep. The appearance of the property 
proves tlje owner to be a man of energy and 
thrifty qualities. While he had many difficulties 



to overcome during the first ten years of his life 
in Kansas, being a practical farmer he finally 
gained success, and his life is an example of what 
ma)^ be accomplished by energy and ability. 

In Montgomery County, N. Y. , Mr. Bigsby 
was born November 17, 1839. His father, Will- 
iam, a native of York state, engaged in farming 
there until 1844, when he moved to Hartford, 
Wis., and engaged in the manufacturing busi- 
ness. He continued there until his death, in 
1875. During the existence of the Whig party 
he voted for its principles, and afterward became 
a Republican. He was an upright, honorable 
man, and stood high in his community. By his 
marriage to Sarah Lighthall, who was born in 
Pennsylvania and reared in New York, he had 
four children, of whom our subject, the oldest, 
was the only one who attained maturity. He 
had few opportunities to obtain an education, 
and the information he now possesses was mostly 
acquired by experience. When twenty years of 
age he became brakeman on a construction train. 
Nine months later he was made conductor and 
ran on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul road 
for nine years. 

Coming to Kansasin i868, Mr. Bigsby and his 
father-in-law bought two hundred acres of land 
on section 28, but they could not agree as to the 
best method of operating the land and after a year 
divided the property, our subject taking forty 
acres where his house now stands. Until he 
could get a start he followed other occupations 
in addition to farming. As he succeeded he 
added to his land until he now has two hundred 
acres, all of which (except twenty acres of timber) 
is excellently adapted for farming. He bought 
a half interest in a threshing machine, which he 
ran successfully for a number of years. After- 
ward he turned his attention to raising cattle and 
hogs, in which he was at one time engaged ex- 
tensively, but now has only about forty head of 
cattle and one hundred and fifty hogs. For three 
years after coming here his home was a building 
12x12, but as soon as possible he erected a resi- 
dence that was better adapted to the comfort of 
the family. 

April 13, 1861, Mr. Bigsby enlisted in Com- 



328 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



pany B, First Wisconsin Infantry, which was one 
of the first to respond to the call for seventy-five 
thousand men. Later he re-enlisted, but was 
taken ill with typhoid fever and honorably dis- 
charged. He is now a member of Washington 
Post No. 12, G. A. R., at Lawrence. In politics 
he votes with the Republicans. His marriage, 
May 3, 1863, united him with Lucretia Conant, 
of Hartford, Wis. They have four children: 
George William, a carpenter in Lawrence; Guy 
Ambrose, a farmer of Kanwaka Township; Sarah 
Belle, and Sarah Abigail. 



REV. JOHN W. FOULKROD, who resides 
in Wellsville, Franklin County, was born in 
Pike County, Pa., February 18, 1855, a son 
of George W. and Florence R. (Edwards) Foulk- 
rod, natives of Pennsylvania. On the paternal 
side he descends from Adam Foulkrod, who in 
1734 came from Strasburg, Germany, to eastern 
Pennsylvania and whose descendants were sub- 
sequently prominent in that state. At the open- 
ing of the Civil war George W. Foulkrod offered 
his services to defend the Union, enlisting in 
Company G, Fifty-sixth Pennsylvania Infantry. 
He served with valor on sharply contested battle- 
fields, strewn with the dead bodies of thousands 
who were loyal unto death to the convictions 
which they cherished. At the battle of Gettys- 
burg he was shot, but further information than 
that the family were never able to secure, and his 
body fills an unknown grave. His wife died in 
Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1868, leaving three sons, 
Walter, John W. and George Eugene, who were 
between ten and fifteen years of age. 

In 1S70, while in Indiana, our subject took ad- 
vantage of an opportunity to drive a team 
through to Kansas. Arriving at Rautoul, Frank- 
lin County, he worked as a farm hand for several 
months. He then went to Pomona and broke 
prairie land. In the fall he drove a team through 
to Texas, and after a .short time started to walk 
back to Kansas. He spent the winter in the 
Indian Territory and in the spring returned to 
Franklin County, where he worked as a farm 
hand until 1876. He then rented a farm at 



Greenwood for a year. While there he united 
with the Baptist Church. Returning to Rantoul, 
he rented a farm and for three years engaged in 
feeding cattle. Selling out in 1879, he began to 
preach, but did not engage in regular pastoral 
work until after he studied in the Baptist Univer- 
sity at Ottawa. For two years he was a student 
in that institution, but lack of means prevented 
him from completing the counse of study. He 
began to teach school, in which work he con- 
tinued for twelve years, meantime preaching as 
opportunit5' offered. He finally gave up teaching 
in order to devote himself entirely to ministerial 
work. In 1881 he accepted the pa.storates at 
Wellsville, New Hope and Bethel, to which he 
ministered for four years. Next he accepted a 
call to North Ottawa. In 1894 2nd 1895 he 
preached in Canton, S. Dak. He then returned 
to Wellsville and has since made his home here, 
meantime preaching at Gardner, Johnson County, 
seventeen miles east of this town. 

After coming to Kansas Mr. Foulkrod married 
Miss Mattie Curtis, a native of Indiana, who was 
brought to Kansas by her parents in childhood. 
Seven children were born of their marriage, four 
of whom are living: Florence, Laura, Lulu and 
John E., the daughters being students in the local 
schools, while the .son is a bright and promising 
boy of five years. 

As a Republican Mr. Foulkrod has maintained 
an interest and taken a part in local affairs. He 
has served as clerk of the village. Fraternally 
he is connected with Wellsville Lodge No. 356, 
A. F. & A. M., and Wellsville Lodge No. 135, 
I. O. O. F. 



EHARLES L. CONGER, who is a general 
merchant of Hesper, Douglas County, was 
born at this place in 1862, a descendant of 
an early family of New York, and a son of John 
and Eliza (Cole) Conger, natives of the latter 
state. His father, who was born near Rochester, 
made his home there for years, engaging in a 
general mercantile business, although in youth 
he had followed the weaver's trade. In 1858 he 
moved his stock of dry goods to Kansas, and tak- 
ing up a claim at what is now Hesper, he sold 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



329 



his goods here. After a time he embarked in 
the dairy business, in which he continued until 
the time of his death. He owned four hundred 
and eighty acres of land and was one of the most 
extensive farmers of Eudora Township. Fratern- 
ally he was a charter member of Eudora Lodge 
No. 42, I. O. O. F., in which he served as treas- 
urer for some years. His death occurred on his 
farm in January, 1872, when he was fifty-two 
years of age. . He was survived by his wife for 
many years, her death taking place on the home- 
stead in 1897, when she was seventy-six years of 
age. They were the parents of four children, 
namely: George, deceased; Theron, who lives in 
Oklahoma; Mary, whose home is in Colorado; 
and Charles L. 

Within a mile of his present home the subject 
of this sketch was reared and educated, gaining a 
common-school education in the district schools, 
while he afterward fitted for business life in the 
Lawrence Business College. At eighteen years 
of age he began the cultivation of a farm near 
Hesper, where he remained for eighteen years. 
In 189S he purchased the store and stock of A. 
B. Nicol, at Hesper, since which time he has 
carried on a general mercantile business, and at 
the same time he holds the office of postmaster at 
Hesper. In politics he is inclined to be inde- 
pendent, giving his support rather to the man 
than the party. For some time he was active in 
the Ancient Order of United Workmen, belong- 
ing to the lodge at Eudora. Like his father he 
has assisted in building up this part of the coun- 
ty and in extending its business interests. He 
was married in 188 1 to Minerva, daughter of 
William Coate, of Eudora, and they have two 
children living, Evelyn and Erie. 



NENRY H. RODGERS, a farmer and stock- 
raiser residing on section 22, Ottawa Town- 
ship, Franklin County, was born in Fay- 
ette County, Ohio, March 29, 1841, a son of 
William H. and Lucinda (Miners) Rodgers. 
His father, who was a native of Kentucky, re- 
moved to Ohio in boyhood and there for years 
engaged exteasively in farm pursuits. During 



1849 he settled in Shelby County, 111., where he 
became the owner of a valuable farm and contin- 
ued to reside until his death, in 1895. During 
the existence of the Whig party he advocated its 
principles and later voted with the Republicans. 
In religion he was a Presbyterian. He was twice 
married, both times in Ohio. By his first wife 
he had six children, namely: W. R., of Ottawa, 
Kans. ; Henry H.; Harvey, a farmer of Ottawa 
Township; James, deceased; Sadie E.; and Har- 
din, of Ottawa Township. 

At the age of eight years our subject accom- 
panied the family to Illinois. His educational 
advantages were limited and his present knowl- 
edge has been largely acquired by experience 
and observation. When twenty-two years of age 
he started out for himself, since which time he 
has engaged in farming. At first he cultivated 
land in Illinois, but in 1867 he came to Kansas 
and was among the first to settle on the Ottawa 
reservation, where he bought one hundred and 
sixty acres from the Indians. Of this tract only 
twelve acres had been broken, the remainder 
being timber or prairie land. On the place stood 
a small cabin that had been occupied by Indians; 
no other improvement had been made. It re- 
quired great effort on the part of Mr. Rodgers to 
get the place under cultivation, and only those 
who have had similar experiences can appreciate 
his struggle. However, he gradually put his 
plans into operation, and, as time went by, met 
with an increasing prosperity. He added to his 
property until he now owns two hundred and 
eighty acres in one body and well watered, which 
adapts it for stock purposes. When horses 
brought good prices he gave considerable atten- 
tion to raising them, but now devotes himself 
principally to raising good graded cattle. In- 
stead of raising general farm products, his land is 
in grass and grain for feed. 

In politics Mr. Rodgers is a Republican. He 
has served as road overseer and school director, 
and gives thoughtful attention to educational 
matters, desiring that his district shall have as 
good a school as possible. His religious connec- 
tions are with the Presbyterian Church. Octo- 
ber 16, 1862, he married Hannah C. Tull, of 111- 



330 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



inois, who was reared on a farm adjoining the 
one owned by the father of Mr. Rodgers. Con- 
sequently the two were acquainted from child- 
hood. They became the parents of four children 
namely; Annie, wife of H. A. Davis, a farmer of 
Green wood_Towuship, Franklin County; William 
M., who lives in Piatt County, 111.; John, who 
resides in Waverly, Coffey County, Kans. ; and 
Nettie B., who married J. W. Ferris, of Waver- 
ly, Kans. Mrs. Hannah Rodgers died in 1890. 
Not wishing to remain on the home farm after 
she had passed away, he rented the place and 
went to Waverly, Kans., where he still owns 
property. Later he was married in that place to 
Mrs. Elizabeth (Blair) Williams, formerly of 
Ohio. However, he had always been actively 
employed, and life in Waverly did not suit one 
of his energetic nature, so after four years there 
he returned to his farm, since which time he has 
superintended the propert}-. 



PjAVID E. MUNDEY, who has been one of 
mI the leading citizens of Linwood for years, 
\q) has been especially active in local Republi- 
can politics and has been one of the influential 
workers in his party. At various times, notably 
in 1884 and 1898, he has "stumped" Leaven- 
worth County in the interests of the party ticket. 
Frequently he has been selected to serve as a 
member of the county central and other commit- 
tees, and he has been a delegate to countj', con- 
gressional and state conventions. In 1884 he 
was his party's candidate for county superin- 
tendent of schools, and, although not elected, he 
ran ahead of his ticket. He was nominated for 
the legislature in the fall of 1898, but was defeated 
by eleven votes. Upon the incorporation of Lin- 
wood as a city of the third class, in 1897, he was 
chosen to act as the first mayor, and in 1898 was 
made a member of the citj' council. In the 
.spring of 1S99 he was elected mayor for the sec- 
ond time, and is now the incumbent of this office. 
He was a warm adherent of the plan of incorpor- 
ating the town and has favored all other meas- 
ures which he believed would benefit the place. 
As a result he has won a reputation as a public- 



spirited citizen, whose loyaltj- to his home town 
no one doubts. Realizing the value of excellent 
educational facilities he has labored in the inter- 
ests of the schools. At one time he was a mem- 
ber of the county examining board and also 
president of the Teachers' Association. 

Mr. Mundey is of French descent. His pa- 
ternal grandfather came from France and settled 
in Hagerstown, Md., where he taught school for 
several years. His last years were spent in 
Mansfield, Ohio, where he died. His son, Henry 
Mundey, followed the merchant tailoring busi- 
ness in Shelby, Ohio, where he died in 1864, at 
the age of fifty-two years. By his marriage to 
Sarah Livensparger he had eight children, of 
whom five are now living, namely: Joseph, 
Frank, John, David E. and Thaddeus. Our sub- 
ject was born in Seneca County, Ohio, in 1854, 
and was educated in Richland County, the same 
state, where he attended the Shelby high school. 
After completing his studies he engaged in teach- 
ing school for nine years. In 1879 he came to 
Kansas and for one year he taught in Lyon 
County. He then came to Leavenworth as a 
teacher in the schools of the county, in which 
work he continued for fifteen years. In 188 1 he 
became a teacher in Linwood, where he was em- 
ployed for eight years. Poor health finally 
obliged him, in 1894, to retire from his work as 
teacher, and he then settled on a small farm in 
the city limits, where he has since resided, devot- 
ing his time largely to market gardening and the 
raising of fruits. He has set out about two hundred 
trees and is making his occupation a profitable 
one. Besides his gardening interests he acts as 
agent for a number of well-known fire insurance 
companies, having all of the local business in this 
line. Fraternally he is chancellor of Linwood 
Lodge No. 108, K. of P., and served as its first 
representative to the grand lodge of the state. 
He is also a member of the Fraternal Aid Asso- 
ciation. August I, 1899, Mr. Mundey assumed 
the duties of deputy United States internal rev- 
enue collector for the northern half of eastern 
Kan.sas, to which he was appointed in July. 

The marriage of Mr. Mundey in 1881 united 
him with Nellie, daughter of James A. Adams, 



^ ^!^ 



y 



»•"' 




COL. JOHN J. BAKER. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



333 



wlio settled in Lawrence in 1858 and afterward 
became a prominent farmer of Reno Township, 
Leavenworth County. Mrs. Mundey was born 
in Lawrence and grew to womanhood irl Reno 
Township, where she was educated. The chil- 
dren of Mr. and Mrs. Mundey 'are: Harry D., 
Clarence Leroy, Eva Alice and William Arthur. 



EOL. JOHN J. BAKER. During the spring 
of 1868 Colonel Baker came to Kansas and 
purchased three hundred and twenty acres 
of the Delaware Indian reserve land, in what is 
now Sherman Township, Leavenworth County. 
His means being limited, at first he farmed on a 
very small scale, but gradually, as his means in- 
creased, he bought stock, made improvements 
and built necessary buildings. He is still living 
on the same place, which comprises one hundred 
and sixty acres of land and bears all the improve- 
ments of a modern estate. He took an active 
part in the organization of the Farmers' Grange 
and for some time served as its president. 

The Baker family originated in Germany, 
where the name was Becker. About 1721 Jacob 
Becker emigrated from Germany to America and 
settled in Lancaster County, Pa., where he died 
in 1 801. The great-grandfather of our subject 
was a soldier in the Revolutionary war and his 
great-uncle, Henry Becker, was a colonel in the 
continental army during the same conflict. 
With Jacob Becker came three brothers and one 
sister to America, all of whom settled upon farms 
in Pennsylvania. His grandson, Benjamin 
Baker, was born in Lanca.ster County, Pa., in 
1794, and at one year of age was taken to Canada 
by his parents, afterward remaining in that coun- 
try until 1826, when he returned to the States. 
For a time he made his home in Erie County, 
N. Y., but later removed to Michigan, where he 
died in 1861. By trade a tanner, he built up a 
large business in Erie County and became well- 
to-do. He was a son of Benjamin Baker, Sr., 
who removed from Lancaster County, Pa., to 
Canada in 1795 and there engaged extensively 
in farming. He died in Canada in 1852, when 
eighty-nine years of age. Benjamin Baker, Jr. 
12 



married Nancy Hershey, who was born near 
Hagerstown, Md., and died in Sturgis, Mich., 
August 20, 1878, aged eighty-seven. Of their 
nine children, one sou and three daughters are 
now living, the latter being Melinda, Anna M. 
and Sophia. 

Colonel Baker was born in Markham, a suburb 
of Toronto, Canada, January 29, 1824. When a 
very small child he was taken by his parents to 
Clarence, Erie County, N. Y., where later he 
was educated in the common schools. At the 
age of seventeen years he began to learn the tan- 
ner's trade, which he followed for eight years. 
In 1848 he opened a retail boot and shoe store at 
Waukau, Wis., and he continued in that place 
until 1854, when he went to Sturgis, Mich., the 
home of his parents. There he engaged in gen- 
eral farming. In 1862 he organized a company 
of infantry at Sturgis and July 28 was made cap- 
tain of Company E, Nineteenth Michigan Infan- 
try, with which he went to the front. He was 
promoted to be major of his regiment June 27, 
1864, and was made lieutenant-colonel October 
28, 1864, which office he held until his honorable 
discharge, after two years and ten months of serv- 
ice. He took command of the regiment May 
25, 1864. His regiment was assigned to the sec- 
ond division, third brigade, twentieth army 
corps, under Gen. Joseph Hooker, and accompa- 
nied Sherman on the Atlanta campaign from 
Chattanooga to Atlanta, thence marched with 
him to the sea, taking part in the memorable en- 
gagements of that time. July 20, 1864, he was " 
wounded at Peach Tree Creek, Ga., and at 
Thompson's Station, Tenn., was taken prisoner 
March 5, 1863, with most of his regiment. 
He was confined in Libby prison for nearly three 
months, after which he was exchanged and sent 
to Columbus, Ohio. In that city the regiment 
was re-organized during the latter part of May, 
1863, and frofli there was ordered to the front, 
joining the old corps. For disability and by rea- 
son of his services being no longer required he 
was mustered out May 15, 1865. Returning to 
Sturgis he resumed farm pursuits. 

From Michigan Colonel Baker came to Kansas 
in the spring of 1868 and has since resided upon 



334 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



a farm in Sherman Township, Leavenworth 
County. He takes an interest in public affairs 
and always votes the Republican ticket. At one 
time he was identified with the Masonic frater- 
nity. He is a member of McDaniel Post No. 
256, G. A. R., at Bonner Springs, and was at 
one time its commander. In Buffalo, N. Y. , 
June 3, 1847, ^s married Ami M., daughter of 
John and Eliza Beam, of Willoughby, Black 
Creek, Canada. They had three children, 
Theoda, Orpha (deceased) and Hervey J. The 
last named, who has a farm near the old home- 
stead, married Lulu Armstrong, by whom he has 
three children, Orpha, Nannie and John J., the 
latter named in honor of his grandfather. 



KICHARD STEPHENS, who was for twenty 
years prior to his death an influential citizen 
of Baldwin, Douglas County, was born at 
St. Agnes, Cornwall, England, June 30, 1820. 
He was reared in a mining community and early 
became familiar with a miner's work. When 
nineteen years of age he came to the United 
States and settled in Pennsylvania, but after a 
time removed to Illinois and engaged in mining 
near Galena. His next location was at Eagle 
River, Wis., which at that time was a small vil- 
lage. After a year he went back to Illinois. In 
1849 ^^s crossed the plains to California, where 
he engaged in mining and met with success. Re- 
turning a year later to Illinois, in 1S51 he again 
went to the Pacific Coast. He shipped as a pas- 
senger on the "North America," which was 
wrecked on the ocean. However, he managed 
to save his life and a portion of his effects, and 
reaching the shore, hired a Mexican with a mule 
to convey his luggage sixty miles to Acapulco. 
On arriving in that city he was entertained by 
the Spaniards, who, won by his excellent sing- 
ing, showed the utmost friendline.* toward him. 
He remained with them until another steamer 
came along, when he proceeded to California and 
resumed mining, with, however, less success than 
on his former visit. After two years he decided 
to return home and accordingly made his way 
back to the east. 



In the fall of 1857 Mr. Stephens came to Kan- 
sas. At old Palmyra (now Baldwin) he opened 
a small hotel, which he conducted for several 
years. In 1861 he retired from the hotel busi- 
ness and began to deal in real estate, also en- 
gaged in loaning monej', following the two lines 
of business until his death, which occurred De- 
cember 28, 1879. His marriage, which took 
place June 9, 1845, united him with Miss Sophia, 
sister of William H. Gill, in whose sketch the 
family history appears. She w^as born in Eng- 
land October 12, 1825, and is a sincere member 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which her 
husband also belonged. They were the parents 
of eleven children, one of whom died in infancy. 
The others are named as follows: Thomas C, 
who died at twenty-six years; Mary E., wife of 
John P. Brown, of Indiana; Sophia, who resides 
with her mother; Elizabeth J., wife of John C. 
Henderson, of British Columbia; Emma, who 
married William H. Reed, of Council Grove, 
Kans. ; John R., a farmer in Oklahoma; William 
A., an undertaker and furniture dealer of El 
Dorado Springs, Mo. ; Charles E. , who is a prac- 
ticing physician in Elmo, Kans.; James H., pro- 
prietor of a mercantile establishment in Pierce 
City, Mo.; and Kathlene, who married W. O. 
Fuller, a journalist in Rockland, Me. In the 
various communities where they reside the mem- 
bers of the family have gained a high standing 
and the esteem of their associates. 



pC) ALTER H. OLIN, superintendent of the 
\ A / city schools at Ottawa, was born at Wal- 
Y V "lit Grove, on the banks of the Sacramento 
River, in California, August 7, 1862. He de- 
scends in a direct line from John Olin, of Wales, 
who came to America at the age of about four- 
teen, and three years later settled in the vicinity 
of East Greenwich, R. I. His son, John, and 
grand.son, also named John, were born in Rhode 
Island, whence the latter moved to Shaftsbury, 
Vt. Ezra, son of the third John, was born in 
Rhode Island March 23, 1772, and at the age of 
three and one-half years removed with his par- 
ents to Vermont, his later years being spent on a 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



335 



large farm near Shaftsbury, where, during the 
Revolution, General Stark defeated the British. 
Arvin, son of Ezra, was born at Shaftsbury July 
13. 1797. ^^^ taught school in Vermont. At 
the close of his first term he married one of his 
pupils, Betsey Bennett, daughter of a farmer. 
Afterward he walked to York state, took up a 
tract of land, cut logs for a house, and sent for 
his wife. She was given $20 by her father, and, 
accompanied by her brothers, made the trip 
through the forests to her new home, where, with 
her husband, she endured all the hardships of 
frontier life, far from the refining influences of 
civilization. In time they met with remarkable 
success, and their farm became one of the finest 
in that section of country. L,ate in life they 
moved from Genesee County, N. Y., to Portage 
County, Ohio, where they bought farm property. 
At the time of his death he was more than 
seventy years of age. 

Nelson, son of Arvin Olin, was born in Gene- 
see County, N. Y. , and at an early age began 
farming near the homestead in Portage County, 
Ohio, but, being seized with the western fever, 
in 1850 he went to Clinton County, Iowa, where 
he improved a section of land. June 3,1860, a 
cyclone swept over that part of Iowa, destroying 
crops, buildings and fences, and sweeping ruin 
and death over a strip of country two and one- 
half miles wide and forty miles long. His house 
was blown away, and of everything within it 
all that was left was a salt cellar and pepper 
box, which are now cherished as mementoes of 
the disaster. 

Fortunately, the family sought refuge in the 
cellar, and so escaped with their lives. The 
mother's health being affected by the catastrophe, 
the father decided to remove to California. Ac- 
cordingly he made the trip via New York and 
Panama, and settled at the fork of the American 
River, near Sacramento. In those days each 
township had its vigilance committee, and he 
served as a member of the one in his township. 
Through the determination of himself and asso- 
ciates the confederacy was prevented from show- 
ing its colors, and the state was held for the 
Union. Often his life was in danger, but he 



continued to uphold the Union without thought 
of results, led simply by a desire to support the 
cause of justice. During his residence in the 
west he suffered from the Sacramento River 
flood. In 1866 he returned east, settling on the 
old home place near Kent, Ohio, where his wife 
died the same year. In 1870 he again started 
west. He spent one season in Galesburg, Kala- 
mazoo County, Mich., and in 1871 settled in 
Douglas County, Kans., where he bought a 
farm. During 1874 he embarked in the cheese 
business, but the grasshoppers destroyed the 
crop, and the experiment was a failure. In 1877 
he removed to a new farm near Eldorado, Butler 
County, and later settled on his present farm, 
near Eudora, Douglas County. 

The first wife of Nelson Olin was Harriet 
Holley, who was born at Gainesville, Wyoming 
County, N. Y., December 18, 1827, a member of 
an old family of New England, some of whom 
(among them. Marietta Holley "Josiah Allen's 
wife," and the inventor of the present water sys- 
tem) have acquired national reputation. Her 
father, Solomon Holley, was born in Vermont, 
became a pioneer of Wyoming County, N. Y., 
and Brimfield, Portage County, Ohio, later 
moved to Lowmoor, Iowa, and thence to Rock- 
ford, 111., where he died. The family of Nelson 
and Harriet Olin consisted of four children: 
N. E., a dealer in musical merchandise at Kent, 
Ohio; Oscar E., principal of the academic de- 
partment in Buchtel College, at Akron, Ohio; 
Arvin S., who occupies the chair of pedagog}^ in 
the State University of Kansas; and Walter H., 
of this sketch. By the second marriage of Nel- 
son Olin eight children were born, five of whom 
are living, viz.: C. F., who is yard inspector for 
the Santa Fe road at Dodge City, Kans.; Pearl, 
a student in St. Louis, Mo. ; Mary, Anson and 
Lorena. 

When the subject of this sketch was four years 
of age the family returned east from California 
to Ohio. The year 1870 was spent in Michigan, 
and in 187 1 he arrived in Kan.sas. For some 
years he attended school near Vinland, and 
afterward studied in Butler County. His first 
experience as a teacher was when eighteen years 



336 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



of age. Desirous of more extended information 
than he could obtain in grammar schools he left 
no stone unturned in his efforts to gain an educa- 
tion. Bj' cutting corn he earned mone}' with 
which to buy high school books, and entered the 
high school at Eldorado. Two weeks later the 
county superintendent prevailed upon him to 
take a six months' school ten miles from town. 
He consented, and while teaching continued to 
study, and graduated with the high school class 
of 1884. Afterward he resumed teaching. In 
the spring of 1886 he entered the Agricultural 
College at Manhattan, where he completed the 
four years' course in three j-ears, and graduated 
in 1889 with the degree of B. S. The monej- 
necessary for his college course he had earned 
unaided. Afterward he was principal of the 
Wabaunsee school and in.structor in the normal 
institute. In the fall of 1890 he was elected 
principal of Waverly school in Coffey County, 
and while there married the primary teacher in 
the school. Miss Winnie E. Cotton. In the 
summer of 1891 he carried on graduate work at 
the Agricultural College, and continued each 
summer until 1894, when he received the degree 
of M. S. In 1891 he accepted the superintend- 
eucy of the Osborne school, where he remained 
for five j-ears, and after 1894 he began to take 
charge of normal institutes as instructor and 
conductor. In 1896 he was elected principal of 
the Ottawa high school, and two years later was 
promoted to be superintendent of the cit}' schools, 
with thirty teachers and sixteen hundred and 
fifty enrolled pupils under his charge. He is 
thoroughly prepared for successful work as in- 
structor. His knowledge of pedagogy is broad 
and profound, and he has made of it a science. 
Few educators have a more thorough grasp of 
their work than he. After graduating from col- 
lege he was undecided as to whether to enter 
normal school or take the state examination. In 
order to test his ability he tried the latter, and 
was successful, receiving a certificate, and pass- 
ing a mo.st creditable examination. In 189S he 
was given a state certificate for life. 

At Wabaunsee, Kans., November 27, 1890, 
Professor Olin married Miss Winnie E. Cotton, 



who was born in that town, and was educated 
there and in Manhattan Agricultural College, 
afterward engaging in educational work until 
her marriage. She is a fine musician, and has 
made a specialty of the study of this science. In 
social and musical circles she occupies an influ- 
ential position. She is identified with the 
M. P. M. Club and the Baptist Church. Be- 
sides her two children, Winnifred Helen and 
Walter Eugene, she cares for an adopted nephew, 
Josie Cotton Olin. Her father, William F. Cot- 
ton, was born in Rutland, Vt., a son of William 
Cotton, who traces his aucestrj' to Cotton Mather 
and John Cotton, of "Mayflower" fame, and in 
whose honor Boston was named. In 1856 W. 
F. Cotton settled on a claim near Wabaunsee, 
Kans., where he has since engaged in farming. 
For two terms he was a member of the state leg- 
islature, and during the Civil war he served in 
the Kansas militia. For some years he was an 
attorney, but, preferring outdoor work, he gave 
up his practice in favor of agricultural pursuits. 
His wife, Ellen M. Genu, was born in Foxcroft, 
Me., a daughter of a sea captain who engaged in 
the whaling business. The Genu family descends 
from "Mayflower" ancestors. Mr. and Mrs. 
Cotton were the parents of five children, four of 
whom are living: Mrs. Kate Brown, of Tongan- 
oxie, Kans.; William Lincoln, on the old home- 
stead; Mrs. Olin; and Mrs. Mabel Smith, of 
Manhattan. 



j~ REEMAN TYLER, who for years cultivated 
rrt a farm in Hayes Township, Franklin County, 
I is now living in Ottawa, retired from active 
labors. He was born in Lawrenceville, St. Law- 
rence County, N. Y. , in 1819, a son of Asa and 
Fannie (Tupper) Tyler. He descends from one 
of three brothers who came to America in a ver\- 
early day, one of whom settled in Portsmouth, 
N. H., while the others went further south. His 
father, a native of New Hampshire, removed to 
New York and there engaged in farming and 
coopering. During the war of 18 12 he served in 
the American army. Of his six children the 
eldest, Freeman, was educated in New York and 
Ohio. He was thirteen years of age when the 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



337 



family established a home in Ohio, where, schools 
being poor and few, he had very meagre advan- 
tages. His time was almost wholly given to 
farm work and he assisted in clearing a large 
tract of land. When he was fifteen his father be- 
gan to manufacture barrels to hold tallow, and in 
this work he helped during the winter mouths, 
when little could be done in the field. As there 
was a demand for flour barrels they also manu- 
factured these, going into the woods and cutting 
the timber, from which they shaved the staves 
by hand. At one time they took a contract to 
furnish one thousand barrels; soon afterward 
their cooper was taken sick and the father fa- 
vored abandoning the contract entirely, but our 
subject insisted that the work must be completed, 
so he made the barrels himself and filled the con- 
tract. That was his first experience in manufac- 
turing flour barrels alone. From that time he 
followed coopering for thirty years. 

In 1845 Mr. Tyler settled in Illinois. After 
some 3'ears there he moved to Wisconsin in order 
that his children might have the advantage of the 
schools at Beloit. Upon his return to Illinois, 
after six years in Beloit, he turned his attention 
from coopering to farming, believing the latter 
occupation would be more beneficial to his health, 
then by no means good. From Illinois he came 
to Kansas in the fall of 1880 and bought two hun- 
dred and forty acres in Franklin County, where 
he made valuable improvements and engaged in 
farming and stock-raising. On that place he 
made his home until the fall of 1899, when, hav- 
ing disposed of the property, he removed to Ot- 
tawa. In politics he is a Democrat. Though 
eighty years of age he is strong and robust, and, 
were his sight good, would show little signs of 
his advancing years, but an attack of la grippe 
greatly impaired his sight and left his eyes in 
weak condition. 

While in Ohio Mr. Tyler married Harriet Sex- 
ton. They are the parents of six children, all 
living, namely: Albert, a farmer of Franklin 
County; Frank A., who lives in Rockford, 111.; 
Anna E., widow of Francis Waid; D. C, a phy- 
sician at Clifton, Washington County, Kans. ; 
Rovelle P. ; and Hattie, widow of Frank Ringer. 



The youngest son, Rovelle P., who conducted 
the home farm from 1887 to 1899, was born in 
Roscoe, Winnebago County, 111., in 1854, and 
was reared to farm pursuits, which he has always 
followed. In 1880 he accompanied his father to 
Kansas. He settled in Lyon County, where he 
cultivated two hundred acres that he still owns, 
but now rents. In 1887 he came to Franklin 
County to take charge of the home place, and 
afterward engaged in general farming and feed- 
ing cattle and hogs. Like all of the family he 
is a Democrat. He has served as delegate to 
county and state conventions, has served as treas- 
urer of the school board and now holds the office 
of township treasurer. 



(John W. SCOTT, a contractor and builder, 
I has his ofiice at No. 407 South Main street, 
(2/ Ottawa. Not only is he an expert carpen- 
ter, but a fine cabinet-maker as well, his work in 
both departments exhibiting a cultivated taste 
and wise judgment. The various residences and 
public buildings for which he has held the con- 
tract have been completed in a manner satisfac- 
tory to all concerned, and have given him a posi- 
tion among the leading men in his occupation in 
this city. 

A son of Cyrus and Elizabeth (Metcalf) Scott, 
the subject of this sketch was born in McCon- 
nellsville, Morgan County, Ohio, October 7, 1850. 
His grandfather, John Scott, was one of the early 
settlers of Morgan County, where Cyrus Scott 
engaged in farm pursuits until his death, at the 
age of seventy. Elizabeth Metcalf was born in 
Morgan County, to which her father, Abraham, 
had removed from New England. She is still 
living and makes her home in Ohio. Of her ten 
children seven grew to mature years and three 
sons and one daughter still survive. The oldest 
of the family is the subject of this sketch. He 
was reared on the home farm and at the age of 
sixteen began to learn the carpenter's trade. 
When twenty-one years of age he went to Min- 
nesota and took a claim in Cottonwood County, 
remaining there for two years, when the grass- 
hoppers ruined his crops. Afterward he worked 



338 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



at his trade for two years in that county, and 
then went to Norwalk, Iowa, where he was sim- 
ilarly employed. For seven years he engaged in 
carpentering and cabinet-making in Trenton, 
Mo, In 1884 he came to Ottawa, where, after 
one year as an employe, he began to take con- 
tracts of his own. 

In Morgan County Mr. Scott married Frances 
Murduck, who was born there and died in Otta- 
wa in August, 1897, leaving three children, 
Mabel, Gertrude and Earl. Hoping that a change 
of climate might benefit his wife, whose health 
was dehcate, in 1888 Mr. Scott went to Califor- 
nia and settled in the San Gabriel Valley, where 
he engaged in contracting, erecting some of the 
finest buildings in that vicinity. In 1896 he re- 
turned to Ottawa, where he has since made his 
home. Among his contracts have been those for the 
First National Bank building, residenceof A. M. 
Blair, Santa Fe hospital, the residences of H. A. 
Dunn, W. B. Kiler and others that are among 
the most substantial in the city. In politics he 
always votes the Republican ticket. At one time 
he was active in the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, but his membership has been allowed to 
lapse. He is connected with Franklin Lodge 
No. 18, A. F. & A. M., of Ottawa. 



eHARLES W. OLDROYD, who has served 
acceptably as county treasurer of Franklin 
County and city a.ssessor of Ottawa, came to 
Kansas in 1880 and has made his home in Ottawa 
since 1881. He was born in Shreve, Wayne 
County, Ohio, September 17, 1838, a son of 
Henry and Hannah K. (Ebright) Oldroyd. His 
paternal grandfather, Charles Oldroyd, was born 
near Huddersfield, England, where he engaged 
in the mauufacture of woolen cloth. Nine years 
after the birth of his son, Henry, he brought his 
family to America and settled near Harrisbnrg, 
Pa., where he resumed the manufacture of wool- 
ens. After settling in Wayne County, Ohio, he 
engaged in farming, remaining there until his 
death at the age of almost seventy. 

The active years of Henry Oldroyd were passed 
in Wayne County, Ohio, where he carried on a 



farm. He died there in 1892, when eighty-three 
years of age. From boyhood he was identified 
with the Methodist Episcopal Church. He took 
a warm interest in building up missions and es- 
tablishing churches, and was one of the leaders 
in his own congregation. During the existence 
of the Whig party he voted that ticket. After- 
ward he became a Republican. His wife, who 
was born near Harrisbnrg, Pa., was a daughter 
of George Ebright, a native of Pennsylvania and 
of German descent; late in life he removed, via 
team and wagon, over the mountains to Ohio, 
where he died. Mrs. Oldroyd is still living in 
Shreve and is now eighty-eight years of age. Of 
her five sons that attained mature years, E. G. , 
who resides in Shreve, was a member of the 
Fourteenth Iowa Infantry in the Civil war and 
was seriously wounded in the head at Shiloh, 
but soon recovered and returned to his regiment. 
A. B. , who lives near Shreve, was a member of 
the same company and regiment as his older 
brother, Charles W. W. F. , who belonged to 
the One Hundred and Eighty sixth Ohio Infan- 
try, died in Ohio. The youngest son, T. B., is 
engaged in the furniture business in Arkansas 
City, Kans. 

Reared on the home farm, our subject attended 
a neighboring school, which was held in a log 
building fitted up in pioneer style. In 185S he 
began to learn pharmacy in Wooster, Ohio. At 
the first call for volunteers, in April, 1861, he 
enlisted in Company C, Sixteenth Ohio Infantry, 
being mustered in as corporal for three months. 
Ordered to West Virginia, he there took part in 
skirmishes with the enemy. He was mustered 
out August 18, and on the 2d of September en- 
listed in the same company and regiment for 
three years, being made first sergeant, later pro- 
moted to be second and then first lieutenant. His 
service was principally in Kentucky and Tennes- 
see. At a battle in the rear of Vicksburg, in the 
winter of 1862-63, a brigade made a charge on 
that city, and he was taken prisoner and con- 
veyed to Jackson, Miss., where he was kept for 
three months. When finally released he returned 
to Camp Chase, Ohio, and remained there for one 
}-ear on parole. On being exchanged he rejoined 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



339 



his regiment at Matagorda Bay, Tex., thence 
went to New Orleans, from there up the Red 
River after Banks' expedition, and late in the 
fall of 1864 was mustered out at Columbus, Ohio. 

Settling in the last-named city, Mr. Oldroyd 
engaged in the sale of photographic supplies. In 
1868 he returned to Wayne County, where he 
carried on a farm for ten years. During 18S0 he 
settled in Franklin County, Kans. , on a farm two 
and one-half miles south of Ottawa, but the fol- 
lowing year established his home in the city. 
Here he opened a coal, feed and wood business, 
and also engaged in buying and shipping grain. 
In 1890 he became deputy county treasurer under 
D. C. Hanes. The latter dying during the first 
year of office, the count}' commissioners appointed 
Mr. Oldroyd to fill the vacancy that year. He 
then continued as deputy under John F. Lamb 
for one year and J. L- Henderson for four years. 
In the fall of 1895 he was nominated for the office 
on the Republican ticket and was elected, serving 
from October, 1896, to 1898. Since then he has 
been city assessor. In 1883 he established his 
home on the raw prairie, which he has since 
transformed into a beautiful place, with fine trees 
and gardens. The location is No. 623 West 
Second street. 

In Wooster, Ohio, in 1865, Mr. Oldroyd mar- 
ried Miss S. C. Wilhelm, who was born in that 
city, a daughter of John and Rachel (Heplar) 
Wilhelm, natives of Northumberland County, 
Pa. Her father, who was a carriage manufac- 
turer, was one of the first settlers of Wooster and 
was interested in its early start. He died there 
when seventy-four years of age. In religion he 
was connected with the German Reformed Church. 
He and his wife were the parents often children, 
five of whom are living. Three of their sons took 
part in the Civil war as members of an Ohio regi- 
ment. Mr. and Mrs. Oldroyd have a son and 
daughter now living: John H., who is a mem- 
ber of the insurance firm of Miller & Oldroyd; 
and Gertrude N. , a graduate of Ottawa high 
school and in 1898 of Ottawa University. The 
younger son, Flmer G., died at seventeen years 
of age. 

A Republican in politics, Mr. Oldroyd has been 



secretary of the county central committee. He 
is serving his second term as vice-president of the 
school board. Fraternally he is past officer in 
Franklin Lodge No. 18, A. F. & A. M.; past 
officer in Lodge No. 203, A. O. U. W. ; member 
of the Knights and Ladies of Security; and for 
two terms commander of George H. Thomas 
Post No. 18, G. A. R. ; also a member of the 
Sixteenth Ohio Veterans' Association. In re- 
ligion he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 



ROBERT H. PEARSON, a pioneer of Doug- 
las County, owns and occupies a farm of two 
hundred and forty acres in Palmyra Town- 
ship. He was born in Yorkshire, England, 
April I, 1828, a son of William and Fannie (Hall) 
Pearson, natives of England. When a young 
man his father learned the cabinet-maker's trade. 
In 1832 he came to America and settled in Alle- 
gheny, Pa., where he was employed at carpen- 
tering and finishing work in a shop. He re- 
mained there until 1865, when he came to Kan- 
sas and built a residence in Baldwin. During 
the existence of the Whig party he upheld its 
principles, and afterward took an active part in 
the Republican party. For many years he was 
connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
Although he lived to be eighty-four years of age 
he was active up to the day before his death. He 
had a brother, James, who served under Welling- 
ton at the battle of Waterloo. He was the father 
often children, but six of these died at an early 
age. The four who attained maturity were 
named as follows: Ann, Mrs. George Lovett, de- 
ceased (born October 18, 1826); Robert H.; 
Richard (April 17, 1830), who died in Franklin 
County at the age of sixty-six years; and Eliza 
(February 23, 1839), who is the wife of William 
Feltwell and lives in Philadelphia, Pa. The 
younger of the two sons came to Kansas in 1855, 
settled in Douglas County and afterward resided 
here. During the Civil war he served in the 
Union armj', being connected, at different times, 
with Illinois and Kansas regiments. 

When a young man our subject learned the 
trade of a coach-body builder. For a short time 



340 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



he worked at his trade in Milwaukee, later was 
employed in St. lyOuis and in Keokuk, Iowa. In 
the winter of 1S51-52 he went to California and 
engaged in placer mining in the southern mines, 
meeting with fair success. In April, 1854, he 
started back east. Having heard of Kansas and 
learning that lands here were coming into the 
market, he decided to seek a home in this then 
territory. Near where Baldwin now stands he 
secured a claim, May 15, 1854. It was by uo 
means easy to hold the claim, as pro-slavery men 
made repeated efibrts to drive him away; how- 
ever, he had as much courage and more determi- 
nation than the}', so succeeded in holding the 
property until i860, when he sold it. About the 
same time he purchased his present property, 
which he has since placed under cultivation. In 
early days he belonged to Shore's Rough and 
Ready Pioneer Company and took an active part 
(1855) in defending the city of Lawrence from 
demolition by foreign invaders. The battle of 
Black Jack was fought on his farm and he took 
part in it, as well as participating in other skir- 
mishes. For a time he was a member of Nugent's 
Regiment, Missouri Home Guard, but was trans- 
ferred from it to the Ninth Kansas Infantry, 
where he served for several mouths, when by 
reason of the muster out of the company and by 
way of favor no objection to his being re-enlisted 
is known to exist. 

In spite of obstacles Mr. Pearson has had more 
than ordinary success. The task that lay before 
him when he came to Kansas was not an easy 
one. He took up a timber and a squatter's 
claim, and was forced to defend his rights by the 
aid of his gun, against as many as five or six men 
at one time. In the end, however, troubles of 
that kind gave way to prosperity. He is now 
the owner of two hundred and fortj' acres. The 
Republican party receives his vote and influence. 
He has never cared for oifice and has held none 
excepting that of school director or road overseer. 
For thirty years or more he has been a member 
of Baldwin City Lodge No. 31, I. O. O. F., in 
which he has passed all of the chairs. He is also 
a member of the Grand Army Post at Baldwin. 

The first marriage of Mr. Pearson, September 



23. 1855, united him with Miss Catherine Ann 
Basinger. Their wedding was the first ever sol- 
emnized in Palmyra Township, and their oldest 
son, William F., was the first white child born 
there. Mrs. Pearson was born in Kentucky, 
February 27, 1837, but resided in Kansas from 
the fall of 1854, and died here December 4, 1878, 
when about forty years old. Of the children 
born to this union, three died at an earlj' age. 
The others are as follows: William F. (born 
August 10, 1856), a machinist in Wellsville, 
Kans. ; George Arthur (March 22, 1859), who is 
engaged in farming in Oklahoma; Ann Jane (Oc- 
tober 4, i860), now Mrs. Charles Stover; R. 
Siegel (March 31, 1862), a farmer of Pomona, 
Kans.; Edward (August 2, 1865), who resides on 
the home farm; Fannie (October 22, 1867), wife 
of Hardin Cavender; Elizabeth (March 22, 1869), 
a nurse in Topeka, Kans. ; Nettie (February 24, 
1871), wife of Walter Scott; and Fred H. (Octo- 
ber 3, 1873), a farmer in Palmyra Township. 
February 7, 1884, Mr. Pearson married Rosella 
Harris, of Palmyra Township. She was born in 
Chautauqua County, N. Y., and has resided in 
Kansas since 1880. 



~DWARD B. MERRITT. Few residents of 
^ Lansing have been more closely identified 
__ with its business interests than has Mr. 
Merritt, who is the proprietor of a general mer- 
cantile store and has built up a large trade in this 
place. A man of great industry, undoubted in- 
tegrity', and more than ordinary intelligence, he 
has become recognized as one of the leading bus- 
iness men of his town, and the store which he 
owns and conducts is the largest in Leavenworth 
County, outside of the city of Leavenworth. 

Mr. Merritt was born in Platte County, Mo., 
April 25, 1857, a son of Charles and Jane (More- 
lock) Merritt. He was reared on a farm and re- 
ceived his education in country schools. In 1877 
he came to Leavenworth, where he secured em- 
ployment as a clerk, but after a short time he 
became interested in farming in the southern 
part of the county. In the fall of 1878 he en- 
tered Whittier College at Salem, Iowa, where he 




NICHOLAS GENTRY. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



343' 



took the studies of the fall and winter terms. 
Later he taught school for three years in Leaven- 
worth and Wyandotte Counties. 

In 1882 he opened a general store in Lansing, 
beginning on a very small scale, but increasing 
his stock from time to time as his enlarging trade 
rendered advisable. In 1895 he established a 
branch at Soldier, Kans. , where he built up a 
large trade. He owns a fine residence in Lansing 
and is one of the most prosperous business men 
of the town. In politics a Republican, he has 
been actively connected with local affairs, has 
been one of the political leaders of the village, 
and under the Harrison administration filled the 
office of postmaster. Personally he is a man of 
very independent character, never afraid to speak 
his convictions, but possessing under all circum- 
stances the courage of his opinions. November 
4, 1885, he married Miss Verlena Timberlake, 
daughter of J. Harvey and Lavina (Holdon) Tim- 
berlake, of Lansing, Mich. They have three 
children: Delia T., Ollie T. and Edna T. 

In fraternal relations Mr. Merritt is connected 
with Nine Mile Lodge No. 49, A. F. & A. M.; 
Leavenworth Chapter No. 2, R. A. M.; Ancient 
Order of United Workmen, Modern Woodmen of 
America, Knights of Pythias and the Fraternal 
Aid Association. For six years he was master in 
the blue lodge of Masonry and he has also been 
chancellor commander in the Knights of Pythias. 



PJICHOLAS GENTRY, a farmer and stock- 
Yl raiser of Wakarusa Township, Douglas 
1/9 County, was born in Boone County, Mo., 
August 31, 1840, a son of Beverly and Olive 
(Hern) Gentry. His paternal great-grandfather, 
a native of England, came to this country and 
settled in Kentucky, where succeeding genera- 
tions resided. From that state at an early age 
Beverly Gentry moved to Missouri and improved 
a farm in Boone County, where he married. In 
politics he was first a Whig and later a Demo- 
crat. Of his ten children five are living, viz.: 
Eliza, widow of Green Sweezer, of Wakarusa 
Township; Susan, widow of Daniel Farmer and a 
resident "of Jefferson County, Kans.; Elizabeth, 



who married J. J. Allen, then of Douglas County, 
but now a resident of Jefferson County; Nicholas; 
and Eveline, who married Madison Thompson 
and now lives in Wichita. 

The education of our subject was acquired 
principally by self-culture. He was about six- 
teen when his parents removed from Missouri to 
Kansas and he was afterward connected with the 
freighting across the plains. When with his 
father he freighted for him to all of the old towns 
along the trail. He crossed the plains six times, 
made five trips as far west as Pike's Peak, and has 
been all through New Mexico. At the opening 
of the Civil war he went to Fort Leavenworth 
for the purpose of enlisting in the army, but as 
the government needed teamsters he was placed 
in the quartermaster's department and sent to 
New Mexico. For three months he drove a 
company wagon in the regular army, being with 
the Second Dragoons. After his return to Kan- 
sas he began freighting for the government, in 
which he continued until 1866. He then settled 
upon a farm in Lecompton Township, Douglas 
County. About 1887 he purchased one hundred 
and sixty acres where he has since resided, on 
section 22, Wakarusa Township. He has added 
to his residence and in 1898 erected a large barn. 
His specialty has been the raising of wheat and 
he also has some stock. During the existence of 
the Grange he was one of its active members and 
he is now connected with the Fraternal Aid 
Association. In politics he is a Democrat. 

In Douglas County, August 10, 1865, Mr. 
Gentry married Catherine Shafer, by whom he 
has five children, viz. : Laura, wife of Eli Wilson, 
of Grant Township, Douglas County; LiHie 
Elizabeth, who married David McCreath and oc- 
cupies a farm adjoining her father's; Nettie, wife 
of Walter Kennedy, of St. Joseph, Mo. ; Mathias 
Shipley, who is married and lives on a farm west 
of the home place; and Seymour Otto, who 
assists on the home farm. It has been the aim of 
the parents to give the children good educations 
and they spared no pains to fit them for the re- 
sponsibilites of life. The daughters are gradu- 
ates of the high school at Lawrence and two 
have been schoolteachers. 



U4 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Mrs. Gentry is a daughter of John and Anna 
Maria (Baker) Shafer, natives of Germany. Her 
father came to America in early manhood, cross- 
ing the ocean in a sailing vessel that landed in 
New Orleans. There he followed his trades of 
blacksmith and boiler-maker. At the opening of 
the Civil war he joined Company H, Fir.st Louisi- 
ana Regiment, C. S. A., and died while in the 
army, in the fall of 1861. His wife came from 
Havre to America in 1845, when twenty-three 
years of age. On the ocean the ship was wrecked 
and the pas.sengers endured great hardship until 
they were picked up by a passing vessel. Mrs. 
Gentry was the only child of her parents. She 
was ten when her father died and three years 
later her mother passed away. Immediately 
afterward she came to Kansas, where she was 
married to Mr. Gentry prior to the fifteenth an- 
niversary of her birth. 



y/lALCOM F. SMITH, deceased, was born 
y and reared in Cleveland, Ohio, where his 
(g father, Dr. Alva Smith, a graduate of the 
Cincinnati Eclectic College, was a practicing 
physician. His paternal grandfather, when a 
boy of sixteen, enlisted in the continental army, 
for service against England, and afterward en- 
dured all the hardships of that long and bloody 
war, spending one winter at Valley Forge, where 
food was so scarce that star\'ing men fought for a 
grain of corn and clothing so difficult to secure 
that men walked, barefooted, through the deep 
snow. While he was in the thickest of the 
fights he was never injured, although at one 
time a bullet grazed his head. 

At the time that James A. Garfield was a stu- 
dent in Hiram College, Ohio, Malcora F.Smith 
also attended that institution. After graduating 
he attended a dental college, where he gained a 
thorough knowledge of the profession. While 
practicing at Barrington, 111., he enlisted, August 
I, 1862, in the One Hundred and Thirteenth Illi- 
nois Infantry, and was afterward made .sergeant- 
major, September 7, 1863. January 20, 1864, 
at Memphis, he was commissioned second lieu- 
tenant of Company E, First Alabama Artillerj'. 



On the 5th of March, the same year, he was 
made first lieutenant. His regiment was merged 
into the Third United States Colored Infantrj-, 
later the Seventh United States Heavy Artillery, 
and finally was made the Eleventh United States 
Colored Infantrj-, in which he served until Octo- 
ber, 1865. Among the battles in which he bore 
a part were those at Holly Springs, Tallahatchie, 
Chickasaw Bluff on the Yazoo River, Arkansas 
Post, the relief of Porter's squadron, and what 
was known as the Rolling Fork expedition, in 
which he traveled for nine days on four days' ra- 
tions, and without ever taking his boots off. 
Twice he narrowly escaped death. A bullet 
grazing his neck left a scar; another passed be- 
tween his fingers while he was charging over a 
fence in a skirmish. He took part in the opera- 
tions around Vicksburg, the battle of Richmond, 
La., was also at Grand Gulf, Canton, Raymond, 
Champion Hills, Edwards' depot, Black River 
Bridge, Jackson, Miss., and the assault on Vicks- 
burg, May 19-21, 1863. General Grant called 
for volunteers and Mr. Smith was one who 
promptly responded to the call and participated 
in that memorable assault. While in the Elev- 
enth Infantry he took part in the battle of Cane 
Hill, Holly Springs and Guntown. Later he was 
detailed as adjutant and quartermaster of his reg- 
iment at Soldiers' Home, Memphis, Tenn. His 
health became broken by reason of the hardships 
of army life and he was honorably discharged, on 
account of disabilitj-, October i, 1865. From the 
effects of his service he ever afterward suffered. 
He had been weakened especially by his work 
after the blowing up of the "Sultana," when he 
labored day and night to aid the survivors of the 
catastrophe. 

Not being able to continue at his profession on 
account of poor health, Mr. Smith became a busi- 
ness man. For a time he was bookkeeper and 
cashier in a bank and clerk in a postofiice. In 
1869 he settled in Burlingame, Kans., and in 1887 
established his home in Ottawa, where he lived, 
in retirement, until his death, February 10, 1896. 
He had been identified with the Grand Army 
from the time of its organization and always 
maintained an interest in the meetings of the army 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



345 



veterans. For many years he was a faithful mem- 
ber of the Christian Church and in that faith he 
died, looking forward to a future of happiness 
and a reunion with his loved ones in the world 
to come. 



y/lRS. LURENDA B. SMITH has been prom- 
y inently identified with the work oftheWo- 
{3 man's Christian Temperance Union for a 
quarter of a century. As president of the state 
organization she traveled through every part of 
Kansas, organizing local societies, reviving weak 
ones, and strengthening the movement in behalf 
of prohibition. For three years much of her time 
was spent in the field, and, while the constant 
travel was fatiguing, yet she was more than re- 
paid in the good accomplished and in the seed 
sown that has since borne fruit. In this work she 
received the sympathy and assistance of her hus- 
band, M. F. Smith, who was proud of her success 
and delighted iu the promotion of the temperance 
movement. At his death, desiring to remain at 
home with her daughter, she resigned as presi- 
dent, but accepted the oiBce of corresponding sec- 
retary, which does not require travel, but never- 
theless takes almost her entire time. 

Mrs. Smith was born at South Bolivar, Alle- 
gany County, N. Y. Her father, Philetus Bev- 
erly, a native of that county, removed in 1844 to 
Barrington, Cook County, 111., where he farmed 
and also preached, joining the Rock River con- 
ference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 
1868 he came to Kansas, settling in Burliugame 
Township, Osage County, where he became one 
of the pioneer prohibition workers and also 
preached occasionally. The infirmities of advan- 
cing years, however, prevent him now from be- 
ing active in public affairs. His wife was Lovisa 
Mix, who was born in Vermont in 18 14, a daugh- 
ter of Ira Mix, a soldier in the war of 1812 and 
for years a farmer in Allegany County. In the 
family of Philetus and Lovisa Beverly there were 
nine children, seven of whom attained their ma- 
jority and four are living. Two sons, Dwight C. 
and Cassius E., who enlisted in the army, served 
as members of a regiment of light artillerj', and 
the latter died at Fort Donelson as a result of 



exposure while on picket duty. Mrs. Smith was 
fourth in order of birth among the children of 
the family. She was educated in the schools of 
Cook County and taught three terms of school. 
In 1862 she became the wife of M. F. Smith at 
Barrington, 111. Of the five children born to 
them, two are living, viz.: Waldo C, who is in 
the employ of the Wells-Fargo Express Company 
in Ottawa; and Winn ifred 1,., a graduate of the 
Ottawa high school, class of 1899. Much of her 
active life Mrs. Smith has given to Christian edu- 
cational and temperance work, for which she is 
fitted by natural gifts and education. In the va- 
rious societies of the Christian Church she has 
been an interested worker and during her long 
connection with this denomination has been fore- 
most in its enterprises. She is connected with 
the Ladies Circle G. A. R. , and is also a member 
of the Columbian Literary Club. 



EHARLES D. CRANE, one of the most suc- 
cessful business men of Ottawa, has made 
his home in this city since 1869, and, in 
point of actual years of business experience, is one 
of the oldest merchants here. His first undertak- 
ing in the west was the purchase of the old 
Ottawa mill, which he remodeled, doubling its 
capacity, and superintending its management. 
In 1871 he traded his share in the mill for a stock 
of goods, and for two years he made no effort to 
learn the dry-goods business, hoping to have an 
opportunity to trade his goods for a mill; but, no 
opportunity presenting itself, he determined to 
put all of his energy into the mercantile business 
and acquire a practical knowledge of it. Since 
then his attention has been given very closely to 
the management of his store. He rented the 
building which he now occupies, 25x110 feet in 
dimensions, and afterward used an adjoining 
room, 25x110, in which to place the remainder 
of his large stock. During the time of the fi- 
nancial depression, when many merchants were 
succumbing to the panic, he not onlj' held his 
own financially, but increased his quarters by fit- 
ting up a room on the second floor, 25x90, where 
he has since kept his stock of carpets, cloaks, 



346 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



etc. His business is almost wholly retail, al- 
though he has carried on a jobbing business with 
a few adjacent towns. As a merchant he is a 
man of fine judgment, great enterprise and keen 
foresight, and these qualities have assisted him in 
the attainment of success. His influence, both in 
business circles and socially, is large, and is the 
result of his known integrity and genial disposi- 
tion. 

Born in Batavia, Genesee County , N. Y., Nov- 
ember 28, 1833, Mr. Crane is a brother of H. D. 
Crane, in whose sketch appears the family his- 
tory. In 1843 he accompanied his parents to Illi- 
nois, where he spent five years, meantime attend- 
ing school in a building primitive in appearance 
and crude in its appointments. He assisted in cul- 
tivating and improving the home farm, and drove 
five yoke of oxen witli which to break the prairie 
land. After going to Iowa in 1843 he continued 
to work on a farm until 1855, when he secured 
work in a mill at Cedar Rapids. In 1857 he went 
to West Union, Fayette County, Iowa. In 1859 
he took the overland trip to California, going via 
Omaha, Fort Kearney, Fort Hall, over Goose 
Creek Mountain, and down the Humboldt River, 
and arriving in California after a journey of four 
months. The trip was taken with the hope of re- 
gaining his health, which was very poor. He 
had agreed to return in 1861, so, during that 
year, with health improved and with the money 
he had saved, he journej'ed via Panama to New 
York Cit}^ Having seen much of the country 
he was glad to settle down into the quiet routine 
of business. He had traveled from Batavia, N. Y., 
to Sacramento, Cal., via wagon, and had en- 
dured all the hardships of pioneer life, but the re- 
sults were beneficial to him, as he acquired self- 
reliance and habits of perseverance. After his 
return he operated a mill on Turkey River for 
two years alone, then took his brother, H. D., 
into partnership and they improved a mill at Cas- 
cade, Iowa, which they ran until coming to Kan- 
sas in 1869. Since then his life has been insep- 
arably identified with the history of Ottawa, 
among whose business men he holds a foremost 
position. At the organization of the People's 
National Bank he was chosen a director and con- 



tinued to serve in that capacity until he sold his 
stock. He was also interested in the organiza- 
tion of the Ottawa Building and Loan Associa- 
tion, and for two years served as treasurer and a 
director, but then disposed of his shares and re- 
tired from the society. 

In Cascade, Iowa, Mr. Crane married Miss 
Angelica Anderson, who was born in Dubuque, 
Iowa, being a daughter of Alexander Anderson, 
a surveyor in the early daj's of Iowa. They have 
one child, Ada, who graduated from the Ottawa 
high school and the New England conservatory 
of music at Boston; she is now the wife of C. F. 
Dennee, professor of pianoforte and composition 
in the conservator)' from which she graduated. 

Since the organization of the party Mr. Crane 
has been a Republican. While in Dubuque 
Count}', Iowa, during the bitter fight regarding 
Allison, he performed great service in behalf of 
that gentleman, aiding in securing his nomina- 
tion at West Union, and during the following 
winter Allison was for the first time elected to 
the United States senate, of which he has since 
been a leader. Mr. Crane was elected to the 
council of Ottawa, but refused to qualify, not de- 
siring to hold office. Fraternally he is connec- 
ted with Ottawa Lodge No. 128, A. F. & A. M., 
Ottawa Chapter No. 7, R. A. M., and Tancred 
Comraandery No. 11, K. T. 



HON. JOHIEL H. BONEBRAKE, M. D. 
During the long period of his residence in 
Lecompton, Dr. Bonebrake has been inti- 
mately associated with the interests of the town. 
Coming here at the close of the war, when the 
prominence of pro-slavery "days had departed, 
when real-estate values had depreciated and the 
place resembled some "deserted village," he 
aided other citizens in re-establishing business, 
and was especially active in the founding of Lane 
University, which, in January, 1865, became the 
propertj' of the United Brethren denomination, 
and of which he was treasurer for nineteen years. 
He has also ofSciated as a local preacher in the 
United Brethren Church, and has been very 
prominent in its work in this localitj'. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



347 



A son of George and Eliza (Adams) Bone- 
brake, our subject was born in Preble County, 
Ohio, June 21, 1830, being the second of three 
children, the eldest of whom, Jane, is the wife of 
Joseph Manning, of Jefferson, Iowa, and the 
youngest, Parkison I., is president of the Central 
National Bank, of Topeka, Kans. The father, 
who was born in Pennsylvania in 1799, was a 
boy of eight years when his parents removed to 
Preble County, Ohio, and there he grew to man- 
hood. For years he was an itinerant preacher in 
the United Brethren Church. In 1848 he re- 
moved to Wayne County, Ind., but after four 
years established his home in Fountain County, 
that state, and two years later went to Marion 
County, -Iowa, where he resided up to i860. 
During the latter j'ear he came to Kansas, set- 
tling in Lecompton, and in this town he died, in 
1866, in the home of his son. His wife, who 
was born in New Jersey in 1806, and died in 
Indiana in 1848, was, like himself, a sincere 
Christian and a faithful member of the United 
Brethren Church. 

On reaching manhood our subject taught for 
two years in the public schools of Marion County, 
Iowa. Following this he engaged in the mercan- 
tile business in Fountain Count}-, where he re- 
mained for three years. On his arrival in Iowa 
he took up the study of medicine, which he read 
under the tutorship of Dr. Roberts, in Attica, for 
six months. He then entered the Keokuk (Iowa) 
College of Physicians and Surgeons, where he 
took a course of lectures in 1854-55. The next 
year he attended the Cincinnati (Ohio) Eclectic 
Medical Institute. Just prior to his graduation 
the sickness of his brother called him home. He 
established himself in practice in Attica, from 
which town, in i860, he removed to Auburn, 
Shawnee County, Kans., and five j'ears later 
opened an office in L,ecompton, where he has since 
resided. From the time of his settlement here 
he has been active in local affairs and has proved 
himself a public-spirited citizen. In 1866 he was 
elected to the state legislature and again, in 1885, 
was returned to the lower house. For thirty }^ears 
he held office as city clerk of Lecompton. June 
I, 1897, he was appointed postmaster of Lecomp- 



ton, which office he has since filled with efficiency. 
He has always been a stanch Republican and 
has supported the principles of his party. 

April 15, 1858, Dr. Bonebrake married Miss 
Sarah Witt, who was born in Wayne County, 
Ind., but at the time of her marriage was living 
in Bedford, Iowa. Five children were born of 
their union, but only two are living. The older 
daughter, EvaB., is the wife of Dr. A. J. May, 
of Cambria, Kans., and the younger, Cora W. , 
married Dr. S. J. Hampshire, of Overbrook, 
Kans. 



I OUIS CASS STINE, of Ottawa, was born 
It in New Market, Highland County, Ohio, 
L/ July 31 > 1847, a son of Jacob Crawford and 
Rebecca (Mathewson) Stine, natives respectively 
of Washington County, Pa., and Highland 
County, Ohio. His paternal grandfather, who 
was of German descent, moved from Pennsyl- 
vania to Greensburg, Ind., and engaged in farm- 
ing near that town until he died. Reared in 
Greensburg, where he learned the shoemaker's 
trade, Jacob C. Stine removed from there to Ohio, 
where he married and became a practicing attor- 
ney in New Market. For many years he served 
as justice of the peace. A local leader of the 
Democratic party, he served as a delegate to 
national conventions and took a prominent part 
in the councils of his party. In religion he was 
a Methodist. Uprightness marked all his actions, 
and genero.sity was shown in his helpful aid to 
the poor and needy. He continued in the prac- 
tice of law until he was fifty-nine years of age, 
when he retired, and two years later he died. 
His wife, who also died in Ohio, was a daughter 
of Ira Mathewson, a native of Virginia and an 
early settler of Highland County, Ohio, removing 
thence to Bond County, 111., where he died. He 
was a member of a pioneer family of New Eng- 
land, of Scotch descent and Presbyterian faith. 

The subject of this article was one of six chil- 
dren, three of whom are living, A. Jackson being 
a farmer in Coffey County, Kans. , and Isaac a 
resident of Dallas, Tex. Louis Cass, who is the 
second of the sons, spent the first eighteen years 
of his life in New Market. In March, 1S65, he 



348 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



removed to Kansas Township, Edgar County, 
111., where he engaged in farming, but, being 
troubled with ague there, he returned to Ohio the 
following year. In 1868 he went to Wapello, 
Iowa, where he was employed by a manufacturer 
of pumps for one year. In 1869 he visited east- 
ern and south central Kansas, spending a short 
time with a brother in Johnson County. Return- 
ing to Wapello, he remained there until 1872, but 
meantime traveled extensively in Iowa and 
western Illinois. 

In the year 1872 he settled in Charleston, Coles 
County, 111. Subsequently he removed to Spring- 
field, where he was engaged in business. He 
was married in Muscatine, Iowa, in 1876, his wife 
being Mary Williams, who was born in New 
Market, Ohio. In 1S64 she accompanied her 
father, Rev. Nathaniel Williams, to Illinois, later 
going to Iowa, and in 1884 he came to Kansas, 
settling in Clinton, where he died in 1887. 

Intending to study law, Mr. Stine went to 
Wilton, Iowa, in 1877, but after a year, on 
account of trouble with his eyes, he abandoned 
its study. In 1879 he came to Franklin County, 
Kans., and bought a farm on the present site of 
Richter, but a year later removed to Williams- 
burg, this county, and opened the Williamsburg 
Bank, which was the first bank started in the 
town. As his partner he had C. W. Goodin. 
After a year he removed to Ottawa and with Mr. 
Goodin, in January, 1882, organized the Goodin 
Bank, of which he continued as cashier until 
18S7. He then purchased his partner's interest 
and organized the Ottawa State Bank, of which 
he became president. In 1893 he sold his bank- 
ing interests in order to devote his attention to the 
large Silkville property entrusted to his care, he 
being president of the board of trustees of the 
Odd Fellows' Orphans' Home at Silkville. 

About 1870 Earnest Valeton de Boissiere, a 
philanthropic French gentleman, who was a 
graduate of the Polytechnic .school of Paris and 
a gentleman of large means, purchased and 
settled upon a large tract of land in the south- 
western part of Franklin County. His property 
contained over three thou.sand acres, and he built 
a residence of sixty rooms. It was his hope to 



establish a co-operative farm, but the hope was 
destined to disappointment. He then began to 
raise silkworms, having large mulberry orchards, 
and engaging in the manufacture of silk. The 
quality of the silk was so superior that it was 
given a premium at the Centennial of 1876. 
Although the venture did not prove a financial 
success, he, being fond of experiment, continued 
there. Being philanthropic, he gave all of his 
property in France for charitable' purposes, and 
contemplated donating his Kansas lands for the 
same purpose. His desire to give his property to 
some worthj' institution came to the knowledge 
of Mr. Stine in 1892. Being an ardent Odd 
Fellows, he at once realized that an orphans' home 
would carry out the principles of Odd Fellowship 
and accomplish great good. He called on Mon- 
sieur de Boissiere and laid his plans before him. 
The Frenchman was at once charmed with the 
idea, believing it more practicable than other 
.schemes that had been laid before him. In May, 
1892, the property was deeded to a board of trus- 
tees, of which Mr. Stine was appointed president. 
In October of the same year, when the grand 
lodge of Kansas met, he presented the arrange- 
ments in detail, and after deliberation the grand 
lodge accepted the property, under the conditions 
laid down by the owner, and provided for the im- 
provement and building up of the place. It 
comprised three thousand one hundred and fifty- 
six acres of land, with stock and machinery. 

Being elected president of the board, with the 
entire management of the home, Mr. Stine sold 
his bank in order to devote all of his time to the 
work in which he was so deeply interested. In 
1S92 he accompanied De Boissiere to New York 
upon his return to France, he having promised 
to return in 1894 on the opening of the school, 
but he died in January, 1894. The home was 
opened in June of that year. In the building up 
of the school an assessment was made and some 
dis.satisfaction arose, the matter finally coming 
into the hands of the grand lodge and the 
sovereign grand lodge, where Mr. Stine won a 
victory. The dissatisfaction no doubt arose from 
the fact that certain parties, using their influence 
in what might be called the politics of the order. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



349 



endeavored to handicap him in his work; and 
objection was made because the Frenchman had 
insisted on the property being in the hands of 
trustees appointed independently of the grand 
lodge, in which he showed discretion, for the 
board is thus left free from any changes made in 
the order. However, some were not pleased 
with it and made such strong objections that of 
late it has been necessary to abandon the in- 
dustrial school. This school had done much 
good, as is shown by the fact that some of its 
pupils are now occupying positions of trust in 
various places; but the grand lodge, repudiating 
its former action, the school was closed. For 
this reason the good work has been retarded, but 
it is the hope that it can be taken up again soon, 
and the charitable plans of its originator carried 
out. 

Mr. Stine was made an Odd Fellow in Mattoon, 
111., in 1873, but he did not take an active part in 
the order until he came to Kansas. He is now a 
member of Ottawa I,odge and has been connected 
with the grand lodge since i88i, having been its 
treasurer from 1883 to 1894. For the same 
period he also served as treasurer of the board 
of trustees of the Fraternal Benefit Association 
of the Odd Fellows. He is a member of the 
Rebekahs, Encampment, Canton and Muscovites. 
At the time of the meeting of the sovereign grand 
lodge in California he was a member of the com- 
mittee of escort. He was one of the committee 
of fifteen that went from this grand lodge to 
Columbus, Ohio, in order to invite the grand 
lodge to Kansas; their invitation was accepted 
and the convention was held in Topeka. He was 
a charter member of the Fraternal Aid, of which 
he was general treasurer for many years. He is 
also connected with the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen and with the Knights and Ladies of 
Security. 

In the family of Mr. and Mrs. Stine there are 
a son, Nathaniel True, and a daughter, Louis 
Fay. The son is a graduate of Wentworth 
Military Academy at Lexington, Mo., and the 
daughter is a student in the public schools of 
Ottawa. The family are members of the First 
Presbyterian Church, 



For years Mr. Stine has been chairman of the 
county Democratic central committee. In 1896 
he was a delegate from the second congressional 
district to the national convention of the Demo- 
cratic party in Chicago, where W. J. Brj'an was 
nominated for president. He is personally 
acquainted with Mr. Bryan, whom he had the 
honor of entertaining in his home on South Main 
street. He aided in the organization, and is now 
president, of the Ottawa Publishing Company, 
publishers of the Daily Republican , which is now 
a Democratic paper in its politics. He is also a 
member of the Commercial Club. 



ROBERT L. WOOD, M. D., a resident of 
Kansas since 1858, is the oldest physician of 
Leavenworth County. When he came to 
this state he purchased a farm ten miles southwest 
of Leavenworth and, in connection with his pro- 
fessional work, superintended the cultivation of 
his land. He continued an active and busy life, 
devoted to his professional duties and agricultu- 
ral pursuits, but after years of activity he retired 
in 1887 and took up his residence in Leavenworth. 
Upon every topic connected with the science of 
medicine and also upon all subjects of political 
importance he keeps posted and is well informed. 

Dr. Wood was born in Stokes County, N. C. , 
in 1821. The ancestors of the family in this 
country came from England and settled in North 
Carolina. Joseph Wood, the doctor's father, was 
a leading physician of Randolph County, N. C, 
and also carried on a large farm. He died in 
Texas, while on a visit in that state. At the time 
of his death he was eighty years of age. By his 
marriage to Susan Lindsay, who was born in 
North Carolina, of Scotch-Irish descent, he had 
seven children, three now living, viz. : Robert L- ; 
Sidneys., M. D., of Orange, Cal. ; and Sarah, 
wife of William Yohe. The wife and mother 
died at seventy-six years of age. 

The medical education of our subject was ob- 
tained in the Louisville (Ky.) Medical College, 
from which he graduated in 1846. During that 
year he located in St. Joe, Mo., where he engaged 
in practice for twelve years, coming from there to 



350 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Leavenworth County in 1858. He has always 
been an adherent of the Democratic party, but 
has not been active in politics. His first mar- 
riage was in 1849 to Georgia Allen, of Kentucky, 
who diedin 1859, leaving three children, viz.: 
William B., a physician in Orange, Cal.; Ella, 
wife of John Keller; and Minnie, v^'ho married 
John Hutchinson, of California. By his second 
wife, who was Mary Black, Dr. Wood had three 
children: Leila, widow of Robert Melvin; Henry 
and Jesse. His third wife was Catherine Bux- 
ton, a native of Missouri, by whom he had three 
children: Edwin S., Blanche and Estella. 



~ DWIN S. WOOD, M. D., police .surgeon and 
't) secretary of the board of health of Leaven- 
^ worth, also health officer of Leavenworth 
County, was born in High Prairie Township, 
October 25, 1872, a .son of Dr. Robert L. and 
Sarah (Buxton) Wood, natives respectively of 
Stokes County, N. C, and Clay County, Mo. 
The family of which he is a member has given 
many eminent men to the medical profession. 
Its members have been unusually successful as 
physicians and surgeons, possessing the peculiar 
mental traits and talents requisite for a successful 
professional career. His grandfather and father 
both devoted the active years of their lives to the 
science of medicine and were skillful practition- 
ers. An uncle and a brother are now success- 
fully practicing in Orange, Cal., and other rela- 
tives have also entered this profession. 

It is not strange therefore that Dr. Wood se- 
lected therapeutics as the science to which his 
life should be devoted. His preliminary profes- 
sional studies were conducted under his father's 
oversight. After one year with him, in 1893 ^^ 
entered Rush Medical College in Chicago, from 
which he graduated in 1896, with the degree of 
M. D. Returning to Leavenworth, he opened an 
office and has since carried on a general practice. 
In the spring of 1897 he was appointed police 
surgeon and secretary of the board .of health, 
which positions he has since filled efficiently. 
Since January, 1899, he has also held the office 
of county health officer, to which he was appoint- 
ed by the county commissioners. 



Dr. Wood is a member of the Leavenworth 
County Medical Society and the Alumni Associ- 
ation of Rush Medical College, also the Phi Rho- 
Sigma Fraternity. He votes the Democratic 
ticket at local and national elections. Fratern- 
ally he is a member of King Solomon Lodge No. 
10, A. F. & A. M 



ELARK WILBER, who owns and cultivates 
a valuable farm in Sherman Township, 
Leavenworth Count)-, was born in Erie 
County, Ohio, June 21, 1853, being a son of 
Thomas G. and Abigail (Mason) Wilber. His 
father, a native of New York state, removed to 
Ohio in early manhood and there followed the 
blacksmith's trade and general farming until his 
retirement from business. He was a man who 
stood high in his community. In politics, though 
not active, he was interested, and alwaj's sup- 
ported Democratic principles. He died in 1887, 
when sixty-two years of age. He had long sur- 
vived his wife, who pas.sed away in 1868. Of 
their nine children all but one are living. Rich- 
ard and Amos are farmers respectively in Fair- 
mount and Sherman Townships, Leavenworth 
County. The others are: Clark, the subject of 
this sketch; Charles and Mary, of Ohio; Ira, of 
Sherman Township; Ezra and Jessie, of Ohio. 
The Wilber family was represented in New Eng- 
land in a very early day, and Brownell Wilber, 
our subject's grandfather, removed from Massa- 
chusetts to New York. 

The third son of his parents, our subject 
received such educational advantages as his 
neighborhood school affiirded. At an earl)' age 
he became familiar with farm work, in all of its 
details. When nineteen he began to learn the 
mason's trade, which he followed for a few years, 
and afterward he engaged in farming in Lorain 
County, Ohio. In 1881, at the time of the great 
flood, he first came to Kansas and after a short 
visit returned to Ohio, where he followed his 
trade for a year. The year 1S83 found him a 
permanent settler of Kansas, where he bought 
forty acres in Sherman Township, Leavenworth 
County. He is now the owner of one hundred 





w^m^. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



353 



and sixty acres, where he follows general farming 
and stock-raising, and besides his home place he 
rents considerable land which he devotes to farm 
purposes. 

Reared under Democratic influences, Mr. Wil- 
ber voted that ticket for some years, but is now 
inclined to be independent. As road overseer 
he has worked in the interests of his township. 
It was largely through his influence that stone 
arch bridges have been built in the roads of this 
section. He was a promoter of the Kaw River 
bridge movement and endeavored to stir up popu- 
lar enthusiasm in behalf of this needed improve- 
ment. In 1873 he married Miss Rachel Aurilla 
Powell, a daughter of Philander and Lavina 
Powell, who was born in Ohio. They are the 
parents of four children, namely: Abbie M., 
wife of Arthur Taylor, of Carlinville, 111; Minnie, 
Roy and Pearl. Mr. Wilber has given his chil- 
dren good advantages, in order to fit them for po- 
sitions of usefulness and honor in the world. Re- 
alizing the advantages of a good education, he has 
striven to promote the welfare of his school dis- 
trict and has been much interested in the progress 
of the school. For three years he was a member 
of the school board, of which he served as the 
treasurer. 



/JJEN. WILLIAM HENRY SEARS, attor- 
|_ ney-at-law, of Lawrence, and private secre- 
Vj tary to United States Senator W. A. Harris, 
was born in Iowa March 7, 1858. The family 
has been represented in America since 1630, when 
Richard Sears crossed the ocean in company with 
the first governor of Massachusetts. Successive 
generations resided in Massachusetts and were 
engaged in mercantile and shipping pursuits. 
Col. Isaac Sears was the founder of the Sons of 
Liberty and organized the movement in all of the 
colonies from Maine to Georgia. It was the 
members of this society to whose influence was 
due the primary agitation that led to the Revolu- 
tion, and he served in the war as colonel. It is 
said that a suggestion from him led to the forma- 
tion of the first continental congress. He had 
charge of the party that pulled down the statue of 
King George III. in Bowling Green Park, Ntw 

13 



York, and from this statue, which was made of 
lead, he moulded forty-two thousand bullets, 
with the boast that he "would hurl leaden maj- 
esty at King George III." In Connecticut he 
organized a company of horsemen who went to 
New York and demolished the printing ofiice of 
James Rivington, publisher of the Royal Gazet- 
teer, in the interests of the Royalists. The presses 
were thrown into the river, and bullets were 
made from the type. At the time he and his men 
were destroying British effects, Alexander Ham- 
ilton made an earnest appeal to the people to rise 
up and stop him, but he was not interfered with. 
Owing to his prominence he was known as 
"King" Sears. The family have in their pos- 
session an autograph letter from General Wash- 
ington to Major-General Lee, stating that if he 
needed a man of intrepid daring and courage he 
should call upon Col. Isaac Sears. During the 
war he was elected to the New York assembly, 
and as he was needed there, he resigned from the 
army and gave his services in the legislature. 
Being wealthy for that day, he was enabled to 
assist the movement looking toward independ- 
ence, and, indeed, was so liberal that he was left 
penniless at the close of the war. Having a good 
name and credit, he chartered a ship and engaged 
in the China trade, and while in the Orient he 
died. A monument was erected above his re- 
mains on French Island, near Canton. Others 
of the family were in the Revolutionary war, but 
none took so prominent a part as he. To his 
patriotism, energy and determination is traced 
the organization which in the end started the 
movement for the organization of the colonies, 
resulting in the memorable Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. His martial spirit has been inherited 
by his descendants, some of whom have served 
in all our country's wars. 

Charles M. Sears, the father of our subject, 
was born in Port Leyden, Lewis County, N. Y., 
and settled in Kansas during territorial days, 
taking up a claim in Eudora Township, Douglas 
County, and building a house that still stands. 
He resided here until 1880, when he went back 
east and established his home in Chillicothe, 
Ohio. Since his return east he has engaged in 



354 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



the canning business, and now owns the largest 
factory of its kind in Ohio. In proof of this 
statement, it may be said that in May, 1899, he 
had sold five million cans of the future crop. 
During his residence in Kansas he was not active in 
politics, although he served as a member of the 
legislature, county commissioner and justice of 
the peace. In the latter position he gained a 
reputation for ability. At the time of the Price 
raid he joined the Kansas state militia and served 
as captain of his company. When in pursuit of 
Quantrell during the celebrated raid, he was 
wounded in the neck. At this writing he is 
commander of his Grand Army post. By his 
marriage to Mary Ann Hayes-Smith, of New 
York, he had nine children, of whom four sons 
and one daughter are living, our subject being 
the only one in Kansas. 

Both in the arts and in law our subject re- 
ceived excellent advantages. He graduated from 
the law department of the University of Kansas 
June 12, 1890, and the post-graduate law depart- 
ment University of Michigan June 30, 1892. 
Since completing his studies he has been en- 
gaged in practice in Lawrence. From the time 
of the organization of the National Guard in 1885, 
up to the spring of 1899, he was connected with 
it. For two j'ears before he had been captain of 
an independent company, the Robin.son Riiles. 
He organized the military system at the Haskell 
Institute and formed a regiment of eight compa- 
nies, which he drilled. Enlisting as a private 
in the National Guard, he worked his way up to 
the rank of senior brigadier-general. He con- 
ceived and carried out an idea which resulted in 
the starting of the first camp of observation and 
school of instruction in the state and, indeed, in 
the entire country. At their meeting, held in 
Fort Leavenworth, they not only had the benefit of 
the best instruction of the regular army, but also 
the benefit of .seeing the actual drill of the regu- 
lar army in all of its branches. Upon the break- 
ing out of the war with Spain he offered his 
services to Governor Leedy, having the endorse- 
ment of every representative and both senators 
of the state, but as he had supported Hon. W. A. 
Harris when the latter was a candidate for gover- 



nor, he was ignored, although without doubt the 
National Guard in Kansas had no man more able 
or better posted than he. It is said that he has the 
finest military library of any citizen-soldier in 
the state. During the legislative trouble at To- 
peka in 1893 he served in such a manner as to 
elicit the praise of Governor Llewelling, who be- 
lieved that he had been saved from "humiliation 
and di.sgrace and possiblj- assassination' ' by the 
general's promptness. At the time of the famous 
coal strike, he commanded two regiments and 
was under arms for three days. 

At the time of Senator Harris' campaign. Gen- 
eral Sears was one of his lieutenants, and did 
such valuable work in his behalf that he was 
chosen private secretary upon the election of Mr. 
Harris to the senate. In politics he is an ardent 
Populist, and is prominent in the councils of his 
party, but has worked less for himself than for 
others. He is a member of the Independent Or- 
der of Odd Fellows and the Phi Delta Pi and 
Sigma Nu of his alma mater. June 25, 1884, he 
married Alice H. Peabody, daughter of Maj. 
David G. Peabody, of Lawrence. They have a 
son, Burton Winthrop Sears. 



HON. CARMI W. BABCOCK. For many 
\ears General Babcock was one of the most 
influential citizens of Lawrence, to which 
city he came in September, 1854, when it con- 
tained only a few houses and gave little indication 
of its present importance and commercial stand- 
ing. From that time until his death, which 
occurred in October, 1890, he was active in pro- 
moting the interests of the town and prominent 
also in political circles throughout the state. As 
a citizen he gave his support to measures of un- 
doubted value, and his co operation was always 
relied upon in the perfecting of progressive plans. 
A son of Elias and Clara (Olmsted) Babcock, 
natives of Vermont and members of prominent 
families of that state, the subject of this article 
was born in Franklin County, Vt., April 21, 
1830. He was a brother of Gen. O. E. Babcock, 
who served on the staff of General Grant; Myron 
Babcock, M. D., a prominent physician of Sara- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



355 



toga Springs, N. Y. , and Hon. L. A. Babcock, 
who was the first attorney-general of Minnesota. 
His education was obtained principally in Bakers- 
field Academy, after which he engaged in teach- 
ing. In 1850 he went to Minnesota and studied 
law in the office of Babcock & Wilkinson, of St. 
Paul. In 1853 he was admitted to the bar and 
the following year came to Kansas, where he took 
up a claim on the south end of Massachusetts 
street, in Lawrence. This property was after- 
ward laid off in town lots as Babcock's addition. 
After devoting a short time to the practice of law 
he formed a partnership with another gentleman, 
under the firm name of Babcock & Lykins, and 
the two opened on Massachusetts street what was 
the first banking institution in the city. At the 
time of Quantrell's raid their bank was burned 
and they suflFered a heavy loss. 

In the winter of 1854-55 Mr. Babcock was ap- 
pointed the first postmaster of Lawrence, an 
office which he held for four years. He was also 
one of the first ma}'ors of the city and served for 
.several terms as a member of the city council. 
In 1856 he was elected to the free state legisla- 
ture, and he was honored by being chosen presi- 
dent of the first state senate. He built the Law- 
rence bridge and owned it for twenty years. In 
1869 he was appointed by President Grant sur- 
veyor-general for the state of Kansas, and in 
1873 was again appointed to the position. While 
acting in that capacity he finished the survey of 
the public lands and the ofiice was then abolished. 

From 1877 Mr. Babcock was a contractor, and 
one of his contracts was that for the east wing of 
the state capitol. Later, and until his death, he 
was secretary of the Kansas Basket Manufactur- 
ing Company; Fraternally he was a Mason. He 
was a vestryman and senior warden of the 
Episcopal Church and a generous contributor to 
its maintenance. 

January 17, 1866, in LaCrosse, Wis., General 
Babcock married Miss Martha C. Gillette, who 
was born in Cleveland, and whose first teacher 
was the lady who afterward married President 
Garfield. Her father, Seth A. Gillette, was born 
in Ohio, a son of Griswold Gillette, who was an 
early settler on the western reserve, and whose 



wife was the oldest daughter of Colonel Tracy, 
of Revolutionary fame. From Ohio Seth A. 
Gillette moved to Wisconsin and engaged in the 
manufacture of lumber in LaCrosse, where he 
was successful, retrieving the losses he had ex- 
perienced in Ohio. His last years were spent in 
Lawrence. He married Belinda Peas, who was 
born in Ohio, the youngest of a large family of 
children whose father was a captain in the Revo- 
lutionary war. She spent her last years with her 
daughter, Mrs. Babcock. Of her five children 
Mrs. Babcock was the youngest and is the only 
one now living. She was educated in LaCrosse 
Seminary and a private school, and is a lady of 
refinement and culture. General and Mrs. Bab- 
cock were the parents of three children, namely: 
Mrs. Martha Gillette Pierson, of Lawrence; 
Clifford Gillette, who is connected with the Santa 
Fe road in Argentine, Kans.; and Frances 
Adelaide, who graduated in the department of 
fine arts, University of Kansas, in the class of 
1899- 

pCjILLIAM FRANKLIN SPENCER, who is 
\A/ engaged in business in Leavenworth, was 
YV born in Buchanan County, Mo., in 1843, 
a son of Obadiah M. and Nancy (Williams) 
Spencer, and a descendant, on the paternal side, 
of English ancestors who settled in the south in 
a very early day. His father, who was a native 
of North Carolina, removed to Missouri in 1837 
and engaged in farming there for years, meeting 
with fair success in his work. During 1870 he 
came to Leavenworth County, Kans., and pur- 
chased the old land office farm in Kickapoo 
Township. Here he carried on agricultural pur- 
suits, becoming an extensive and prosperous 
farmer. His death occurred in 1886, when he 
was seventy-seven years of age, and his wife also 
died in this township. 

Of five sons and five daughters comprising the 
family our subject was the second son in order 
of birth. He was educated in Mis.souri in coun- 
try schools. During the Civil war he engaged in 
freighting across the plains from the Missouri 
River to Denver, Colo., and, with his ox-teams, 
did a large amount of hauling. He continued 



356 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



in the business for three years, after which he 
turned his attention to farming. The year 1870 
found liim in Kansas. In Leavenworth County 
he bought from Eli McCullough one hundred 
acres of fanning land, to which he afterward 
added from time to time, until his landed pcsses- 
sions now aggregate three hundred and eightj^- 
five acres, the property being used as a stock 
farm for the raising of fine horses and cattle. He 
now owns the old homestead, where his father 
and mother spent their last days. In 1898 he 
bought the old Cook livery .stable on Miami 
street and at once built new barns, where he has 
since conducted a general livery business. 

In principles a stanch Democrat, Mr. Spencer 
has always been interested in the work of his 
party. In 189S he was a candidate for county 
treasurer. He served as township trustee for one 
year and has filled other offices of responsibility, 
in all of which he has worked for the benefit of 
local interests. In Kickapoo Lodge No. 61, K. 
of P., he has held the office of chancellor. He 
is also connected with the Knights and Ladies of 
Security in Kickapoo. In 1899 he rented his 
farm property and took up his residence in town, 
where he has since made his home on Fourth 
and Walnut streets, opposite the court house. 
By his marriage in 1872 to Miss Laura Jennison, 
he has six children, Oliver Martin, Phoebe, 
Alonzo, Nanc}', Ella and William F. , Jr. 



HENRY C. F. HACKBUSCH, of Leaven- 
worth, was born in Marnitz, Germany, Sep- 
tember II, 1832, a son of Henrj- J. F. and 
Dorothea (Schroeder) Hackbusch, the latter of 
whom died when he was only four years of age. 
He was given good educational advantages bj- his 
father and attended Frederick Franz College at 
Parchim, in the grand duchy of Mecklenburg- 
Schwerin. At eighteen years of age he immi- 
grated to America and settled in Dubuque, Iowa, 
where he made his home from 1851 to 1857. 
While there he engaged in various occupations. 
For three winters he worked in a printing office 
and during several summers engaged in survey- 
ing public lands in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minne- 



sota. In 1855 he was given a position in the 
engineer's department of the Dubuque Harbor 
Improvement Company, where he remained 
until he came to Leavenworth two years later. 
During his first year here he followed surveying, 
after which for six months he was in the office of 
the United States surveyor-general of Kansas and 
Nebraska, as draughtsman, and then became a 
surveyor of public lands on the plains. In the 
spring of 1861 he entered the surveyor general's 
office as principal draughtsman, in which capac- 
ity he was employed for two and one-half years. 
In the fall of 1863 he was promoted to be chief 
clerk and continued in that position until August, 
1864, when he resigned in order to engage in 
field work. 

In the summer of 1869 Hon. C. W. Babcock 
appointed Mr. Hackbusch chief clerk in the of- 
fice of the surveyor-general of Kansas, and this 
position he held for four years, but resigned in 
1873 in order to accept an appointment from the 
Secretary of the Interior as United States sur- 
veyor of Indian lands in the Indian Territory. 
He continued in the position until 1875, when 
the office was temporarily discontinued by the 
government. The work in which he has en- 
gaged has brought him in contact with various 
Indian tribes, the Sioux in Minnesota, the 
Pawnees, Omahas and Otoes in Nebraska, etc. , 
and during all of his intercourse with them he 
had no trouble of a serious nature, but won their 
confidence by his fair dealings. During the ex- 
istence of the Whig party he voted with it, and 
since the organization of the Republican party he 
has voted for his principles. 

During 1895, 1896 and 1897 Mr. Hackbusch 
was with a geological surveying party in the 
Indian Territory. He was then sent to Wyom- 
ing by the commissioner of the general land office 
for the purpose of examining government sur- 
veys, in which he was engaged for five months. 
During the summer of 1899 he was connected 
with the Dawes commis.sion and worked in the 
Indian Territory. In 1893 he was elected to the 
legislature from Leavenworth, and in 1895 and 
1897 was re-elected to the office, serving as a 
member of the committees o» mines and mining. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



357 



rail roads and insurance. In 1884 and 1885 he 
held the office of county treasurer. He and his 
wife, who was Anna Mathonet, of Leavenworth, 
are the parents of three children, Florentine, 
Dorothea and Frederick. By a former marriage 
he has a son, Henry, who is a railroad engineer. 
Fraternally Mr. Hackbusch is a member of 
Lodge No. 26, B. P. O. E., of Kansas City, Mo. 
He is also connected with the blue lodge, chap- 
ter, commandery. Mystic Shrine in Masonry. 
In his business he has met with success. Com- 
ing to America without means, he has built up a 
fine reputation for proficiency in surveying and 
in this occupation has become well known 
throughout the west. The United States Gen- 
eral Land Office consider him one of their most 
competent and experienced surveyors. 



(lOHN M. PHILLIPS, M. D., of Linwood, 
I is a descendant of an English family that set- 
(2/ tied in North Carolina in a very early day. 
His grandfather, Absalom, and great-grand- 
father, Capt. Josiah Phillips (who was an officer 
in the colonial army during the Revolutionary 
war), were planters in North Carolina; but, in 
1836 the former, accompanied by his family, re- 
moved to Indiana and settled in Martinsville, 
Morgan County. The doctor's father, the Rev. 
James S. Phillips, was a young man at the time 
of the removal to the north, and much of his sub- 
sequent active life was spent in that state. While 
farming was his occupation, his time was largely 
given to ministerial work, and his services were 
given gratuitously for the good of the cause. 
About 1884 he retired from active labors, and 
now, at eighty-four years of age, he is making 
his home with his son, Isaac Q. , in Douglas 
County, Kans. His wife, Sarah M., daughter of 
Nathan and Nancy (Dickinson) Edwards, na- 
tives respectively of the north of Ireland and 
Scotland, was born in Chatham County, N. C, 
and died in Arkansas in 1895, at eighty-one years 
of age. The first member of the Edwards family 
to come to America was her grandfather, Noah 
Edwards, who was born in the north of Ireland, 
of Scotch extraction, and who, settling in North 



Carolina, became a planter in that state. From 
there his son, Nathan, removed to Indiana dur- 
ing the early settlement of that state, and, secur- 
ing a tract of unimproved land, developed a fine 
farm. 

Of a family of nine children, four sons are now 
living, namely: Edwin D. F. Phillips, M. D., of 
Lawrence; Charles W., of Leavenworth County; 
Isaac Q., of Douglas County; and John M., who 
was the eighth in order of birth. The deceased 
are Thomas A., Nancy A., Mary F. , Nathan E. 
and William B. Our subject was born in Ham- 
ilton County, Ind., July 18, 1852, and was edu- 
cated in the public schools of Indiana. At nine- 
teen 3'ears of age he came to Kansas and settled 
in Tonganoxie, where he became familiar with 
the drug business under the instruction of his 
brother. Dr. E. D. F. Phillips. For seven years 
he engaged in the drug business at Tonganoxie 
and for two years in Lawrence. Meantime he 
carried on the study of medicine. In 1878 he en- 
tered the Kansas City Medical College, where he 
took the complete course of lectures and gradu- 
ated March 4, 1881, with the degree of M. D. 
He opened an office in Johnson County, but after 
a very short time, in the fall of 1 881, he came to 
Linwood, and here he has since carried on a gen- 
eral practice. As far as his opportunities per- 
mit ne has made a specialty of surgery, in which 
department of his profession he is intensely inter- 
ested. It is his aim to keep in touch with every 
development in the medical science, and he 
studies professional works and current medical 
literature with the thoughtfulness of one who 
aims to keep abreast with the times. 

As a Republican Dr. Phillips has been identi- 
fied with local politics. For some time he served 
as clerk of the school board and took a part in 
the building of the schoolhouse in Linwood. For 
one term he held the office of township clerk. In 
Linwood Lodge No. 108, K. P., he is past chan- 
cellor, and he is also connected with the Modern 
Woodmen of America and the Fraternal Aid So- 
ciety. Professionally he is . identified with the 
Eastern District Medical Society. To the work 
of the Congregational Church he has been a gen- 
erous contributor, and as a member of its board 



358 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



of trustees he has been instrumental in promot- 
ing its welfare. All objects for the benefit of the 
people, commercially, educational!}' or morally, 
receive his hearty sympathy. He was deeply in- 
terested in the attempt to secure a bridge over 
the Kaw River between Linwood and Johnson 
County, and still cherishes hopes that this needed 
improvement will in time be made. December 
24, 188 1, he married Ida F., daughter of Will- 
iam J. Dawson, of Liuwood. They and their 
children. Birdie E., William S., Kittie I. and 
Nellie M., occupy the residence which the doctor 
erected in 1888. 



/gEORGE D. STINEBAUGH. As a valiant 
|_ soldier in the Civil war, and as a capable 
\^ business man of Ottawa, where he has made 
his home since March 24, 1866, Mr. Stinebaugh 
is well known to the people of eastern Kansas. 
He was born near Galion, Crawford County, 
Ohio, August 13, 1840, a descendant of ancestors 
of Wurtemberg, Germany, ancestry represented 
among the pioneers of Pennsylvania. His grand- 
father, John, son of Adam Stinebaugh, a Revo- 
lutionary soldier, was born in Pennsylvania and 
served in the war of 1812. When his sou, Jacob 
(who was born in Hagerstown, Md., in 1806), 
was a child of two years, he moved to Horseshoe 
bottoms on Cheat River near Beverly, W. Va., 
and there carried on a blacksmith's shop and en- 
gaged in the cattle business. He died during a 
visit to Maryland when his son was a young man 
of twenty-four. The latter soon afterward moved 
to Crawford County, Ohio, married and engaged 
in farming. In 1854 he removed to Williams 
County, Ohio, and there made his home until 
1866, when the entire family .settled in Kansas. 
Buying a farm in Franklin County, near the now 
extinct town of Ohio City, he engaged in agri- 
cultural pursuits there until his death, which oc- 
curred in 1869, at sixty-three years of age. He 
was a man of considerable ability; reared under 
the judicious oversight of his father, who was a 
man of prominence, he was fitted for life's re- 
sponsibilities, and during his long career he 
proved himself to be a man of integrity and intel- 
ligence. Though he learned the blacksmith's 



trade he gave little attention to it, but devoted 
himself to farming. While in Ohio he also had 
mail contracts for four routes. In religion he 
was a Lutheran. 

The wife of Jacob Stinebaugh was Helena 
Hershner, who was born in York County, Pa., of 
German descent, and about 1822 accompanied 
her father to Ohio, where her marriage occurred. 
She died in Kansas March 4, 1889, when eighty- 
three years of age. Of her ten children all but 
one attained maturity and six are now living. 
John, who was a member of Companj' C, One 
Hundredth Ohio Infantry, in the Civil war, is now 
living in St. Joe, Mo.; Henrj', who was a ser- 
geant in the Thirty-eighth Ohio Infantry, died 
in Ohio from the eifects ol his army service; An- 
drew, who was a member of the Tenth Kansas 
militia, is now in California; Jacob, who enlisted 
in the Thirty-eighth Ohio Infantry and was 
wounded in front of Atlanta, now makes his 
home in Ottawa; Ellizabeth is the wife of H. 
Towney, living near Princeton, Franklin Coun- 
ty; George D. was sixth in order of birth; Mary 
died in childhood, Mrs. Ellen Goodrich died in 
Ottawa; Lydia lives in Franklin County; and 
Mrs. Anna Campbell resides in North Dakota. 

When fourteen years of age our subject accom- 
panied the family from Galion to Williams Coun- 
ty. At the first call for volunteers in the Civil 
war he determined to enlist. April 19, 1861, he 
volunteered in Company C, Fourteenth Ohio In- 
fantry, and was mu.stered in at Cleveland for 
three months. Among his first engagements 
where those at Philippi, Laurel Hill or Beeling- 
ton, Carricks Ford and Cheat River (which was 
almost on the same ground where his father was 
reared) . He was mustered out at Toledo, Ohio, 
August 13, 1861. In company with his brother 
Henry he enli.sted in Company H, Thirty-eighth 
Ohio Infantry, and in 1864 they were joined by a 
third brother, Jacob. Among the engagements 
of his second term of service were Mill Spring, 
Stone River, Perryville, Chickamauga, Mission 
Ridge, Chattanooga, Resaca, Kenesaw Moun- 
tain, Snake Creek Gap, and all the battles of the 
Atlanta siege. In the battle of Jonesboro, at the 
first volley, every man within ten feet of him was 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



359 



struck. And in the second volley two shots 
passed through his left leg, another grazed the 
left side, while one grazed the top of his head. 
About sundown he was carried to the rear and at 
midnight his leg was amputated on the field. He 
was sent to a field hospital, where he remained 
three days — then was transferred to the hospital 
at Atlanta, then to Chattanooga, afterwards to 
Nashville, Tenn., thence to New Albany, Ind., 
later to Louisville, Ky., where he was dis- 
charged. As soon as he was able to get around 
he was given the head clerkship at the hospital, 
and continued in that capacity until July 14, 
1865, when he was honorably discharged at Lou- 
isville, Ky. 

Returning home Mr. Stinebaugh took a course 
in Bryant & Stratton's Business College at To- 
ledo, Ohio, from which he graduated in 1866. 
He then came to Kansas, where he was employed 
as deputy recorder of deeds of Franklin County. 
In the session of 1866-67 ^^^ served as enrolling 
clerk of the house of representatives. In the fall 
of 1867 he was elected county clerk on the Re- 
publican ticket, and by re-election each two 
years, held the office from 1868 to 1880. While 
acting as county clerk he had become interested 
in the real- estate business, and in this he has 
since engaged. In 1890 he was admitted to prac- 
tice in the interior department and has since been 
a pension attorney. He represents six of the 
old-line fire insurance companies. For two years 
he was a member of the city council and served 
on the school board at the time of the building of 
Central school. For some time he served as city 
clerk. He is a member of George H. Thomas 
Post No. 18, G. A. R. , and his wife is connected 
with the ladies of the G. A. R. For several years 
he was treasurer of the Baptist Church. 

The residence owned by Mr. Stinebaugh stands 
at No. 623 West Fifth street. He was married 
September 13, 1868, near Ohio City, Kans., to 
Mary Ann, daughter of James and Nancy (An- 
derson) Reese, and a native of Lafayette, Ind. 
Her grandfather, John Reese, who was of Welsh 
descent, was a native of Virginia, where he op- 
erated a grist mill. He served in the Indian 
wars. From Virginia James Reese moved to In- 



diana, settling in Boone County, where he en- 
gaged in milling, then for a short time lived in 
Lafayette. Afterward he moved to the vicinity 
of Danville, Vermilion County, 111., and there 
resided until his death. His wife was born in 
Pulaski County, Ky., a daughter of Vardsman 
Anderson. Mrs. Reese died in Indiana. Of her 
five children that attained maturity, Lewis A. 
served in the Mexican war, then was in the regu- 
lar army for eight years, and later took part in 
the Civil war; he died in Neosho County, Kans. 
Samuel, who was sergeant in Company C, Seven- 
tj'-second Indiana Infantry, died in Oakwood, 
111. Jesse A., who was in the Fourth United 
States Cavalry during the war with Mexico, aft- 
erward served for fifteen years in the regular 
army, and in the Civil war was a member of the 
Seventh Kansas Regiment; he was killed at the 
battle of Little Blue in November, 1861, the first 
engagement after he enlisted. Elizabeth J. is liv- 
ing in Indianapolis, Ind. Mary A., who was 
reared in Indiana, came to Kansas in 1867, and 
September 13, 1868, became the wife of Mr. 
Stinebaugh, by whom she had an only child, Al- 
lie E. , deceased at fourteen months. After the 
death of their child they adopted a daughter, 
Matie E. Goodrich, who married Frank Illk, and 
makes her home near Oakwood, 111. 



V/IrS. CLARINDA L. RUSSELL, who was 
Y born in Leavenworth on the present site of 
(3 the Union depot, Delaware and Main 
streets, in May, 1856, is the oldest surviving 
resident of the city who was born here. She 
occupies a comfortable residence, a part of which 
was built by her father, Thomas Cass, in 1857, 
the material used in its construction being native 
sawed cottonwood lumber. The location of the 
residence is No. 718 Shawnee street. 

Thomas Cass was born in Kilkenny, Ireland, 
October 11, 1823, a .son of John and Bridget 
(Carey) Cass, also natives of Ireland. His 
father died on the ocean when he was bringing 
the family to America, and the mother died in 
New York City the same year. After having 
spent the first seven years of his American life in 



360 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



different places, in 1853 Mr. Cass settled in 
Leavenworth and entered the government em- 
ploy, having charge of trains that crossed the 
plains. He was such a stanch free-state man that 
he aroused the enmit}' of the southern adherents 
and was once attacked by them and his life put in 
the greatest peril, but he managed to escape. In 
1867 he opened a store that was known as Uncle 
Tom's Cabin. He was interested in the improve- 
ment of the city and built both residence and busi- 
ness houses. At the time he built on Shawnee 
street it was then in the midst of the woods, and 
few believed that the city would ever extend such a 
distance from Main street. In politics he was a 
stanch Democrat. 

While in Chester, 111., Thomas Cass formed 
the acquaintance of Mary Jones, whom he mar- 
ried at Weston, Mo., in 1854. She was born in 
Allegheny, Pa., and died in Leavenworth, Kans. , 
in February, 1859. Her parents, John and Marj- 
Jones, were Pennsylvanians by birth, and in 1832 
removed to Chester, 111., near which town he 
cleared and improved a farm, remaining there 
until his death, in 1871, at the age of seventy-one 
years. His wife died in 1866. His father, 
Charles Jones, was born in Wales and settled in 
Pennsylvania, being a resident of Allegheny City 
at the time of his death. 

When our subject's mother died she was a 
small child, and was then taken by her father to 
the home of her grandmother Jones. _ In July, 
1865, she was placed in Mount St. Mary's 
Academy, at Leavenworth, where she was a pupil 
for some time. She also attended the high school 
of Leavenworth. Her marriage, which took 
place in Leavenworth June i, 1876, united her 
with Ephraim Russell, who was born in Paisley, 
Scotland. His father, Joseph Russell, brought 
the family to America and settled in Leaven- 
worth, Kans., where he died; the wife and 
mother is now making her home in Salt Lake 
City. Mr. Russell was a bricklayer by trade. 
He followed that occupation industriously and 
successfully, remaining in Leavenworth until his 
death, in 1878. Since then Mrs. Russell has 
given her attention to the management of the 
property she inherited from her father and to the 



training of her accorapli.shed daughters. Birdie 
and Ethel, of whose talents she is justly proud. 
She po.ssesses genuine business ability, with the 
energy and determination to succeed, and has 
managed her property interests in a manner that 
reflects the highest credit upon her. In religion 
she is a Roman Catholic and holds membership 
in the Cathedral. Her sympathies, politically, 
have always been with the Democratic party. 



K)ELSON A. CHAMBERS, who is engaged 
Y I in farming and stock-raising in Franklin 
1^ Township, Franklin County, was bom in 
North Carolina in 1833, a son of Joshua and 
Nancj' (Powell) Chambers. He was the oldest 
of ten children born to the first marriage of his 
father. The latter, a native of North Carolina, 
engaged in farm pursuits there until very shortly 
before the Civil war, when he moved to Indiana. 
After having made his home in that state for 
more than ten years he removed to Iowa and there 
spent the remaining years of his life. Politically 
he was a Democrat. He was first married in 
North Carolina, that wife dying in Indiana, and 
afterward he married a second time in Iowa. 

When only fifteen years of age our subject 
went to Indiana, preceding his father to that state 
and working on a farm there from 1851 to 1866. 
During the latter year he moved to Iowa, .settling 
upon a farm in Polk County and actively identi- 
fying himself with the agricultural interests of 
that .section. He remained there until 1S72, and 
in the spring of the latter year came to Kansas, 
first settling in the northern part of Peoria Town- 
ship, Franklin County. There he engaged in 
farming until 1877. He then bought two hun- 
dred and forty acres of raw land immediately 
south of where he now lives. He broke the land, 
put up fences, and placed the property under ex- 
cellent improvement. On selling that tract he 
bought what was known as the Wadsworth farm 
adjoining his present place on the northeast. He 
continued to reside there until 1896, when he 
bought his present place of one hundred acres, 
where he raises thoroughbred Shorthorn cattle 
and Poland-China hogs. The property which he 




GUSTAVE JULirS WOLFSPERGER. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



363 



now owns has been acquired by his own energy 
and industry since coming to Kansas, and he has 
no reason to regret his decision as to settling in 
this state. 

Since 1863 Mr. Chambers has been connected 
with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His 
first vote was cast for John C. Fremont for presi- 
dent, and since then he has always been a Re- 
publican. In Indiana, July 2, 1855, he married 
Rhoda E. Nugent, by whom he had five children. 
Four of the family are now living, viz.: John O., 
who married Minnie Cole and farms in partner- 
ship with his father; Nancy J., wife of John L,. 
Baker, of Franklin Couut}^; Amanda E., who 
married C. W. Badorf, and lives in Cowley, 
Kans. ; and Isabel, wife of A. J. Steen, of Wells- 
ville. 



[cJUSTAVE JUUUS WOLFSPERGER, de- 
|_ ceased, was for some years before his death 
vJ succesjifully engaged in the hotel business in 
Leavenworth, being proprietor of the Kansas 
Central hotel. He was born in this city June 15, 
1 860, a son of Mathias and Catherine Wolfsperger, 
natives of Germany. His father came to the 
United States when twenty-two years of age and, 
after a short time in New York, proceeded to 
Kansas, settling in Leavenworth, where he built 
up a large and profitable business in the line of 
staple and fancy groceries. He came from an 
ancestry that was noted for activity in the busi- 
ness pursuits of life. By industry and judicious 
application to business he acquired a compe- 
tency. Throughout life he was connected with 
the Lutheran Church, in which he had been con- 
firmed in boyhood. His death occurred in 
Leavenworth May 3, 1898, when he was sixty- 
seven years of age. He and his wife had three 
children, but all are now deceased. 

When seventeen years of age our subject went 
to California, where he remained for three years. 
On his return home he embarked in the hotel 
busine.ss, and in this he continued until about a 
year before his death, January 14, 189S. In the 
management of business he showed an intelli- 
gence and honesty of purpose that, in the end, 
brought its own reward. Had his life been spared 



to old age he would undoubtedly have become 
wealthy; and, while he was still a young man 
when he died, he nevertheless left his family in 
comfortable circumstances. His energy was one 
of the noticeable traits of his character. He 
was constantly occupied with plans for business 
and for the extension of his interests, and these 
plans his superior executive ability enabled him 
to carry out. 

October 12, 1882, Mr. Wolfsperger married 
Miss Alice Jesson, who was born in Frankfort, 
Kans., and was reared in California. Her 
father, Soren Jesson, a native of Denmark, came 
to America when a j'oung man and settled in 
Kansas, where he engaged in farming for several 
years. From this state he removed to California 
and embarked in the transfer business. He now 
makes his home in San Francisco, but at this 
writing is in Alaska. He married Margaret 
Wright, who was born in Illinois, of English ex- 
traction, and died at middle age. Mr. and Mrs. 
Wolfsperger became the parents of two daughters, 
Lela Fay and Alice Gertrude, both of whom are 
with their mother. The family are connected 
with the Lutheran Church. A capable business 
woman, Mrs. Wolfsperger superintends the in- 
terests left by her husband and displays resources 
of mind, as well as a genial disposition, that make 
her popular in society. Mr. Wolfsperger was 
identified with the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows and in politics was a Democrat, but not 
actively connected with partisan affairs. 



LIVER F. SHORT, a pioneer of '57, was 
born in Indiana, where for some years his 
father officiated as pastor in the Methodist 
Episcopal denomination, later being similarly en- 
gaged in Springfield and Bloomington, 111. The 
son was given good educational advantages and 
graduated from an Illinois college, after which 
he gave his attention to civil engineering and sur- 
veying. In 1857 he came west on the govern- 
ment survey of Kansas and assisted in the survey 
of the greater part of the state. He continued to 
follow engineering and surveying until his tragic 
death. 



3'^4 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



In August, 1874, Mr. Short was a member of 
a party of twenty-two who were engaged in sur- 
veying Meade County, near where the county- 
seat of Meade now stands. With him were his 
two sons, Harold C. and Truman. The party 
divided up into three smaller parties, besides 
four men who remained in camp. In one of the 
parties were Mr. vShort, his son Truman, and four 
others. They left the camp, intending to remain 
absent engaged in surveying for a week. He 
had frequently before been attacked by Indians, 
but had always managed to escape. It had been 
agreed that if anj' of the men were attacked by 
Indians thej' should set the prairie grass on fire 
as a signal to the men at the camp and other par- 
ties of surveyors. Unfortunately, in the .spot 
where they were surveying the grass had very 
recently been burned. When seven miles from 
the camp they were attacked by the savages. It 
is probable that the Indians were ambushed and 
un.seen by the white men until they began to fire. 
Mr. Short was killed instantlj'. The other men 
started to run back toward the camp, but were 
pursued by the Indians and .shot one by one, the 
last to fall being within three miles of camp when 
he was shot. Their wagon was also shot in many 
different places. 

The lady whom Mr. Short had married bore 
the maiden name of Celia Catlin, and was de- 
scended from English ancestors who were early 
settlers of Connecticut. Her father, T. M. Cat- 
lin, was born in Litchfield, Conn., and was one 
of the early settlers in the vicinity of Springfield, 
111., where he established his home on a farm 
nine miles west of town. For years he engaged 
in farming and the stock business upon that 
place, and there his daughter, Celia, was born. 
When advanced in years he came to Kansas, and 
his last days were spent in the home of his 
daughter; he died in May, 1895, at ninety-two 
years of age. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. 
Short was blessed with five children, one of 
whom, Truman, has already been mentioned, 
while the olde.st, Harold C, is represented in the 
following sketch; O. F. , Jr., is engaged in the 
cattle businessnear Boise City, Idaho; Leonard re- 
sides in Chicago, and Metella C. is living in Colo- 



rado. After the death of our subject his widow 
was married to D. C. Hawthorne, then of Leav- 
enworth, but now living on a fruit farm near 
Grand Junction, Colo., where Mrs. Hawthorne 
has made her home for some years. 



HAROLD C. SHORT was born in Atchison, 
Kans., September 17, 1858. His early 
childhood years were spent in that city, at a 
time when it and the surrounding country were 
in the midst of the excitement occasioned by bor- 
der warfare and civil strife. In 1865 his parents 
removed to Leavenworth, and he was educated 
in the public .schools of this city. During his 
vacations he always accompanied his father on 
surveying expeditions, and in that way became 
familiar with the work. These surveys were 
principally in Kansas, although some of them 
were in the Indian Territory. He was a member 
of the expedition in 1874, when his father and 
brother were killed, and only e.scaped through 
being with another party. 

In the fall of 1874 Mr. Short entered the Uni- 
versity of Kansas, and there he took the regular 
four years' course of study, receiving a degree on 
the conclusion of his course. In 1878 he went to 
Boise City, Idaho, where a brother of his mother 
lived, and with him he engaged in the stock busi- 
ness, but in 1885 returned to Leavenworth. He 
entered the employ of S. F. Atwood, who had been 
in charge of the ab.stract books since 1857. Upon 
the death of Mr. Atwood in 1886 Mr. Short 
bought the abstract books and has since con- 
tinued the business. He has the oldest set of ab- 
stract books in Leavenworth County. In addi- 
tion to this work he is also engaged in the real- 
estate and loan business. His office is in the 
Manufacturers' National Bank building. 

The marriage of Mr. Short took place in Leav- 
enworth, and united him with Miss Emma Neu- 
bauer, who was born in Germany, and was 
brought in childhood to Leavenworth b}' her 
parents. The two children born of this union 
are: Harold C, Jr., and Helen. The family are 
connected with the First Presbyterian Church, to 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



365 



the support of which Mr. Short contributes. He 
is a member of the Fraternal Aid Association of 
Leavenworth. In politics he is a stanch Repub- 
lican. 



"T DMUND LISTER, proprietor of the Lister 
'p stock farm in Peoria Township, Franklin 
^ County, came to Kansas in September, 
1859, with the intention of selecting a suitable 
location for a home. He bought a horse in Leav- 
enworth and rode over much of the country, fin- 
ally coming to the place where he now lives. 
Being pleased with the location and advantages, 
he bought one hundred and sixty acres and at 
once began its improvement. He now farms 
about two hundred acres, which is mostly in corn 
to be used for feed for stock. The remainder of 
the land which he has acquired is in grass for 
pasturage. While he buys cattle of various 
grades, his specialty is the Shorthorn breed. At 
one time he had many draft horses on his place, 
but since the depreciation in prices he has given 
little attention to raising horses. Besides his 
other stock he has one hundred or more head of 
hogs. At this writing his landed possessions ag- 
gregate eight hundred acres in his home farm 
and other farms indifferent localities, besides two 
hundred acres in Missouri in the mineral belt 
just east of Joplin. This success is remarkable 
when it is considered that he started without 
capital, and all that he has acquired is the result 
of his industry and ability. 

In Lincolnshire England, Mr. Lister was born 
February 18, 1831, a son of Robert and Mary 
(Wray) Lister, both of whom spent their entire 
lives in England. He was one of nine children, 
of whom two sons and three daughters came to 
America. His father, who was a druggist and 
farmer, held some ofiBcial positions, and was an 
active member of the Church of England. When 
a boy our subject had few advantages, and the 
education he possesses has been acquired by his 
own efforts, not in schools. Reared on a farm, he 
learned thoroughly all that pertained to agricult- 
ure. Realizing that he must make his own way 
in the world, he decided to come to the United 
States. While his parents were not in favor of 



this step his mind was made up, and in 1850 he 
crossed the ocean in a sailing vessel that con- 
sumed thirty-four days in the voyage. Landing 
in New York he proceeded to Chicago, and then 
went to Joliet, 111., where he remained for three 
years. Next he went to California, spending 
five years there and in Washington. He was 
successful in mining and also acted as manager 
of a ditch company. On his return to Illinois he 
remained only a few months and then came to 
Kansas, where he has since made his home. He 
is one of the largest stock-dealers in Franklin 
County and has met with unusual success in his 
work. He was one of the first who became in- 
terested in the Fair association, of which he is a 
life member. Until about 1890 he affiliated with 
the Democrats, but now votes with the Repub- 
licans. He was reared in the Church of Eng- 
land and has always adhered to that faith. 

The marriage of Mr. Lister, April 5, i860, 
united him with Miss Mary N. Graham, by 
whom he has nine children, namely: Mary 
Louisa; Martha Matilda, who is married and 
lives in Indianapolis, Ind. ; Ann; Caldonia, a 
teacher; Jane; Nora Rebecca, who occupies the 
chair of mathematics in St. Mary's hall, an Epis- 
copal seminary at Faribault, Minn.; Edmund, 
who assists in themanagement of the home place; 
Creanor T. and Robert H. 



'HOMAS CLARK RYAN is superintendent 
and treasurer of the Leavenworth Coal 
Company, also a member of its board of di- 
rectors. The mine owned by this company was 
opened in 1863 and is not only the oldest, but al- 
so the largest, coal mine in Kansas. Under the 
management of Mr. Ryan, who has held his pres- 
ent position since January, 1899, the high stand- 
ard of the mine has been maintained and the 
company's interests well protected. He is a 
genial and accommodating man, yet withal de- 
termined and energetic, and has acquired a thor- 
ough knowledge both of the mining of coal and 
of gold and is considered an expert assayer. 

The city where he now resides is his native 
home, and here he was born August 26, 1866. 



366 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



He is a son of Matthew Ryan, of whom mention 
is made upon another page. He was reared and 
educated in Leavenworth until thirteen j'ears of 
age, when he was sent to Notre Dame University 
in Indiana, and there carried on the studies of 
the scientific course until the close of the junior 
year. From the time he was twelve years of age 
he spent his vacations in Montana, and in this 
wa}' he early became interested in trailing cattle 
and in ranching. In 1880 he embarked in the 
cattle business, and six years later was placed in 
charge of the cattle owned by Ryan Brothers 
Cattle Companj', feeding them at the glucose 
works in Leavenworth. In 1887 he went to Den- 
ver and for five years was connected with the 
Globe smelter there. During his course of study 
at Notre Dame he had gained a thorough knowl- 
edge of engineering, chemistrj-, assaying and 
surveying, and this knowledge was of great as- 
sistance to him in his work at the smelter. For 
two years he was assistant assayer, after which 
he was chief assayer, holding the latter position 
for three years and resigning in 1892. His next 
work was at Baker City, Ore., where he en- 
gaged in the cattle business with M. C. Harvey, 
shipping cattle to Kansas City, Mo., and continu- 
ing for three months in the business. 

The next enterprise in which Mr. Ryan be- 
came interested was the Lost Horse mine, which 
is situated in the San Bernardino range of moun- 
tains in Riverside County, Cal., and which he 
purcha.sed from George W. Lang. He took the 
mine as a prospect and spent one j-ear in its de- 
velopment, developing it to a depth of four hun- 
dred and fifty feet and finding ore in workable 
quantities, with a four-foot vein that gave large 
assays. The indications being favorable, he or- 
ganized the Lost Horse Mining and Milling 
Company, of which he has since been president 
and general manager. Under his supervision a 
ten-stamp mill was erected and equipped. In 
December, 1898, his .services were required in 
Leavenworth in connection with the coal com- 
pany in which he owned large interests. It 
therefore became necessary for him to leave Cali- 
fornia and return to Kansas. However he still 
owns his interest in the mine, which is operated 



under the management of a superintendent. 
Since 1893 he has been a member of the firm of 
Ryan Brothers Cattle Company, which owns large 
cattle interests in New Mexico, Arizona, Indian 
Territorj- and Kansas. 

In Leavenworth occurred the marriage of Mr. 
Ryan to Miss Frances O'Donnell, who was born 
in Atchi.son, Kans., and graduated from the 
Leavenworth high school and St. Mary's Acade- 
my. She is a daughter of Frank O'Donnell, now 
a resident of Leavenworth and president of the 
board of county commissioners of Leavenworth 
County. Mr. and Mrs. Ryan have two children, 
Katherine Sheedy and Thomas C, Jr. 



jJjIS H. SKOURUP. proprietor of the Ottawa 
I / creamery, is a Dane by birth and descent. 
lis His parents, Hans J. and Catherine 
(Bugvraa) Skourup, were born in Denmark, the 
latter a daughter of Henrik C. Bugvraa, and the 
former a son of Jorgen H. Skourup. In religious 
belief both were reared in the Lutheran faith and 
became identified with that church. The father, 
who is now seventy-five years of age, makes 
his home on the place that has been in the family 
for more than three hundred years. Of his twelve 
children all but three attained maturity and eight 
are living, all being in Denmark except N. H. 
and J. H., the latter a farmer of Grundy County, 
Iowa. 

The subject of this sketch was born in Jolland, 
Denmark, May 28, 1868, and was reared on the 
old homestead, attending public and high schools. 
In youth he served an apprenticeship in a cream- 
erj- and cheese factory. In 1888 he entered the 
Danish army and served for a year in the king's 
life and body guard. Cro.ssing the Atlantic in 
1889, he joined his brother in Grundy County, 
Iowa, and .secured employment as buttermaker in 
a creamer}- at Morrison, where he remained for 
two 3'ears. He then attended the Waterloo Com- 
mercial College, graduating in 1892. In order 
to become acquainted with American customs he 
spent one summer in traveling as a salesman. In 
the fall of 1892 he became manager of the cream- 
ery at Reinbeck, Iowa, and from there came to 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



367 



Kansas in the spring of 1893. The Richmond 
Creamery Company had recently been established 
and its building completed. He accepted the 
management of the business, in which he later 
also became secretary and a stockholder and di- 
rector. When the building was burned down in 
1894 he superintended the rebuilding on a larger 
scale than before. In 1896 he sold his interest in 
the business and came to Ottawa, building the 
Ottawa creamery, of which he is the sole propri- 
etor. He has established four skimming sta- 
tions, located at Homewood, Rantoul, Norwood 
and Pomona. Twenty-five thousand pounds of 
milk are handled daily. The plant is modern 
and substantial, and is operated by an engine of 
ten-horse and a boiler of twenty-horse power. 
One thousand pounds of butter are manufactured 
per da}', and shipments of the Ottawa creamery 
brand are made throughout this entire region, 
where the superior quality of the butter brings a 
steady demand, at good prices. 

Mr. Skourup is a member of the State Dairy 
Association and the National Butter Makers' As- 
sociation. He takes an interest in everything 
connected with his chosen occupation, and is rec- 
ognized as one of the most proficient and success- 
ful creamery men in the state. In politics he 
affiliates with the People's party, and fraternally 
is connected with Ottawa Lodge No. 24, 
I. O. O. F. He was married in this city to Miss 
Annie Greischar, who was born in Richmond, 
Kans., and is a daughter of Charles Greischar, of 
Richmond. 



(lOHN A. PORTER, of Williamsburg, Frank- 
I lin County, was born in Mercer County, Pa., 
Q) May I, 1837, a son of Alexander and Mary 
E. (Alexander) Porter. Both of his grandfathers, 
George W. Porter and John Alexander, enlisted 
from Pennsylvania in the war of 18 12, and the 
former served as sergeant of his company. Great- 
grandfather Alexander Porter, who it is thought 
was born in Pennsylvania, was captured by the 
Indians at the age of seven years and was kept 
until he was twenty-one, when he was given his 
liberty and returned home to his parents. George 
W. Porter, who was a native of Washington 



County, Pa., was for many years a resident of 
Mercer County, that state; in early life he followed 
the hatter's trade, but afterward opened a gro- 
cery in Sharon, Pa., where he remained in busi- 
ness for many years, dying in that town at the 
age of eighty-five. A native of Mercer County, 
Alexander Porter, Jr., remained during his en- 
tire life in that county and engaged in the manu- 
facture and sale of hats. During much of the 
time his home was in Sharon, of which place he 
was one of the "fathers," and a member of its 
first town council. His political affiliations were 
first with the Jeffersonian Democrats, but later he 
became a Republican, and as such took an active 
part in local affairs. A lifelong Presbyterian, he 
was for several years an elder in the church. He 
died in Sharon in 1885, when eighty-four years 
of age, and his wife died in the same place at the 
age of seventy-five. Of their six children three 
are now living, namely: Joseph S., of Sharon; 
Rachel, Mrs. Williams, a widow; and John A. 

Until nineteen years of age our subject remained 
in Sharon. He then traveled for two years, after 
which he settled in Warren, Ohio, and learned 
the tanning business, remaining there for four 
years. In 1861 he enlisted in Company B, Sev- 
enty-sixth Pennsylvania Infantry, a company 
whose members were Sharon boys. He was as- 
signed to the Eighteenth Army Corps, depart- 
ment of the south, in which he served for three 
years and eleven months. With his corps he 
took part in the battles of James Island, June 10, 
1862; Pocotaligo, October 22, 1862, Morris Island, 
Fort Wagoner, etc. In the spring of 1864 the 
corps was consolidated with the army of the 
James River, with which he remained until the 
close of the war, meantime taking part in the 
battles of Chester Heights, Strawberry Plains, 
Drury's Bluff, in front of Petersburg (where he 
remained in the entrenchments six weeks), Chap- 
iu's Farm (a desperately fought engagement), 
and Darbytowu Road. In the last-named battle, 
October 27, 1864, he lost his left leg, and at the 
battle of Pocotaligo a rifle ball passed through 
his ear and fractured his skull. 

Returning from the war to his native town, Mr. 
Porter resided there until 1880, with the excep- 



368 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



tioii of a short time. During iSSo he came to 
Kansas and took charge of the tinning depart- 
ment in the shop of W. C. White, a former Penn- 
sylvania man who had embarked iu business at 
Williamsburg. With him he remained for six 
years, after which he followed the tinner's trade 
until he retired in 1895. A Republican in poli- 
tics, he was justice of the peace while in Penn- 
sylvania, and was elected to the same office in 
Kansas, but did not serve. For several years he 
has served as a class- leader and a trustee in the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. He is past com- 
mander of Post No. I So, G. A. R., and past no- 
ble grand of Williamsburg Lodge No. 302, I. O. 
O. F., also, with his wife, belongs to the Circle of 
Rebekahs. 

In 1866 Mr. Porter married Elvira, daughter 
of Silas Bennett, who for forty-five years, com- 
mencing in 1837, was identified with the tin and 
hardware business in New Castle, Pa., and for 
fifty years was an active member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. Mrs. Bennett bore the maid- 
en name of Catherine Nichols and, like her hus- 
band, was a devoted Methodist. They were the 
parents of eleven children, ten now living, name- 
ly: Ebenezer F., William Henry Harrison, El- 
vira, Silas A., George W., Adeline, Rebecca, 
Albert N., Charles W., Mary E. and Horatio S. 
The three oldest sons, Ebenezer F., William H. 
H. and Silas A., enlisted in the Union army. 
Ebenezer, who was in the Seventy-sixth Penn- 
sylvania Infantry, was shot in the ankle at the 
siege of Fort Wagoner, in July, 1863, and, after 
being wounded, was captured by the enemy, who 
amputated his foot and exchanged him a few days 
later. William H. H., who was a member of 
Company H, Seventh Ohio Infantry, was killed 
in the battle of Ringgold, Ga., November 27, 
1S63. Silas Andrew, who enlisted from New 
Castle, Pa., in the Seventy-seventh Pennsylva- 
nia Infantry, served first for three months and 
then for nine months, being on duty in Texas 
during most of the time. Charles Wesley Ben- 
nett, for ten years prior to the loss of both feet 
in a railroad accident, January 10, 1894, at 
Wellsville, Kans., was the champion catcher of 
the national base ball league. George W., Al- 



bert N. and Horatio S. reside in Cleveland, Ohio; 
Adeline lives in Erie, Pa., and Rebecca and Mary 
E. in New Castle, Pa. Mr. and Mrs. Porter 
became the parents of four children: Silas B., 
decea.sed; John M., who is at home; George W., 
a bookkeeper for F. K. Stearns & Co., in De- 
troit, Mich.; and Adda B., wife of Edgar C. 
Hope, ofTopeka, Kans. 



3 AMES R. THORNBURY, M. D., of Prince- 
ton, Franklin County, was born in Jackson- 
ville, Morgan County, 111., July 20, 1842, a 
son of Benjamin and Emily (Chrisman) Thorn- 
bury. He was one of nine children, six of whom 
are living, those besides hini.=elf being as follows: 
Alfred, a farmer in Dallas County, Iowa; Harriet, 
wife of Tillman Smith, of Panther, Iowa; Benja- 
min, who is engaged in farming near Granger, 
Iowa; Mary J., who married Louis Murray, a 
farmer of Dallas County; and Willis, also a farmer 
of that county. The father, who was born in 
Virginia in 1S18, was taken to Kentucky in in- 
fancy by his parents, and ten years later accom- 
panied them to Illinois, settling in Springfield 
when that city contained only two houses. He 
was married in Jacksonville and settled upon a 
farm in Morgan County, where he remained until 
1866. From that county he removed to Chari- 
ton County, Mo., and two years later settled in 
Polk County, Iowa, twenty miles north of Des 
Moines. In that place he made his home up to 
his death, which occurred in 1889. An active 
worker in the Democratic ranks, he was fre- 
quently selected to serve as delegate to county 
conventions and was active in all the local work 
of the party. He was a man of sterling charac- 
ter, the influence of whose life was apparent for 
good among all with whom he associated. 

Benjamin Thornbury was a son of Samuel and 
Harriet (Chatman) Thornburj-, the latter a mem- 
ber of a wealthy family of planters. The former, 
who descended from old Virginian stock, was a 
commercial man, and while in Charle.ston, S. C, 
contracted yellow fever, which was the cause of 
his death soon afterward. The maternal grand- 
parents of our subject were John and Nancy 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



369 



(Bobbitt) Chrisman. The former was born June 
6, 1791, in Kentucky, to which state his father, 
John, Sr., had come from Germany in an early 
day via North Carolina, stopping in the latter 
state for a very short time only. John Chrisman 
was a fine mechanic and devoted much of his 
time to woodworking and blacksmithing, although 
he owned and occupied a farm which he im- 
proved. His wife, who was born October 31, 
1796, was a daughter of Isom Bobbitt, a native of 
Virginia and a soldier in the Revolutionary war, 
taking part in the battles of Cowpens, Vetaw 
Springs and other noted battles. 

Shortly after the beginning of the Civil war our 
subject determined to enlist and began making 
preparations to enter the army. August 2, 1862, 
he enlisted in Battery F, First Illinois Light 
Artillery, and later was transferred to Company 
A, of the same regiment, from which he was 
mustered out of the service July 10, 1865. He 
took part in the following engagements: Pitts- 
burg Landing, siege of Vicksburg, Jackson, 
Black River, Missionary Ridge, siege of Knox- 
ville, Resaca, Dallas, New Hope Church, Kene- 
saw Mountain, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Lovejoy Sta- 
tion and Nashville. After he was mustered out 
he returned to his home. In 1866 he went to 
Mi-ssouri, and during the .six following years he 
taught district schools. Meantime he took up 
the study of medicine, to which he devoted his 
leisure hours. In the spring of 1878 he gradu- 
ated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons 
in Keokuk, Iowa. After he had ceased teach- 
ing, in 1872, he came to Kansas and settled in 
Princeton, where he practiced as an undergradu- 
ate until 1877, when he entered college and com- 
pleted his studies. Since then he has continued 
to practice in Princeton, and through his skill in 
the diagnosis of disease and his ability in select- 
ing helpful remedial agencies he has won the 
confidence of the people. 

August 5, 1862, Dr. Thornbury married Miss 
Emma Leeds, whose father, Absalom Leeds, a 
native of New Jersey, removed to Morgan Coun- 
ty, 111., in early life and for years was one of the 
foremost farmers of that county, but in 1876 set- 
tled in Princeton, Kans., where he still makes 



his home. Dr. and Mrs. Thornburj' are the 
parents of five children, four of whom are living. 
The eldest, Ada, is the wife of Frank Caldwell, a 
farmer of Franklin County ; Clara married Jean 
Masters, a farmer of this county; Emma is at 
home; and James G. is connected with the Santa 
Fe Railroad Company. 

From 1874 to 1878 Dr. Thornbury was post- 
master at Princeton, and he is now serving his 
second term as member of the board of pension 
examiners. Active in Republican ranks, he has 
served his party as delegate to county and state 
conventions, and was a delegate to the state con- 
vention that nominated the "Big four." In the 
work of the Christian Church he has been inter- 
ested ever since, years ago, he united with that 
denomination, and both in church and Sunday- 
school activities he has aided. He is a member 
of Ottawa Lodge No. 18, A. F. & A. M., also 
of Princeton Post No. 1 1 1 , G. A. R. , in which he 
has ofiiciated for three terms as commander. 



Gl NDREW T. KYLE, who is a retired busi- 
[1 ness man living in Lansing, Leavenworth 
I I County, was born in Davis County, Ind., 
February 8, 1830, a son of Matthew W. and 
Elizabeth (Burris) Kyle. His father, who was 
born and reared in Mercer County, Ky. , moved 
to Indiana in 1828 and from there, in 1837, went 
to Platte County, Mo., where he was a pioneer 
and one of the first schoolteachers in that part of 
the state. He died in Platte County in 1856, and 
his wife also passed away there, surviving him 
for many years. They were the parents of six 
sons, four of whom are living, viz.: Andrew T., 
William, who occupies the old homestead in 
Platte County, Mo.; James, who resides in Jefier- 
son County, Kans.; and George W., of Platte 
County. 

At the age of seventeen our subject volunteered 
in the army for service in the Mexican war and 
continued at the front during the remainder of 
the war, the entire period of his service covering 
sixteen months. He was mustered out in the 
fall of 1848. In 1849 he married Miss Sarah A. 
Keller, and the following year he made a trip 



370 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



across the plains to the gold fields of California, 
where he remained for almost fonr years. In the 
spring of 1854 he was one of the thirty-two men 
who organized Platte County's well-known town, 
Weston, and also crossed the river into Kansas, 
and assisted in laying out the town site of Leav- 
enworth. He acted as superintendent in the 
clearing of the tract and the laying out of one- 
half section into building lots, after which he 
settled upon four lots on the northwest corner of 
Delaware and Main streets, and there built the 
first hotel in Leavenworth. In that hotel, De- 
cember 5, 1854, occurred the birth of his daugh- 
ter, Cora, who was the first child born in Leav- 
enworth and who afterward became the wife of 
James M. Allen, but is now deceased. 

After having managed the hotel for some years 
Mr. Kyle gave his attention to the buying and 
selling of real estate and stock. In 1859 he set- 
tled upon a farm five miles south of town, where 
he remained for five years, engaging in general 
agricultural pursuits. In 1864 he returned to the 
city, but shortly afterward crossed into Platte 
County, Mo., where he carried on a mercantile 
business for four years. About 1870 he came 
back to Leavenworth and opened a livery stable, 
which he conducted for a few years. In 1873 the 
property was destroyed by fire. Two years later 
he removed to Lan.sing, accepting a position as 
an official in the state penitentiary, and for eight- 
een years he continued in the state employ. Upon 
retiring from his position, in 1893, he established 
his home in a house that he had purchased in 
Lansing and here he has since lived in retire- 
ment. He has always been a stanch believer in 
Republican principles and has borne a share in 
the work of his party, but has never sought office 
for himself. Personally he is a man of firm de- 
cision and strong character, and his life has been 
individualized by his will power and determina- 
tion. 

Mr. and Mrs. Kyle became the parents of five 
children, of whom Cora, before mentioned, was 
the eldest; William died in infancy. The others 
are Andrew T., Jr.; Ida, who married R. W. 
Reynolds, and resides in McLouth, Kans., and 
George H. The older sou is one of the leading 



citizens of Great Falls, Mont., where he carries 

on a real- estate and brokerage business. Mrs. 
Kyle is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 



(TOHN M. HUND, who is engaged in farm- 
I ing and stock-raising in Kickapoo Town- 
(2/ ship, Leavenworth County, was born August 
29, 1857, upon the farm still owned and occupied 
by his father, Wendlin Hund. Here he grew to 
manhood, meantime receiving such advantages 
as the public schools of the district afforded. 
Being of an industrious disposition he began to 
assist in the cultivation of the home place at an 
early age. Through experience and observation 
he gained, while young, a thorough familiarity 
with every detail of farming. 

With the money he had saved in previous 
years Mr. Hund bought a farm in 1881. He 
purchased the Joel Hiatt place of one hundred 
and sixty-six acres, and here began to cultivate 
the land, making a specialty of wheat for a few 
years. Since 1896, however, he has given his 
attention principally to the raising of cattle, hav- 
ing on his place a number of fine Durhams. He 
also has made a specialty of raising Poland- 
China hogs and the Plymouth Rock breed of 
fowls. Since 1893 he has furnished many of the 
families of Leavenworth with milk and creamery 
butter. On his farm he has made a number of 
improvements which greatly add to the value of 
the place, the most noticeable of these improve- 
ments being a handsome residence, neatly and 
comfortably furnished. 

The political affairs of his township receive due 
attention from Mr. Hund. In politics he is a be- 
liever in Republican principles. For several 
terms he has acted as township clerk and treas- 
urer, which offices he has filled with efficiency. 
He has also been active in educational matters, 
and since 1877 has served as a member of the 
school board of district No. 40, being the secre- 
tary of the board at this writing. Fraternally 
he is connected with the Leavenworth camp. 
Modern Woodmen of America. He is an active 
member of the Catholic Mutual Benefit Associa- 
tion, in the work of which he has been interested. 




WENDUN HUND. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



373 



By his marriage, May ii, 1881, to Mary, daugh- 
ter of John Aaron, of Leavenworth, he has six 
children, viz.: Francis C, John A., Mary E., 
Grace R., Clara G. and Frances. 



pGjENDLIN HUND. The character and 
I A / standing of a man are usually determined 
V Y by what he has accomplished. The life 
work of Mr. Hund is illustrated by the amount 
of property he has accumulated, the large busi- 
ness he has built up, and the comforts by which 
his family are surrounded. He has one of the 
most attractive homesteads in Leavenworth 
Country, embracing a section of land in Kickapoo 
Township. His farm is supplied with first-class 
buildings, suitable for the successful manage- 
ment of the wine business, in which the owner is 
largely engaged. Considerable attention is also 
given to the manufacture of cider and to the rais- 
ing of cattle and the carrying on of a dairy. 
The many conveniences which Mr. Hund has 
gathered about himself and his family indicate 
his progressive character and untiring energy. 
The leading traits in his character are his strict 
attention to business, his promptness in meeting 
all obligations, and his excellent understanding 
of every phase of the lines of business in which 
he engages. 

Mr. Hund was born in St. Charles, Mo., Sep- 
tember 2, 1834, being a son of Maurice and Mag- 
dalene (Hodapp) Hund. His father came to the 
United States with two sons in 1832 and settled 
in St. Charles, Mo. The oldest son, John, 
moved to Iowa in 1844, and in 1857 came to Kan- 
sas, settling in Kickapoo Township, Leaven- 
worth County, where he made his home until 
1886. Afterward he lived, retired, in Ventura, 
Cal., but frequently returned to Kansas to look 
after his business interests. In 1891 he and his 
wife celebrated their golden wedding. He died 
in 1898, at the age of almost eighty years. The 
father celebrated his golden wedding in Kicka- 
poo Township in 1866. He had settled in this 
township two years before, and afterward resided 
here until he died at eighty-four years. He was 
a member of a long-lived family, and his mother 

14 



was over ninety when she died. His wife died 
in Kansas when seventy-nine years of age. 
Their son, Michael, came to Kansas in 1872, 
settling in Wabaunsee County, where he carried 
on farm pursuits until his death, in June, 1898, 
at the age of seventy-four. 

Of the three sons comprising the family our 
subject is now the sole survivor. He was edu- 
cated in district schools and the Jesuit school 
near his home. In 1856 he came to Kansas and 
took up a quarter-section of land, comprising a 
portion of his present farm. At first he confined 
his attention to farming', but afterward he be- 
came interested in stock-raising. In 1872 he be- 
gan to raise grapes and manufacture wine, and 
from time to time he increased his vineyard until 
he now has sixtj- acres planted to grapes. He 
manufactures about thirty thousand gallons per 
year, which he sells at fair prices. He is also 
the owner of one-hundred and thirty head of cat- 
tle and carries on a large dairy business. He is 
one of the oldest settlers of Leavenworth County 
and has resided in Salt Creek Valley for more 
than forty-two years. He is the largest wine 
grower in the state and has built up a busi- 
ness that is important and extensive. In politics 
he is independent. At one time he served as 
township treasurer, but he prefers to give his 
time to business rather than public office. 

In October, 1853, Mr. Hund married Genevieve 
Snyder, who died in 1872. The children of that 
union are: John M., a farmer of Leavenworth 
County; Joseph; George; Frederick, also of this 
county; Mary, Helena and Annie, all of whom 
are married. Mary and Annie reside in Jefier- 
son County and Helena in Leavenworth. By 
his second wife, who was Josephine Rogg, Mr. 
Hund had four children: Katie, wife of Frank 
Phillips; Charles, who served in the Twentieth 
Kansas Infantry during the Spanish-American 
war; Henry and Genevieve, at home. Mrs. 
Josephine Hund died November 25, 1884, and 
afterward our subject married Dora D. Gast, a 
native of Germany. They are the parents of 
four children, namely: Josephine, Otto, Peter 
W. and Bernard. The family are Roman Catho- 
lics in religious belief. Mr. Hund has been a 



374 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



member of the school board of District No. 40 
and was the principal organizer of the school, in 
which work he met with considerable opposition. 
For twent)'-three years after its organization he 
served on the school board and was treasurer of 
the district, meantime doing much to promote 
the educational interests of the district. 



["RANK H. vSTANNARD. Among tlio.se 
r^ who have been active in promoting the ad- 
I vancement of horticulture in Kansas men- 
tion belongs to Mr. Stannard, of the firm of 
Brewer & Stannard, proprietors of the Ottawa 
Star Nurseries. Upon coming to Ottawa in 1879 
Mr. Stannard at once embarked in the nursery 
business, beginning on a small .scale, but gradu- 
ally building up the large business of to-day. The 
firm owns one thousand acres planted to fruit 
trees and nursery stock. Of this land five hun- 
dred acres is situated at Manzanola, near Rockj' 
Ford, Colo., while a similar acreage lies near 
Ottawa, forming the largest nursery in Kansas. 
Upon the land are to be found trees of all varie- 
ties, both fruit and ornamental, as well as the 
other products of a nursery. A large trade has 
been built up, both in the sale of seeds and 
plants, and shipments are made to almost every 
state in the Union, but principally to Missouri, 
Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma 
and Texas. The office of the firm is in the First 
National Bank building in Ottawa. 

Mr. Stannard was born near Aurora, 111., on 
Christmas day of 1857, and was the .second of .six 
children (five now living) comprising the family 
of Charles H. and Maria (Kenip.ster) Stannard, 
nativesrespectively of Cattaraugus Coun'ty, N.Y., 
and London, England. His father, who was a 
son of Alvin Stannard, a farmer of New York, 
was a machinist by trade, but devoted himself 
largely to farming. When a young man he went 
to Illinois, where he was employed for a time in 
a machine shop at Aurora, but later removed to 
Warren County, Pa., and carried on a farm until 
his death, when less than fifty years of age. He 
was a member of the Bapti.st Church and frater- 
nally was identified with the Odd Fellows. His 



wife, who makes her home with our subject, was 
a daughter of Christopher Kempster, who came 
from England to the United States and settled in 
Syracuse, N. Y. 

At the time the family settled in Warren Coun- 
ty, Pa. , the subject of this sketch was eight years 
of age. He attended public schools there and in 
Jamestown, N. Y. In 1879 he left home and 
came to Ottawa, where he was the first to set out 
nursery stock. Since then he has risen to a 
prominent rank among the horticulturists of 
Kansas. He is identified with the Western Nur- 
serymen's As.sociation and the American Associ- 
ation of Nurserymen and is a member of the ex- 
ecutive committee of the latter organization. 
Politically the Republican party has always re- 
ceived his support. For one term he was a mem- 
ber of the city council. In 1896 he was elected 
a .member of the board of trustees of Ottawa Uni- 
versity and also served as secretary of its execu- 
tive committee. In the Baptist Church, of which 
he is a member, he holds ofiice as chairman of 
the board of trustees. 

In Kansas City Mr. Stannard married Luceba, 
daughter of Hiram A. Stannard, who in 1878 re- 
moved from Illinois to Ottawa, Kans. , and some 
j'ears later died in Harvej' Count}', this state. 
Mrs. Stannard was born near Lamoille, Bureau 
County, 111., and was a member of the first grad- 
uating class of Ottawa Universitj', from which 
she received the degree of A. B. Of her four 
children three are living, George A., Mabel F'ay 
and Pearl M. 



(I AMES LINGARD, a farmer and stock- 
I raiser in Homewood Township, Franklin 
Q) County, was born in Lincolnshire, England, 
in 1823, and in youth followed farming and car- 
pentering in his native place. In 1862 he came to 
the United States, .settling first in Will County, 
111., where he engaged in stock-raising and farm- 
ing. Four years later he came to Kansas and 
purchased a farm northeast of Ottawa, but never 
made his home on that land. In 1867 he bought 
two hundred and seven acres of his present farm, 
and has since carried on an extensive stock busi- 
ness. He is now the owner of one thousand 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



375 



acres in Franklin County, and makes a specialty 
feeding Hereford and Durham cattle and Poland- 
China hogs, handling more stock than any other 
man in the township. The land has been trans- 
formed from raw prairie to a valuable farm, bear- 
ing first-class improvements and in excellent con- 
dition for stock-raising. Besides this place he is 
interested in property in Ottawa and Williams- 
burg. It has been his aim to place his farm in 
fine condition, that it may rank among the finest 
in the county. The trees that stand in his j'ard 
were brought by him, on horseback, from 
Garnett twenty-eight years ago. From time to 
time he has erected farm buildings, as needed. 

In politics Mr. Lingard is a Populist. Several 
times he has served as treasurer of the township. 
He is liberal in support of schools and churches, 
and he has served as a member of the .school 
board for several years. Both he and his wife 
were active in the work of the Episcopal Church. 
In 1844 he married Miss Ann Eister, a native of 
England, who died in Kansas May 28, 1899, at 
the age of seventy-four years. 



In 1872 Mr. Lingard married Miss Eliza J. 
Baker, by whom he has eight children, namely: 
Lizzie, wife of John Scott, agent for the Mis- 
souri Pacific Railroad at Ottawa; Annie; Jennie, 
wife of Edward Pendleton; James, Maude, Amos 
L., Jr., Eula and Eleanor. 



Gl MOS L. LINGARD, the only son of James 
L_l and Ann (Lister) Lingard, was born in 
/ I England and accompanied his parents to the 
United States, settling with them in Illinois. 
Two years later, in 1864, he came to Kansas, 
where later he was joined by his father. In 1873 
he purchased his present farm, on which he has 
since engaged in feeding and raising cattle. 
From time to time he has bought additional 
land, and now owns two thousand acres, situated 
in Cutler Township, Franklin County. On his 
farm he has between four and five hundred head 
of cattle. He is one of the most practical and 
experienced cattlemen of his ' township, and is 
thoroughly informed in every detail of the stock 
business. Under his careful supervision his land 
has been transformed from raw prairie into a 
valuable estate. On the Republican ticket he has 
been elected to several township offices, includ- 
ing that of trustee, which he has filled for several 
years. For a number of years he has been a mem- 
ber of the school board. In religion he is an 
Episcopalian. 



LIVER DENTON. It is conceded that Mr. 
Denton occupies a high place among the 
business men of Leavenworth. His life has 
shown how a laudable ambition may be gratified 
when that ambition is accompanied by energy, 
integrity, perseverance and business abilit}'. The 
firm of Denton Brothers, composed of himself 
and his brother Winfield W., embarked in the 
grain business in Leavenworth in 1 891, occupy- 
ing an elevator with a capacity of two hundred 
thousand bushels. In the fall of 1897 they began 
the exporting of grain, shipping cereals of all 
kinds and having Mobile, Ala. , for their prin- 
cipal market. The business is the largest of its 
kind in the state and owes its growth largely to 
the sound judgment of its projectors. In addi- 
tion to the original members of the firm, Robert 
and Louis Denton, sons of Winfield W. Denton, 
have since been admitted to the partnership. 

The subject of this sketch was born in Genoa, 
Cayuga County, N. Y., February 11, 1852, a son 
of Robert and Abbie (Ward) Denton, natives 
respectively of Orange County, N. Y., and 
Newark, N. J. His paternal grandfather, James 
Denton, a farmer, removed from Orange to 
Cayuga County, but later removed to Ohio, 
settling near Painesville, where he bought a farm 
and remained until death; his wife was Martha 
Lewis, of Orange County. The maternal grand- 
father, Abner Ward, a native of New Jersey and 
a farmer there, removed to Genoa, N. Y., where 
he died; his wife, Mary (Rogers) Ward, was 
also a native of New Jersey and died in Genoa. 

Robert Denton was third among seven chil- 
dren, one of whom, Oliver, started for California 
at the time of the gold excitement, but died on 
the way. Robert Denton was a farmer near 
Genoa, but about 1856 removed west to Iowa, 
settling near Iowa City upon a farm, He was 



376 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



born March 15, 1822, and is still living. His 
wife, who was born July 7, 1820, has been a 
member of the Congregational Church since 
twenty-two years of age. She was one of thir- 
teen children, all of whom are dead except her 
two brothers. To her marriage seven children 
were born, viz.: Winfield W.; Caroline, Mrs. 
Lucius Platte, who died in Lake Forest, 111., in 
April, 1898; Oliver; Horace, who died in Leaven- 
worth in 1892; Harvey, who died at five years 
of age; Mary, who died when seven months old; 
andAbiierJ. Mrs. Abbie Ward Denton died at 
Centralia, Kans., June 23, 1899. 

The education of our subject was obtained in 
public schools and Iowa City Commercial College. 
He began as a farmer in Iowa. In 1879 he came 
to Kansas, settling in Downs and embarking in 
the grain and stock business at the time of the 
completion of the central branch of the Union 
Pacific Railroad. He built the first elevator in the 
town, and contiiuied in the grain and stock busi- 
ness for twenty-two years, at the same time 
operating a farm. In 1891 he removed to 
Leavenworth, of which city he has since been an 
active business man. He is a Republican in his 
political views, but has never been active in 
public affairs nor cared for official positions. 
Before coming to Kansas he married Miss Dora 
Crum, who was born in Indiana, and !))• whom 
he has two children, Mamie and Alpheus Penn. 



Gl UGUST KROLL, who is engaged in farm- 
/ 1 iiig in Kickapoo Township, Leavenworth 
/ 1 County, is one of the prosperous agricultur- 
ists of Salt Creek Valley, and since 1885 has 
owned and occupied the John Hund farm of 
eighty acres, where he is engaged in raising stock, 
also in the fruit business and general farm pur- 
suits. He was born in West Prussia, Germany, 
September 4, 1847, a .son of Andrew and Eliza- 
beth (Shrader) KroU. In 1862 the family emi- 
grated to the United States, landing in Balti- 
more, Md., where they remained for three months. 
They then came to Leavenworth, Kans., where 
the father died in 1865, at the age of sixty years, 
and the mother when eighty years old. They 



were the parents of five children, viz.: Jacob, of 
Leavenworth; Frank, who is in Gunnison, Colo. ; 
August; Albert, deceased; and Josephine, wife 
of M. A. Wohltrom, of Leavenworth. A brother 
of Andrew KroU, John by name, came to America 
in 1862 and settled near Bloomington, 111., where 
he has since engaged in farming. A brother of 
Mrs. Kroll, Andrew Shrader, brought the family 
to the United States in 1862 and afterward became 
drill master for the United States Volunteers at 
Baltimore. 

At the time of coming to this country August 
Kroll was a youth of fifteen years. His educa- 
tion was obtained in German}' and in Kansas. 
Under his father's in.struction he learned the 
blacksmith's trade. While he was in Baltimore 
he worked for a butcher, receiving $4 the first 
month and afterward $15 a month. Upon set- 
tling in Leavenworth he began blacksmithing, 
and in 1864 became blacksmith for the quarter- 
master's department at Fort Leavenworth. In 
October, 1865, he was appointed blacksmith for 
General Curtis and staS", whom he accompanied 
in their campaign against General Price, being 
present in all the battles of that campaign. He 
was wounded in the second battle of the Blue, 
being shot through the arm, but refused to go to 
the hospital. During the day he was employed 
at repairing and blacksmithing, while often at 
night he was engaged at picket duty outside of 
the company's lines. 

At the conclusion of the Price campaign Mr. 
Kroll returned to his work at the post. In 1866 
he went as blacksmith with the cavalry to New 
Mexico, spending the winter at Fort Union, and 
returning in the spring to Fort Leavenworth, 
where for a year rheumatism prevented him from 
following his trade. In 1868 he began to work 
for himself at his trade. Soon afterward he built 
a shop at Valley Falls, Jefferson County, where 
he followed general blacksmithing in partnership 
with Vincent P. Newman. Returning in the fall 
of 1869 he resumed work in the quartermaster's 
department at Fort Leavenworth. In the spring 
of 1870 he was sent to Camp Supply in the In- 
dian Territory, where he remained for six months 
as blacksmith. During that time he returned to 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



377 



Leavenworth on a thirty days' furlough, and on 
his way stopped at the government mail ranch, 
where he found the soldiers had been killed and 
scalped by the Indians. In January, 187 1, he re- 
turned to Leavenworth and bought a shop, where 
he carried on business for himself. In 1873 he 
went to Houlton, Jackson County, Kans. , where 
he carried on a general blacksmith shop until 
1885, and then returned to Leavenworth Count}' 
and purchased the farm where he has since re- 
sided. He is a Republican, but has never taken 
an active part in politics. In religion he and his 
family are members of St. Joseph's Roman Cath- 
olic Church. 

April 17, 1871, occurred the marriage of Mr. 
Kroll to Christina, daughter of John Hund, a 
brother of Wendlin Hund, of Kickapoo Town- 
ship. They are the parents of ten children, 
namely: Annie, wife of John Brosier; Mary M., 
John B., Frank A., Katie T., Henry A., Jose- 
phine H., Fred A., Rosie A. and LiHie E. 



REV. ROBERT ATKINSON. There is no 
name more intimately associated with the 
history of Ottawa University than that of 
Mr. Atkinson. From 1868 until his death, Jan- 
uary 17, 1899, he was identified with this insti- 
tution of learning, which owes its existence, in 
fact, more to his judicious management than to 
the efforts of any other one man. A record of 
his life will, therefore, possess more than ordi- 
nary interest for the readers of this volume. He 
was born, of Scotch parentage, in Toronto, Can- 
ada, August 24, 1824. His early life was passed 
in his native city. In youth he became identi- 
fied with the Baptist Church and determined to 
enter the ministry. With this object in view, 
(although hindered bj- being compelled to work 
his own way) he diligently applied himself to the 
necessary studies. His early college work was 
done in Bucknell. Later he entered Madison 
(now Colgate) University, from the collegiate 
and theological departments of which he gradu- 
ated, a member of a class of twenty-seven, among 
whom were Prof. James R. Eaton, of William 
Jewell College in Liberty, Mo., Rev. T. R. 



Howlett, of Washington, D. C, Judge D. P. 
Baldwin, of Logan.sport, Ind., and C. C. Osborne, 
of Benedict College. Afterward, while study- 
ing in Union Seminary, he engaged in missionary 
work in New York City. At one time he di- 
rected the corps of students engaged in colporteur 
work for the publication society. Through his 
several lines of work he became acquainted with 
leading men of his denomination and also gained 
valuable experience in evangelistic work. 

The first and only pastorate ever held by Mr. 
Atkinson was with the North Church of New- 
ark, N. J., amission of the First Church. There 
he was ordained to the ministry and labored for 
eleven j'ears. Under his leadership the mission 
became a strong church, owning valuable 
propert}'. To aid in the erection of a house of 
worship he secured $65,000 outside of the mem- 
bership. Other worthy movements received his 
aid. He was closely connected with the temper- 
ance work that proved such a blessing to the 
town. At the time of the war he assisted re- 
cruiting oiScers in securing the enlistment of 
members of his congregation and rendered valu- 
able service pensonally upon the battlefield. His 
activit}- in citj' mission work led to his selection 
as a member of the Board of the Home Missionary 
Society. It was in this capacity that he was sent 
west in 1868 to investigate the condition of Ot- 
tawa University and to report as to its difficulties. 
He found affairs in a most discouraging condi- 
tion. A man of less courage than he would have 
abandoned the work in despair. The condition 
of the university was so critical that prompt and 
sagacious action was necessary. The govern- 
ment, by treaty with the Ottawa Indians, had 
secured a large and valuable tract of land for 
educational purposes, the sole condition being 
that the children of the Indians should be cared 
for and educated in the arts of civilization. The 
board of trustees had undertaken to carry 
out the treaty for the government. The plan 
was to engage the Indians in tilling the soil 
while they carried on their studies, but the 
scheme proved impracticable. The Home Mis- 
sionary Society, finding that the affairs of the 
school were daily growing more complicated, 



3/8 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



realized that a master mind must take affairs in 
hand; therefore they deputed Mr. Atkinson for 
the task. The insight he soon gained into af- 
fairs led to his appointment as secretary. 
Through personal solicitation in the east he 
raised $44,000 to defray the indebtedness of the 
university. He was also obliged to conduct a 
fiercely contested legal battle in order to protect 
the property of the institution. During this 
time it became necessar%- to secure the personal 
action of the president to stay execution of a con- 
gressional order, and Mr. Atkin.son went to Gen- 
eral Grant's private residence at Long Branch, 
where he secured the desired order. As a re- 
sult of his energy and sagacity the institution 
was saved and its property protected. The 
building, erected in 1869, was destroyed by fire 
January 9, 1875, and through his energy funds 
were secured to replace the original structure. 

The Indians retained their interests in the uni- 
versity until 1873, when, having moved to the 
Indian Territory, a separation of their interests 
was effected. Of the fifteen thousand acres left 
from the original twenty thousand, about three 
thousand were sold for $16,000, and twelve 
hundred and eighty were allowed to the trustees 
to meet their liabilities. The balance of the 
lands, together with the $16,000, were returned 
to the Indians. 

When the finances of the university had been 
placed upon a solid footing Mr. Atkinson de- 
voted himself to private business enterprises, in 
which he was successful. While in Newark he 
had been connected with a large braid manufac- 
tory, started in Pa.ssaic, N. J., and had acted as 
its manager, through his judgment and ability 
bringing a large degree of success to the enter- 
prise. In everything that he undertook he 
proved himself a successful financier. At the 
time of his death he owned considerable real- 
estate and valuable live-stock interests. 

During the time he was secretary of the uni- 
versity Mr. Atkinson served as general mis- 
sionary for Kansas and adjoining territories, se- 
curing sites for buildings and locating pastors in 
the new and growing country. In the Baptist 
denomination in Kansas he was one of the lead- 



ers. As president of the state convention he 
took an active part in the enlargement of denomi- 
national work in Kansas. He was long a faith- 
ful member of the First Bapti.st Church of 
Ottawa, a church that dates its origin as far back 
as 1837, when Rev. J. Meeker began his labors 
as missionary among the Ottawa Indians. From 
1875 to the date of his death he was the leader 
of the Bible class, a work in which he was pe- 
culiarly succe.ssful. He was a life member of all 
the missionary societies of the denomination, and 
his contributions to religious enterprises were 
generous. Ottawa University, too, often re- 
ceived his financial aid; he was an almost con- 
stant giver to the institution, in whose work he 
never lost a deep interest. The aggregate of his 
gifts, through his long life, was very great. 

Though a stanch Republican Mr. Atkinson 
had no desire to identify himself with politics, 
and steadfastly refused to occupy all positions ex- 
cept those of an educational or local nature. The 
three times that he was elected to the city coun- 
cil, it was without opposition. Few residents of 
Ottawa were more widely known. He was rec- 
ognized as a man of spotless integritj', one who, 
in the midst of large financial transactions, was 
ever characterized by a strict regard for honest\-. 
Possessing firm convictions, when once he was 
convinced of the justice of a cause, no amount of 
persuasion ever swerved him from the stand he 
took. 

In 185S Mr. Atkinson married Miss Margaret 
Northrup, who was born in Sussex County, N. J. , 
a descendant of an English family that had rep- 
resentatives in the Revolutionary war and the 
war of 1812. Her father, Moses Northrup, was 
an extensive farmer in Sussex County, to which 
locality his ancestors had come from Orange 
County, N. Y. Mr. and Mrs. Atkinson were 
the parents of four children, Mrs. Hudson B. 
Topping, who is a graduate of Ogontz College 
and now resides in Ottawa; Mrs. Harrj- Brown, 
a graduate of Monticello Female Seminar)-, now 
living in Kansas City; Robert, Jr., who gradu- 
ated from the Wentworth Military Academy in 
Missouri and the Lawrence Business College, and 
who succeeded his father as secretary of the 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



379 



Western Mutual Fire Insurance Compan}', and 
James Nortlirup, who is administrator and man- 
ager of the famil}' estate. The younger son 
graduated from Ottawa Universit}' in 1898, after 
which he spent some months in the University of 
Chicago, and in the fall of 189S entered Johns 
Hopkins University in Baltimore, where he 
studied politics, economics and history. His 
mother went to Baltimore to spend the holidays 
with him, and returned to Ottawa only three 
days before the sudden death of Mr. Atkinson. 
Surrounded in his last moments by his wife and 
all of his children, our subject passed peacefully 
from earth. His death was universallj- mourned 
as a loss to his town and state. The citj' council, 
board of trustees of Ottawa University, the board 
of directors of the Ottawa Chautauqua Assembl)-, 
the board of directors of the Western Fire Insur- 
ance Company and the Kansas Baptist Conven- 
tion passed resolutions of respect, and private 
citizens also joined with them in expressing to 
the family their deepest sympathy. 



(SIlMON B. LANGWORTHY, M. D., a resi- 
ze dent of Kansas since 1878, isengaged in the 
\Z/ general practice of his profession in Leaven- 
worth, where he has his office in the Ryan block. 
Besides his private practice he acts as examining 
physician for a number of insurance companies, 
is a member of the medical staff of Cushing 
Hospital, and has filled the position of lecturer 
on therapeutics in the Leavenworth Training 
School for Nurses, of which institution he was 
among the original promoters. Under the ad- 
ministration of President Cleveland, in 1S95 he 
was appointed a member of the first board of 
United States examining surgeons for pensions, 
and was chosen secretary of the board, which 
position he filled with ability. For a number of 
years he was a member of the board of health of 
Leavenworth, and from 1896 to 1899 he served as 
county health officer. In every plan for the 
development of his profession, in every matter 
pertaining to its advancement, he maintains a 
warm interest. He has been a contributor of 
articles to various medical journals and has read 



a number of papers before conventions of the 
medical fraternity, all of which have indicated 
his deep professional knowledge and the accuracy 
of his diagnosis of disease in its manifold forms. 
At one time he was a member of the Jackson 
County (Mo.) Medical Society. In 1898 he 
served as a delegate to the convention of the 
American Medical Association, of which body he 
is a member. He is also connected with the 
Western Surgical and Gynecological Association, 
the Eastern District Medical Societ}-, and the 
Leavenworth County Medical Society, of which 
he was secretary for three years. 

On Langworthy Ridge, near Riceville, Craw- 
ford Count}', Pa., the subject of this sketch was 
born April 29, 1859, a son of Joseph A. and 
Mindwell (Burton) Langworthj', the former a 
native of Vermont, the latter born near Brocton, 
N. Y. His paternal grandfather, Asher Lang- 
worthy, was of remote English descent, two 
brothers having in an early day come from 
England to Martha's Vineyard. He was a 
farmer in Vermont and later in Crawford County, 
Pa. Joseph A. Langworthy was a fruit farmer 
and local Methodist minister; in i860 he .settled 
in Brocton, Chautauqua County, N. Y., where he 
became owner of a large fruit farm. There he 
died at sixty-one years of age. His wife, who is 
now living with our subject's family, is seventy- 
eight years of age. Her father, Simon Burton, 
was born in New Hampshire, of English descent, 
and removed thence to Chautauqua County, 
N. Y. , where he and his son-in-law built one of 
the first grist mills in that section. He served in 
the war of 18 12 and was slightly wounded in 
battle. He died at eighty-five years, while vi.sit- 
ing his grandson. Dr. Langworthy. His father, 
Simon Burton, Sr., and three of his brothers, 
together with himself, were soldiers in the second 
war with England. 

Twice married, Joseph A. Langworthy had 
two daughters and one son (now living) by his 
first marriage, and by his second marriage two 
sons, one of whom, the younger, A. E., a drug- 
gist in Atchison, has recently been elected as 
assistant to the chair of chemistry in the State 
University of Kansas. The elder son of the 



38o 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



second marriage, Simon Burton Langworthy, 
forms the subject of this article. He was reared, 
after one year of age, near Brocton, N. Y., and 
attended the schools there and the State Normal 
School in Fredonia, N. Y., from which he 
graduated in the spring of 1878. Very soon 
afterward he came to Kansas, where he taught in 
Cherokee County for a year. In 1879 he came 
to Leavenworth County and was for two years 
principal of the Fairmount school, then for two 
j'ears a teacher in the Leavenworth city schools. 
Afterward he engaged in fruit farming on the 
Golden Hill fruit farm, in the city limits, oper- 
ating this place while he carried on his medical 
studies. In 1887 he graduated from the Kansas 
City Medical College with the degree of M. D. 
He then practiced in Leavenworth for two years. 
For four years he was a member of the medical 
staff of the dispensary connected with the Kansas 
City Medical College, and for one year was 
demonstrator of chemistry in the Kansas City 
Medical College. At the same time he engaged 
in general practice in Kansas City. In 1892 he 
returned to Leavenworth, where he has since re- 
sided. He is a Republican in politics. Frater- 
nally he is connected with King Solomon Lodge 
No. 10, A. F. & A. M., of this city. 

In New York, in 1878, Dr. Langworthy mar- 
ried Miss May H. Moore, who was born in the 
eastern part of the state on the Hud.son River, 
and in 1878 graduated from the State Normal 
School of Fredonia. The four children born of 
their union are named as follows: Joseph Howard, 
who graduated from the Leavenworth high 
school in 1898; Herman Moore, also a high 
.school graduate; Amy E. and William J. 



NENRY W. RHEA is a prominent farmer of 
Sherman Township, Leavenworth County, 
and has been active in matters pertaining 
to the development of local resources. He was 
one of the organizers of the Bonner Springs 
creamery, which has proved of value to the com- 
munity. In the building of bridges and roads he 
has always maintained a ready interest, believing 
that no county can take a high rank in a state 



until its transportation facilities have been im- 
proved as much as possible. He is a stockholder 
in the Tri-State Telephone Company. 

Mr. Rhea was born in Hamilton County, Tenu., 
in 1839, a son of Andrew and Eleanor (Millikin) 
Rhea, natives of Tennessee, where the former 
carried on blacksmithing until his death in 1852. 
Politically he was a stanch Democrat. His 
father, John Rhea, who migrated from Virginia 
to Tennes.see, was of Scotch descent, whose fam- 
ily settled in Virginia at an earlj' age. John 
Rhea married Mary Northcross, who was a de- 
scendant of Lord Northcro-ss, of England. Our 
subject's mother was of German parentage and 
spent her entire life in Tennessee, where she died 
in 1862. Of her nine children four are living, 
namely: Elbert A., Benjamin M., Henry W. and 
Mary A. 

During the early part of the Civil war our sub- 
ject enlisted in the Second Tennessee Volunteer 
Infantry and was made sergeant of Company F, 
and assigned to the department of the Cumber- 
land under General Rosecrans. Upon being dis- 
charged in 1864 he entered the quartermaster's 
department as its agent at Knoxville, Tenn., 
where he remained until the close of the war. In 
1867 he came to Kansas and .settled in Brown 
County, where he remained for two years. After- 
ward he traveled through different parts of the 
state and the west. In 1873 he engaged in the 
mining and mercantile business at Joplin, Mo., 
where he remained for four years, selling out in 
1877. He then bought one hundred and sixty 
acres in the Delaware reserve on the Kaw bot- 
tom, and since that time he has carried on stock- 
raising and farming, making a specialty of rais- 
ing potatoes. In 1880 he erected a fine residence 
at Loring Station, on the heights overlooking the 
Kaw valley, one of the most attractive parts of 
Sherman Township. A railroad station has been 
built on his land, which facilitates the shipment 
of produce and travel. He plants about one 
hundred and twenty acres in potatoes and raises 
large crops. 

Having given his attention very closely to the 
various duties connected with the cultivation of 
his land, Mr. Rhea has never had the leisure to 




FRANCIS XAVIER JARDON. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



383 



cultivate a taste for public affairs that he might 
have desired. He has never sought office and 
has not identified himself with any political party, 
but has been independent in his politics. He is 
especially interested in educational matters and 
has aided in securing good schools for his district. 
He and his wife, who was Louisa McCaleb, of 
Tennessee, have many friends among the people 
of Sherman Township and are respected wherever 
known. 



|~ RANCIS XAVIER JARDON. Few among 
ly the farmers of Douglas County have been 
I more successful than this enterprising agri- 
culturist of Willow Springs Township. Through 
his energy and industry he has acquired valuable 
possessions, including the ownership of one of 
the finest farms in eastern Kansas. His total 
possessions in this county aggregate ten hundred 
and forty acres, all of which represents his own 
earnings. The farm upon which he resides con- 
sists of four hundred acres, with fine improve- 
ments, including one of the handsomest country 
residences in the state and the most substantial 
barn in the locality. Besides this place he owns 
one hundred and sixty acres of improved land in 
Palmyra Township and four hundred and eighty 
acres comprising a stock farm in Marion Town- 
ship. Besides his farming operations, in the fall 
of 1889 he engaged in the live-stock commission 
business in Kansas City, Mo., under the firm 
name of Burnside, Jardon & Co., and for five 
years gave his personal attention to that busi- 
ness, since which time he has remained on the 
farm, hiring men to attend to the commission 
business in the city. He has been unusually suc- 
cessful as a farmer. While he gives much time 
to general farm pursuits, he is also interested in 
stock-raising and has on his place from two to 
three hundred head of cattle. 

Near Pittsfield, Mass., our subject was born 
April II, 1858. He is a brother of Augustus M. 
Jardon, in whose sketch the family history will 
be found. When he was only about one month 
old his parents came to Kansas, hence he remem- 
bers no other home than this. When twenty- 
three years of age he rented a farm, and in this 



way secured a start in life. In the spring of 
1882 he purchased one hundred and sixty acres 
that he still owns, and to it he has from time to 
time added as circumstances permitted. Decem- 
ber 3, 1883, he married Adelia Miller, who died 
April 8, 1889. His second marriage took place 
April 15, 1893, and united him with Miss Vir- 
ginia T. Elliott, of Topeka, Kans., by whom he 
has two children, Francis and Irene. In politics 
he is a Democrat with liberal views, and in local 
elections supports the best men for oSices of 
trust. Fraternally he is connected with Palmyra 
Lodge No. 43, A. F. & A. M., of Baldwin. 

Mrs. Jardon is the daughter of John Y. and 
Louise (Collins) Elliott, natives respectively of 
Petersburg, Va., and Rheatown, Tenn. The 
former was for many years a prominent manufac- 
turer of wagons and carriages. A leading Dem- 
ocrat he held the office of mayor of Rheatown, 
where his extensive factory was located. In Ma- 
sonry he passed through the various chairs to 
that of Master Mason in the chapter. Mr. Elliott 
continued in business at Rheatown until his 
death, which occurred May 3, 1883. Of the fam- 
ily of seven daughters and two sons born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Elliott only three are living, viz.: Mrs. 
Jardon; Miss Jo Elliott, who makes her home 
with her sister in Willow Springs Township; 
and Emma, wife of Joseph Dickinson, of Rhea- 
town, Tenn. 

REV. WILLIAM ROBERT WOOD, Ph. D. 
There is no profession or occupation afford- 
ing a wider field for usefulness than that of 
the ministry. Among the men who have hon- 
ored this profession and who, in turn, have been 
honored by it, conspicuous mention belongs to 
the subject of this sketch, who is pastor of the 
First Baptist Church of Ottawa. Dr. Wood is a 
man of clear intellect and logical reasoning fac- 
ulties, an earnest speaker and a successful leader. 
When he first came to Ottawa he found a church 
of four hundred and fifty members, and when he 
left, after a pastorate of two and one-half years, 
the membership had been increased to six hun- 
dred. So high was the esteem in which he was 
held that, some years later, while carrying on 



384 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



his degree studies in the University of Chicago 
and at the same time acting as pastor of a grow- 
ing church in that city, he was again called to 
Ottawa, and, accepting the call, he has since 
ministered to the congregation here. 

The First Baptist Church of Ottawa was organ- 
ized May 4, 1864, by a company of Baptists, of 
whom I. S. Kalloch served as chairman and C. C. 
Hutchinson as secretary. At that time a Bap- 
tist church was already in existence here, having 
been planted through the faithful labors of Rev. 
J. Meeker, missionary to the Ottawa Indians. 
Accordingly the new organization was given the 
name of the Second Church, but when the In- 
dians were transferred to other sections of the 
country and their mission therefore disbanded, 
the Second then became the First Church. A 
building was erected in 1865 and remodeled in 
1880. When it became too small for the needs 
of the growing congregation a new house of 
wor.ship was erected, which is the finest and one 
of the largest church buildings in Kansas. There 
has been a steady growth in the membership, 
which now numbers more than seven hundred. 
Every department of the church is in excellent 
condition and the various societies are accom- 
plishing much for the cause of Christ in this city. 

Dr. Wood was born in London, Canada, April 
21, i860, a son of Matthew and Elizabeth (Bell) 
Wood, natives respectively of Glasgow, Scotland, 
and Montreal, Canada. His grandfather, William 
Wood, who was probably of English descent, 
was born in Scotland and prepared for the Pres- 
byterian ministry, but ill health caused him to 
come to America, where he engaged in farming. 
He was a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church 
in London, Canada. Matthew Wood, being the 
only son, succeeded to the old homestead, where 
he resided for years, but now makes his home at 
Luther, Mich. He has served as school director 
and has been interested in the building of 
schools. While in Canada he served as county 
commissioner for some years. His wife was a 
daughter of Archibald Bell, a native of Paisley, 
Scotland, and a descendant of a Highland family. 
He was a pioneer contractor in Toronto, but 
after years in that city removed to a farm near 



London, and finally died at Strathroy. He was 
the first elder in the old Knox Presbyterian 
Church of Toronto. 

In the family of Matthew Wood were seven 
children, all but one of whom are living. John 
M. is a fruit grower in Mexico; Archibald B. is a 
merchant in Dumont, S. Dak.; Mary W., Mrs. 
Beatty, lives in Sterling, 111.; Thomas C. is con- 
nected with the Miners' supply house in Rhine- 
lander, Wis.; and Harriet W., a teacher, resides 
with her parents. 

Until twenty-two years of age the subject of 
this article remained on the home farm, of which 
for some years he had charge. In 1882 he en- 
tered Woodstock (Ontario) College, and attended 
until the senior year, when failing health obliged 
him to leave. From 18S2 he was engaged in 
preaching, although not holding a regular pas- 
torate. He had identified himself with the Bap- 
tist Church at the age of eighteen, although both 
of his parents were Presbyterians. In 1885 he 
went to Colorado, where he was ordained Sep- 
tember 29, and became pastor of the First Bap- 
tist Church of Boulder. At the same time he 
continued his studies in the Universitj* of Colo- 
rado, from which he graduated in 1888, with the 
degree of Ph. B. His second pastorate in Colo- 
rado was with the Judson Baptist Church in Den- 
ver, where he remained until the spring of 1890. 
At the .same time he was secretary of the Baptist 
state convention and had charge of missionary 
work in Colorado, having the supervision of 
about forty missionaries scattered throughout the 
state. The duties of his position made it neces- 
sary for him to travel considerably, in order to 
understand thoroughly the needs of each mission 
post. Frequentlj' he preached in mountain and 
mining towns. In Ma}', 1890, he accepted the 
Ottawa pastorate, which he held until Septem- 
ber, 1892, and then went to Chicago, where he 
attended the University of Chicago, and received 
the degrees of B. D. and Ph. D. He also took 
charge of a newly organized church of thirty-five 
members, from which he built up the Lexington 
Avenue Baptist Church, located three blocks 
from the Universitj- and containing a member- 
ship of two hundred. Since his return to Kansas 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



385 



he has acted as a member of the ministerial com- 
mittee of the Ottawa Universitj' and chairman of 
the executive committee of the state convention 
of Baptist societies in Kansas. In every place 
where he has labored he has been successful in 
strengthening congregations and in increasing 
membership. Weak churches and congrega- 
tions broken down by dissensions have been 
helped by his labors and brought into harmony 
and good fellowship. Among young people his 
work has been remarkably successful, and while 
in Boulder it was through his efforts the young 
people's society was organized that afterward 
became a power for good in that count}' and 
state. 

The marriage of Dr. Wood united him with 
Miss Mary Ethel Eldridge, who was born in 
New York state and received her education in a 
high school and business college in Chicago. For 
ten years she was private secretary to Isaac E. 
Blake, president of the Continental Oil and 
Transportation Company, with headquarters in 
Denver, Colo. While in that city she was inter- 
ested in the real-estate business and also in min- 
ing in Colorado, Utah and Idaho. She drew the 
original specifications for the magnificent $30,000 
organ which Mr. Blake presented to the Trinity 
Methodist Episcopal Church of Denver. As a 
financier she has few equals among women, 
while her culture brings her into social promi- 
nence. Dr. and Mrs. Wood have two children, 
Gordon Blake and Roberta Virginia. 



EOIv. JOHN KNOX RANKIN. The first 
representative of this branch of the Rankin 
family in America was John Rankin, who 
was born in County Donegal, Ireland, of Scotch 
descent, and emigrated to the new world in 1727, 
settling on the Juniata River in Penns3dvania. 
At a somewhat later date he moved to the vicinity 
of Carlisle. He was the father of two sons and 
eight daughters, the sons being Thomas and 
Richard. Thomas was an elder in the Presby- 
terian Church and a leading man in his commu- 
nity. Among his family of six sons and six 



daughters was Richard, who was born near Car- 
lisle in 1756 and followed the blacksmith's trade 
in conjunction with farming. During the Revo- 
lutionary war he was one of the brave patriots 
who fought for the freedom of our country. Af- 
ter the close of the war he returned to his Penn- 
sylvania home, but in 1786 settled in Tennessee. 
By his marriage to Jane Steele he had eleven sons 
and one daughter. 

Among these sons were four Presbyterian cler- 
gymen, all of whom were prominent in the anti- 
slavery movement. One of them. Rev. John 
Rankin, almost suffered martydom on account of 
his outspoken opposition to slavery, being several 
times mobbed. Another of the brothers. Rev. 
Robert Rankin, was born in Jeff"erson County, 
Tenn., and attended for some years Murraj^ 
Academy in Dandridge, fini.shing his education 
under his brother John, at Ripley, Brown County, 
Ohio. Upon being licensed to preach he ac- 
cepted a charge in Huntingdon, Ohio, and from 
there went to Cass Count}' near Eogansport, Ind., 
to labor as a home missionary, near which town 
he died in 1840, when his son, our subject, was 
only three years of age. Besides him, he left 
two other children: Mary, who is married and 
lives at Quenemo, Kans. , and Alexander, a Kan- 
sas pioneer of 1857, "o^ living in Lawrence. 

The wife of Rev. Robert Rankin was Eliza 
Rowe Lowry, who was born in Greene County, 
East Tennessee, a daughter of Adam and Julia 
Lowry, who sailed for America from London- 
derry, Ireland. Her father was a pioneer miller 
and farmer and also flat-boated on the Tennessee 
River. The family were all stanch believers in 
the Union cause, and twenty-two of them were 
captured at one time, in Tennessee, in a crowd of 
three hundred. After the death of Rev. Robert 
Rankin his widow was again married. Her last 
years were spent in Kansas and she died at Que- 
nemo November 29 , 1 898 . She was a woman of no- 
ble character and great patience in the midst of ad- 
verse circumstances, and to her influence our sub- 
ject undoubtedly owes the firm principles of honor 
implanted in his nature. Deprived of his father's 
care when too small to realize his loss, his mother 
thereafter cared for him and watched over his 



386 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



education and training, doing everything for him 
that her limited circumstances rendered possible. 

The first college in which our subject studied 
was at Wabash, Ind., but on account of his anti- 
slavery views he left that institution and entered 
a college at Iberia, Ohio. That school had been 
established under the care and patronage of the 
Free Presbyterian Church, a denomination which 
.seceded from the old and new schools of the 
Presbyteriafa body on account of the slavery 
question. Both men and women were admitted 
to its cla.sses, and al.so both black and white stu- 
dents. It was under the supervision, as presi- 
dent, of a scholarly man (uncle of the lady whom 
Colonel Rankin afterward married), who was the 
last victim of the fugitive-slave law, having been 
convicted under the fugitive-slave law and sent to 
the penitentiary on the charge of aiding fugitives 
in securing their freedom; and he remained in 
prison until pardoned by President Lincoln. 
Rev. John Rankin was also active in the organi- 
zation of the Free Presbyterian Church and the 
founding of the college at Iberia. 

May I, 1859, our subject arrived in Lawrence, 
joining his brother, who had come to Douglas 
County in 1857. In the spring of i860 he re- 
turned to Iberia, where he graduated in i860. 
During his first sojourn in the west he was door- 
keeper for the territorial council of 1859. On his 
return to Lawrence in 1S60 he took an ox-team 
and went to Iowa, bringing back a load of wheat 
ground. During the winter of 1860-61 he was 
enrolling clerk in the last territorial legislature. 
When the first state legislature met he was ap- 
pointed a journal clerk and at the close of the 
session enlisted in the Union army. In May, 
1861, he was elected second lieutenant of Com- 
pany C, Second Kansas Infantr}-, which was 
composed of Johnson County boys. Going to 
Missouri, he took part in the battles of Forsyth, 
Dug Spring and Wilson Creek, where Lyon was 
killed and the regiment cut to pieces. In the 
fall of 1861 he was mustered out with his regi- 
ment, and on the re-organization of the regiment 
as cavalrj' was commissioned lieutenant of Com- 
pany H, Second Kansas Cavalry. During that 
year he and others were detached to form a bat- 



tery, which was sent south to Corinth, but, there 
being an oversupply of artillery in Rosecrans' 
corps, the men were remounted as cavalrj-. The 
other officers returned to Kansas and our subject 
remained in command of the men, as body guard 
for Gen. Robert B. Mitchell. He took part in 
the movement of Buell's array back to Louisville, 
the battle of Perry ville, Ky., and until the pur- 
suit of Bragg's army was abandoned, after which 
the detachment was returned to the Second Kan- 
sas. He was detached as aide-de-camp to Gen- 
eral Mitchell, on whose stafFhe remained until the 
expiration of his time, in the meantime taking 
part in the battles of Stone River, Rover, Triune, 
Shelby ville and Chickamauga, after which Mitch- 
ell was transferred to the department of the 
west, with headquarters in Omaha. 

During the Quantrell raid our subject and his 
cousin were the only men in Lawrence who re- 
sisted the raiders with arms, an account of which 
is given in Cordley's History of Lawrence and 
Speer's History of "Jim" Lane, in pursuit of 
Quantrell. On that day, August 21, 1863, the 
two men had a contest with six raiders in the 
street and wounded two and drove the others 
awaj'. In June, 1865, upon being mustered out, 
our subject was commis.sioned colonel and given 
a position as paymaster and inspector-general, 
which he filled four years, until it was abolished 
by law. In 1866 he was elected a member of the 
house of representatives, from 1867 to 187 1 served 
as postmaster at Lawrence, in 1874 and 1875 was 
honored with the office of mayor, in 1889 was 
again chosen for the legislature, held the office of 
assistant superintendent of Haskell Institute, 
and in 1890 was appointed special agent in the 
Indian service under Benjamin Harrison, a po- 
sition which he has since filled with the greatest 
efficiency. At different times he has served as a 
member of the school board of Lawrence. He 
was a member of the board of directors of the 
Lawrence Land and Water Power Company, and 
was treasurer and a director of the St. Louis, 
Lawrence & Southwestern Railroad. In politics 
he has always been stanch in his adherence to 
Republican principles, and has exerted a wide 
influence among the members of his party. His 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



387 



religious faith is that of his forefathers, the Pres- 
byterian. Fraternally he is connected with 
Washington Post No. 12, G. A. R., and the 
Kansas Commandery of the Loyal Legion. In 
former years he was engaged in the mercantile 
business, but the duties of his position as Indian 
agent have for some years engrossed his entire 
time and given him little leisure for other pur- 
suits. 

March 21, 1S66, in Terryville, Conn., Colonel 
Rankin married Laura, daughter of Rev. Thomas 
Finney, a prominent minister in the Free Presby- 
terian Church. She was born in New Philadel- 
phia, Ohio, and died in Lawrence in 1875, leav- 
ing two sons. The older of these sons, Robert 
C, is living in East Las Vegas, N. M. The 
younger, Herbert J., who enlisted as a rough 
rider in the Spanish-American war, served during 
the Santiago campaign and was mustered out at 
the close of the war. The second marriage of 
Colonel Rankin took place September 5, 187S, in 
Lawrence, and united him with Miss Augusta 
Fischer, who was born in Cherzt, Prussia, and 
by whom he has four children: Carl, Anna L. , 
Alice M. and Margaret A. 



GJAMUEL R. DICKEY, proprietor of County 
/\ Line farm, in Delaware Township, Leaven- 
IjJ/ worth County, is one of the best-known 
stockmen in this part of the state. A resident 
of this county since 1865, he was among the first 
to begin the breeding of fine stock in the state of 
Kansas and has made a specialty of raising Ham- 
bletonian horses, of which he usually has from 
twenty-five to fifty head on his farm. His trot- 
ting horses are among the finest in the state and 
on his place he has a good trotting track. Fre- 
quently he has made shipments of fine driving 
stock to Philadelphia and other eastern points. 
Upon his farm, which consists of one hundred 
and twenty-five acres, he also carries on general 
farm pursuits. 

Mr. Dickey was born in Chester County, Pa., 
June 23, 1844, a son of James R. and Jane (Cum- 
mings) Dickey. Early in the eighteenth century 
Samuel Dickey came from the north of Ireland. 



His son, Samuel, married Mary Jackson in 1759 
and they had four sons: John, Samuel, Ebenezer 
and David. John was the father of James R., 
whose son, Samuel R., is the subject of this 
sketch. Several of the name took part in the 
struggle for national independence. Our sub- 
ject's paternal grandfather, John Dickey, a native 
of Chester County, spent his entire life there, and 
was one of the prominent men of his locality. 
The maternal grandfather of our subject, John 
Cummings, owned large estates and several lime 
kilns near Philadelphia, where his daughter, 
Mrs. Dickey, was born and reared, and where 
she died; she was buried in the cemetery at 
Oxford, Pa. 

In 1865 James R. Dickey brought his family to 
Kansas and settled in Brown County, where he 
engaged in farming. Agriculture was his life 
occupation, although, at different times, he also 
had other interests. At one time he operated a 
cotton factory in Chester County and for a year 
he also carried on a woolen mill in Kentucky. 
In politics he was a Republican and during war 
times was a stanch Abolitionist and supporter of 
the Union. He was drowned in 1867, when fifty- 
four years of age. His oldest son, John, who 
went to Colorado in i860, enlisted in the First 
Colorado Infantry in the Civil war and was never 
heard of after the battle of Apache Canon. The 
other children were as follows: Sarah, deceased; 
Samuel R.; and Jane, wife ofTheophilusBarnhart; 
formerly of Texas, now of Chickasha, I. T. 

The subject of this sketch was reared near Ox- 
ford, Chester County, Pa., and was educated in 
common schools. He accompanied his parents 
to York County, Pa., and Geneseo, 111. In 1865 
he came with them to Kansas, settling in Leaven- 
worth Count)'. Two years later he purchased 
the farm where he now resides, and here, since 
1878, he has engaged in the breeding of trotting 
horses, also in general agricultural pursuits. Po- 
liticallj' he has always been a Republican, but is a 
strong supporter of the silver standard. He has 
served as clerk of the school board, but, as a rule, 
prefers not to hold official positions. 

April 7, 1869, Mr. Dickey married Miss Emily 
A. Carpenter, by whom he has five children: 



38S 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Mary E., who is in New York; James H., who is 
with his parents; Charles F., a graduate of the 
New York College of Pharmacy, class of 1899, 
and winner of a prize of $100 for the best ex- 
amination in materia medica and pharmacognosy; 
Harry C, a student in the same school; and 
Jennie. The children have been given excellent 
educational advantages and are unusually intelli- 
gent and cultured. Mrs. Dickey is a daughter of 
Charles K. Carpenter, who at one time was a 
merchant in New York City, but in i860 re- 
moved to Kansas. He made the acquaintance 
of the law firm of Ewing, Sherman & McCook, 
all of whom became generals in the Civil war. 
He purchased the Sherman farm near North To- 
peka, and there made his home for four years. 
In 1 864 he came to Leavenworth County and pur- 
chased a farm on the Indian reservation line, 
after which he returned to New York City. His 
last days were spent in that place, where he died 
in 1883. He had a brother, George Carpenter, 
who was post quartermaster at Fort Leavenworth 
for some time during the Civil war, holding the 
ranknf captain. 

IJJELSON MERCHANT. At the time of the 
j / excitement concerning the free-state or slav- 
liD ery triumph in Kansas, Mr. Merchant was 
one of the men who were attracted to the west 
and cast in his fortunes with the men of the north 
in an endeavor to crush out slaverj^ from their 
midst. In the spring of 1857 he came to Frank- 
lin County and pre-empted one hundred and six- 
tj' acres in Hayes Township. He experienced 
all the excitement and danger incident to life in 
a new country where opposing forces were striv- 
ing for the mastery. Sometimes when border 
ruffians were creating devastation in the neigh- 
borhood and leaving death in their trail, he was 
forced, for safety, to spend whole nights in the 
brush. On one night Quantrell slept in his house, 
but he was not aware of the fact until after the 
famous raider had gone. In December, 1857, 
his family joined him in his new home, and here 
they have since resided, he giving his attention 
to agricultural pursuits. 

In Lyons, Wayne County, N. Y., Mr. Mer- 



chant was born May 24, 1830. His father, 
Rens.selaer Merchant, was a native of Wa.shing- 
ton County, that state, born November 30, 1804, 
and at the age of thirteen he accompanied his 
parents to Lyons. The remainder of his life was 
spent in that place, where he died Januarj' 27, 
1849, at the age of forty-four years. Through his 
service in the militia he was always known as 
captain. In connection with farming he engaged 
in teaching school. His father, John Merchant, 
was born in Washington County April 11, 1776, 
and died in Wayne County at the age of ninety- 
one years. His life work was that of an agricult- 
urist. In politics he was a Democrat. 

The mother of our subject, who bore the 
maiden name of Lydia Lane, was born in Wayne 
County June 23, 1812, and died there May 30, 
1S74. In religion she was connected with the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. She was a daugh- 
ter of Ziba and Frances (Dennis) Lane, the 
former born January 31, 1783, and died January 
20, 1866; the latter born in Maine January 20, 
1784, and died in New York January 11, 1868. 
By her marriage to Mr. Merchant she had one 
son and two daughters. The oldest daughter, 
Eleanor, was born October 29, 1834, and became 
the wife of E. A. Gridley. The younger daugh- 
ter, Lydia, born January 5, 1839, is the widow of 
John H. Munn, and lives in New York. The 
oldest of the three children was Nelson. He was 
educated in the common schools of the home 
neighborhood and grew to manhood with a thor- 
ough knowledge of agriculture. 

January 29, 1851, our subject married Miss 
Julia A. Griffith, who was born in Bridgeport, 
Conn., February 9, 1831, and at the age of one 
year was taken bj' her parents, David and Pollie 
(Piatt) Griffith, to Wayne County, N, Y., where 
she was reared, educated and married. Her 
father, a native of Wales, crossed the ocean five 
times. In early life he followed the hatter's trade 
in New York and Bridgeport, Conn., for perhaps 
ten years, and later he engaged in farming. His 
death occurred when he was .seventj'-seven years 
of age. Influential in the Republican party he 
was offered some important state offices, but re- 
fused to accept them. His wife was born in Con- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



necticut aud died in New York at thirty-three 
years of age. Of their four children two are de- 
ceased. Six children were born to the union of 
Mr. and Mrs. Merchant, namely: Herschel, a 
farmer of Hayes Township; Lydia E. , wife of 
H. F. Ellis, of Ottawa, Kans.; Nettie L., who 
died in September, 1889, at the age of twenty-six 
years; Foster P., who is a farmer of the home 
neighborhood; Clarence, who died January 7, 
1886, at eighteen years of age; and Charles, who 
manages the home farm. 

Until 1897 a Republican, Mr. Merchant in that 
year identified himself with the Prohibition party, 
with the principles of which he had always been 
in sympathy. For .sixteen years he served as 
justice of the peace, and for several years was as- 
sistant county assessor of Franklin County. In 
1868 he was engrossing clerk of the state legisla- 
ture, and in 1869-70 served as sergeant-at-arms 
in the state senate. With his family he holds 
membership in the Presbyterian Church. He is 
identified with Palmyra Lodge No. 23, A. F. & 
A. M., of Baldwin, in which he has officiated as 
junior deacon and master. 



■0' 



I LIN BELL is one of the successful business 
men of Lawrence, where he has made his 
home since 1S85. He has built up what is 
now the largest music business in Kansas, and 
with his brother John as partner has established 
a valuable trade extending through the state. 
When he came to this city he was without means. 
His brother had settled here in 1884 and had 
started in business as a piano tuner and repairer. 
In 1886 they opened a music store in a building 
ten feet square, with a capital of only $25. Such 
a start might not seem encouraging, but they 
were energetic and determined to succeed, and it 
was not long until they had established them- 
selves upon a sound financial basis. When the 
brother went to Chicago the firm of Bell Brothers 
dissolved and our subject continued alone, but 
after three years his brother returned and the old 
business relations were resumed. In 1892 they 
removed to their present location. No. 845 Massa- 
chusetts street, where they occupy the larger 



part of two floors, carrying in stock all kinds of 
musical instruments and acting as distributing 
agents for the Shaw and Marshall and Wendell 
pianos. The brothers are interested in the 
Russell-Lane Piano Company of Chicago, for 
whom they are the sole western agents. 'Oliu 
was one of the incorporators of the company and 
was chosen a director, also secretary, in which 
capacities he has since been retained, besides 
which, since January, 1899, ^^ ^^^ also been 
treasurer. The factory owned by the company is 
a five-story building at Nos. 37-39-41 and 43 
Coventry street, but even the immense capacity 
furnished by that building is severely taxed, so 
rapidly has the business grown. In spite of a 
large number of hands being furnished constant 
employment the pianos cannot be manufactured 
rapidly enough to supply the great demand. 
The company is the successor to the old Russell 
Piano Company, once so well known throughout 
the country. ■ 

The Bells are an old eastern family. Our sub- 
ject's father, Robert, a native of York state, was 
a sou of William Bell, who moved west to Wis- 
consin, thence to Kansas and died in Lawrence. 
From Wisconsin Robert went to Indiana, and 
during his residence at Mishawaka, St. Joseph 
County, his son, Leolin (known as 'Olin) was 
born, February 20, 1865. When the latter was 
fifteen years of age the father took the family to 
Iowa and settled in Shenandoah, where he died. 
He had married Eliza DeMott, who was born in 
Mineola, Long Island, a member of an old Revo- 
lutionary family that originally came from 
France. She is still living and makes her home 
in Clarinda, Iowa. Of her four children, John 
H. is in Lawrence; Mrs. Clara Houson resides in 
Kansas City; and W. J. is engaged in the music 
business in Texas. When ten years of age our 
subject secured employment on a farm near South 
Bend, Ind., and from that time he has been self- 
supporting. He was only six when he began to 
play on the cornet, having inherited from his 
father a talent for music. However, while he 
worked on the farm his talent was not developed. 
After coming west as far as Iowa he remained in 
Shenandoah until 1882 and then spent a year in 



390 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



the preparatory department of the University of 
Kansas. Returning to Iowa, after a year he 
went back to Indiana and continued there until 
February, 1885, when he joined his brother in 
Lawrence. He is a member of the Music Chib 
of Lawrence. His brother organized and is 
leader of Bell's Military Band, in which he plays 
B flat cornet. 

In politics Mr. Bell is a Republican. He is a 
member of the Plymouth Congregational Church, 
also belongs to the Fraternal Aid Association and 
the United Commercial Travelers. His mar- 
riage, which took place in Lawrence, united him 
with Miss Ida R. Burr, who was born in Massa- 
chusetts and came west with her father, Fred P. 
Burr. She is a talented musician and a graduate 
of the musical department of the University of 
Kansas. The two children born of this union are 
Grace Adelaide and Ida Dorothy. 



r~ ITCH REED, deceased, formerly one of the 
ry prominent men of Douglas County, was 
I born in the town of Richmond, Ontario 
County, N. Y., July 28, 1814, a son of Wheeler 
and Olive (Risdoii) Reed. His father was twice 
married and by his first wife, our subject's moth- 
er, had five children, none of whom is now liv- 
ing. For his second wife he chose Miss Hannah 
Risdon, a sister of the first wife. To their union 
fifteen children were born, of whom the follow- 
ing survive: George, of Coldwater, Mich.; Emily, 
wife of Solomon Longyear, of Seattle, Wash.; 
Almira, who married Warren Gilbert, of Le- 
nawee County, Mich.; Byron, also of Lenawee 
County; and Henry, who lives in Grand Rapids, 
Mich. 

A native of Vermont, Wheeler Reed accompa- 
nied his parents to New York in boyhood and 
settled in Ontario County, where his father ac- 
quired large possessions, each of the five sons be- 
ing given a farm upon settling in life. The fam- 
ily became numerous and influential. Fift}- chil- 
dren, descendants of the first settler, attended 
the same school and formed almost the entire list 
of scholars. They were also leaders in the Pres- 
byterian Church and operated a woolen and flour- 



ing mill in the same locality. The education of 
our subject was obtained in common schools and 
the academy at Canandaigua, N. Y., after which 
he taught two terms in New York, and then 
went to Oakland County, Mich., where he taught 
for two years. He returned to New York, but 
his services in Michigan had been so satisfactory'- 
that they wrote for him to return and teach the 
following winter; however, having already ac- 
cepted a school for that term he could not com- 
ply with the request. He taught one term in 
New York, and during that time was married. 
At the expiration of his term he went back to 
Michigan and settled on a fann in Lenawee Coun- 
ty which he had acquired some time before. 
There he engaged in farming, by his energy and 
good judgment obtaining large and valuable pos- 
sessions. 

In 1865 Mr. Reed moved to the town of Adrian 
intending to spend his remaining years in retire- 
ment. However, two of his daughters removing 
to Kansas, in 1869 he determined to locate in the 
west, and July of that year found him with his 
famil)- in Douglas County. He settled in Waka- 
rusa Township, six miles south of Lawrence, 
where he developed one of the best farms in the 
count}'. Here he quietlj', but busily, passed the 
latter part of his life, dying on the old homestead 
January 10, 1897. For many years during his 
residence in Michigan he served as justice of the 
peace. From youth he was an earnest Christian, 
seeking to carry out in his life the glorious prin- 
ciples of Christianity, and after coming to Kan- 
sas he identified himself with the Methodist 
Church, although he had previously been con- 
nected with the Presbyterians. 

February 20, 1840, Mr. Reed married Miss 
Ann Draper, a lady of estimable character, to 
whose sj'nipathy and co-operation he owed not a 
little of his success. She was born near tlie city 
of Hull, in Yorkshire, England, May i, 1816, a 
daughter of John and Mary (White) Draper. 
Her father, who was born and reared in Lincoln- 
shire, England, moved to Yorkshire in early 
manhood and learned the trade of a carpenter, 
which he followed for some years in that shire, 
in 1 83 1 he emigrated from England to America 




STEPHAN NAEHER. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



393 



and settled in Farmington, Mich., where many 
years of his life were passed. He removed to 
Wakarusa Township in 1869, and died here a 
few years later. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. 
Reed were born five children, three of whom are 
deceased, namely: Marshall and Marcia (twins), 
and Mary C. Elizabeth D. is the wife of A. F. 
Allen, a prominent farmer of Vinland, Kans. 
Ellen M. married Dr. George Leary, who resides 
in Wakarusa Township, Douglas County. 



mTEPHAN NAEHER, an enterprising busi- 
^\ ness man of Leavenworth, was born in 
VJJ/ Frickingen, Baden, Germany, December 24, 
1855, the onl}' child born to the union of John 
and Mary Aim (Andelfinger) Naeher, natives of 
Baden. His father, who was the son of John 
Naeher, Sr. , and a member of an old family of 
his localit}^ was for years employed as an assistant 
to the chief forester, continuing in that position 
until he retired at the age of sixty-six years. A 
year later he died. His first wife, who was the 
daughter of a farmer of Heiligenburg, died at the 
age of thirty-seven years, when her son, Stephan, 
was five days old. Afterward the father was 
again married, having by the union a son, 
Thomas, who is a tinsmith in Leavenworth. 

When a boy our subject worked for two and a- 
half years in the botanical gardens of one of the 
princes of Baden, where he learned the forester's 
business. Determining to try his fortune in 
America, in 1872 he crossed from Hamburg via 
Havre to New York on the packet-steamer 
"Holsatia," which was on the ocean for thirteen 
days. From New York he came west to Leaven- 
worth, where he worked as a gardener for two 
months. Later he secured a clerkship in Henry 
Krezdorn's store, remaining in that position 
until 1878. From June, 1878, to September, 
1879, he was employed by Rohlfing & Co., whole- 
sale grocers. When Thomas Morgan opened a 
store he was engaged as clerk with him. May i, 
i88i, he bought Mr. Morgan out and has since 
continued the business alone. Later he bought 
the property on which the store and residence 
stand. The lot is 90 x 140 feet in dimensions, of 

15 



which ground the brick store occupies 24x60, 
and the warehouse, for grain, hay and storage, 
70 X 20. The location is No. 1300 South Fourth 
street. He has built up an excellent trade in the 
retail grocery business, and is known for the 
reliability of his dealings and his honesty in 
every transaction. 

The marriage of Mr. Naeher took place in 
Leavenworth and united him with Miss Rosa 
Rapp, who was born in Lexington, Mo., but was 
reared in Leavenworth from the age of one year. 
She is a daughter of Jacob Rapp, who was born 
in Baden and emigrated to the United States, 
settling in Lexington, Mo., and there following 
the shoemaker's trade. During the Civil war he 
was a member of a Mis.souri regiment that en- 
listed from St. Louis. At the close of the war 
he came to Leavenworth and opened a shoe store, 
but later turned his attention to the grocery busi- 
ness, in which he has since engaged. The chil- 
dren of Mr. and Mrs. Naeher are Amelia, 
Stephen A., Annie, Katie, Frances and Josephine. 

In his political views Mr. Naeher is a stanch 
Republican. He is interested in the work of the 
Turn Verein, to which he belongs. He was at 
one time chancellor of the Knights of Pythias, a 
member of the grand lodge and a charter member 
of the Uniform Rank. The Woodmen of the 
World numbers him among the members of its 
Leavenworth camp, and he is also connected 
with Delaware Tribe No. 3, I. O. R. M. 



QENJAMIN J. DONOVAN, who first came 
IC\ to Leavenworth in 1853 and settled perma- 
C^ nently in this city three years later, was born 
in Cork, Ireland, and was reared on a farm near 
Chillicothe, 111., and was a son of Benjamin Don- 
ovan, Sr. After establishing his home in Leav- 
enworth he became interested in the transfer 
business for Durfee & Peck, and continued with 
them until he died, being at the time of his death 
the oldest transfer man in the town. During ter- 
ritorial days he served as a magistrate. How- 
ever, he preferred to give his attention to private 
business matters rather than public affairs, and 
had no desire to hold ofEce. 



394 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



The luarriageofBenjamiu Donovan united him 
with Catherine A. Heme, daughter of Philip 
Heme, who died in Providence, R. I. She is 
still living, and makes her home with her son, 
Martin B. Mr. Donovan died in 1873, at the 
age of forty years. Of their ten children only 
three are living, viz.: Martin B.; Mrs. Joseph 
Farrell, of Kansas City; and John H., who is in 
charge of the transfer department of the Donovan 
Coal, Ice & Transfer Company. 



iA ARTIN B. DONOVAN, proprietor of the 
y Donovan Coal, Ice & Transfer Company of 
(9 Leavenworth and the Leavenworth Coal, 
Feed & Commission Company, also manager of 
the Crawford Grand Opera House, has spent his 
entire life in Leavenworth, where he was born 
July 15, 1859. Upon the death of his father in 
1873 he succeeded to the management of the 
transfer business, which were then so small that 
only one horse and one dray were needed. Under 
his efficient management a large business was 
built up. He added coal and wood to the trans- 
fer business, and in 1897 P"*^ i" ^'^ i^^ plant and 
a general and cold storage warehouse, with good 
capacity. The office and warehouses are at No. 107 
Main street, and the ice house is on Seneca street. 
From here shipments of manufactured ice are 
made to the wholesale houses of Kansas City and 
other points. 

In addition to the Donovan Coal, Ice & Trans- 
fer Company, whose large business is the result of 
his executive ability and wise judgment, Mr. Don- 
ovan is interested as a partner in the livery firm 
of Keller & Co., at No. 312 South Fourth street, 
proprietors of the finest livery barns in the city. 
He is also a partner in the firm of Hiatt & Dono- 
van, successors to the Osage Indian Traders at 
Pawhuska, Okla. This business has had a phe- 
nomenal growth, necessitating the rebuilding of 
the store to three times its former capacity. The 
town of Pawhuska is thirtj' miles from the rail- 
road, the nearest station being Elgin, Kans. 

Under the management of Mr. Donovan the 
Crawford Grand Opera House has enjoyed an un- 
precedented prosperity for several years. The 



house has a seating capacity of one thousand and 
has, during the season, the best attractions on the 
road. Mr. Donovan is the possessor of a fine 
voice and for eleven years he was first tenor in 
the cathedral. Politically he is a Democrat and 
actively interested in local affairs. Fraternallj' 
he is connected with the Ancient Order of Hiber- 
nians, the Woodmen of the World, Ancient Order 
of United Workmen, Tent of Maccabees, and 
Catholic Knights of America. 

When the Leavenworth Coal, Feed & Commis- 
sion Companj- was organized Mr. Donovan 
became interested in it and is now the sole pro- 
prietor, Ben Perry being the manager. The office 
of the company is at the comer of Fourth and 
Choctaw streets, and the firm deals in all kinds 
of coal, feed and grain. Mr. Donovan is a large 
property owner. Besides his fine residence on 
Miami street he owns a farm three miles south- 
west of Tonganoxie, where he is rai.sing fine thor- 
oughbred horses, and in the Osage Indian Reser- 
vation he also has a large ranch, where he is en- 
gaged in breeding horses, mules and hogs. 

In I<eavenworth Mr. Donovan married Agnes, 
daughter of Paul Rohr, who came to Kansas in 
1856 and was engaged in the harness business in 
Leavenworth. Mrs. Agnes Donovan was born 
in Buffalo, N. Y. , and died in Leavenworth in 
1891, leavinga son, Martin B., Jr., now a stu- 
dent in St. Benedict's College at Atchison. A 
daughter, MaryC. , was born of this union, but 
died in childhood. The second marriage of Mr. 
Donovan united him with Miss Theresa Mesel, 
daughter of John and Theresa Mesel, pioneers of 
Leavenworth County. By this union were born 
two sons, George Eddy, and John Joseph, who 
died in 1899. 

HON. GEORGE A. FISHER, proprietor of 
the Fisher machine works of Leavenworth, 
is a pioneer of the west and a leading busi- 
ness man of the city which for years has been 
his home. In December, 1896, he and his four 
.sons .started the works which they now conduct, 
building a tvvostory shop, 24x125 feet in dimen- 
sions, at Nos. 206-208 Cherokee street. In the 
shop are manufactured tools and machinery of 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



395 



all kinds. All of the equipments are modern and 
the products first-class in every respect. The 
special feature of the works is the Portable Boring 
machine invented by George H. Fisher, for the 
re-boring of cylinders and Corliss valve seats, 
which is the only worm-geared and automatic 
feed-boring mill in the west. The advantage of 
this machine is the fact that cylinders may be 
bored without change of position, which enables 
the owner to avoid loss of time. In most cases 
the cylinders are bored without shutting down 
the plant for more than ten or twelve hours at 
a time. 

The Fisher family, in past as well as the present 
generations, has had manj' expert machinists 
among its members. Our subject's father, whose 
name was the same as his own, was born in Ger- 
many, and in early life settled in Pittsburgh, Pa., 
where he followed the trade of a boiler-maker. 
He died in that city when ninety-eight years of 
age. His wife, Mary Ann Gary, was born in 
Scotland, and died in Pittsburgh. Of their nine 
children, three are living, a sister and a brother 
(the latter, Moses, a veteran of the Civil war) 
being residents of Pittsburgh. George A. was 
born in that city December 14, 1832, and re- 
ceived a public-school education. From the age 
of sixteen until twenty-one he served an ap- 
prenticeship to the machinist's trade. In 1853 he 
crossed the plains to California, outfitting at Leav- 
enworth with an ox -team and then going, with a 
Mormon train to Fort Laramie, from there with 
another train via South Pass to California, where 
he arrived after a trip of four months. Three 
months later he returned across the plains with 
an ox-team, going with a party to what is now 
Denver (then Cherry Creek). In that place he 
met Green Russell, who, accompanied by a party, 
was en route to California, but found gold in 
Colorado and decided to remain; later he laid out 
the town of Aurora, now the west part of Denver. 
Mr. Fisher remained with Mr. Russell for more 
than half a year, after which he returned to Fort 
Leavenworth. During the territorial strife he 
was employed by the government in carrying dis- 
patches between Lawrence and Leavenworth, 
then joined an expedition against the Sioux In- 



dians and took part in a fight with the savages at 
Ash Hollow, eighty miles from Sumner. From 
there the company went to Dakota. He was en- 
gaged in trading with the Indians, and with his 
wagon and four-yoke team traveled from one set- 
tlement to another. In i860 he joined General 
Sully as a guide, his abilty to speak the Sioux 
language making his services especially valuable. 
He took part in the battle at White Stone Lake 
and was twice wounded there. Afterward he re- 
sumed Indian trading among the Sioux. Twice 
he was attacked by savages and seriously injured, 
once his horse being shot under him, leaving him 
to make his way, as best he could, to Fort Look- 
out, one hundred and fifty miles away. He res- 
cued and returned to her home Mrs. Kelly, who 
was kidnapped by Comanche Indians in 1862 and 
sold to the Sioux in Dakota. 

Returning to Pittsburgh in 1863, Mr. Fisher 
married Miss Anna B. Claus, daughter of John 
and Barbara Claus, of that city. With his wife 
he went back to Dakota and settled upon a ranch 
at Bonham, but Indians were numerous and white 
settlers scarce; and his wife not liking the place, 
he removed to St. Joe, where he was employed 
as a machinist. In 1869 he came to Leavenworth, 
and for twenty-one years afterward was employed 
by the same firm as machinist, a record which 
proves the value of his services better than mere 
words could do. Upon resigning his position he 
engaged in the dairy business on his farm of fif- 
teen acres in the suburbs, and continued thus en- 
gaged until he opened his machine shop. 

Mr. Fisher has had considerable experience in 
frontier life. He has many relics, including a 
pipe, from Albert Sidney Johnston, for securing 
horses that had been stolen, and a gold-headed 
cane from the Dakota territorial legislature. 
During the ten years that he traveled in Dakota 
trading among the Indians he never slept in a 
house, his only bed being an improvised one in 
tent or on the ground. He was a member of 
the first territorial legislature of Dakota, to which 
he was elected on the Republican ticket. He 
also served as postmaster at Bonham. He and 
his wife are the parents of eleven children, 
namely: Anna B.; Mrs. Minnie Belle Biddle, of 



396 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Leavenworth; George H., a partner of his father 
and a j'oung man of inventive abilitj-; CoraC; 
Harry, Arthur and Walter (partners with their 
father); Grace, Ernest, Clara and Richard. 



EDWARD BRUNE, secretary and man" 
/\ ager of the Douglas County Creamery Com- 
Cv/, pany, is in charge of one of the most im- 
portant business concerns of Lawrence. In June, 
1895, he was elected to the position which he has 
since filled with the greatest efficiency, and he is 
also a stockholder and director of the company. 
The creamery was opened April 10, 1895, but 
was not operated under any system until he as- 
sumed its management, since which time it has 
been made a most successful investment for its 
stockholders. The company has a paid-up capi- 
tal of $4,700, with an authorized capital of $10,- 
000. The plant has a capacity of fifteen hundred 
pounds of butter a day, and a specialty is made 
of the finest grade of table butter, shipments of 
which are made as far east as Philadelphia, al- 
though Kan.sas City furnishes the principal mar- 
ket for the product. Every modern equipment 
may be found in the creamery, including two sep- 
arators and a combined churn and worker. The 
plant is operated by a boiler of fifteen-horse power 
and an engine of ten-horse power. At Lecomp- 
ton and Bclvoir well-equipped skimming sta- 
tions have been established. To aid in the op- 
erating of the creamery Mr. Brune has invented 
a number of devices, one of these being an auto- 
matic belt shift 1)11 the feed pump of the separa- 
tor. He is an active member of the Kansas State 
Dairy Association and the National Creamerj- 
Buttermakers' Association, in the latter of which 
he has officiated as vice-president. 

The father of our subject. Rev. John Henrj- 
Brune, was born near Halle, German}-, and was 
reared on the home farm, but in early manhood 
came to America. He was educated for the min- 
istry and was ordained a minister in the German 
Methodist Episcopal Church. For a time he 
preached at Warrenton, Warren County, Mo., 
where his son S. Edward was born May 19, i860. 
Thence he went to Golconda, 111., later was in 



charge of a church in Missouri. In 1866 he 
came to Lawrence as pastor of the Lawrence 
Church, but a year later, while holding this pas- 
torate, he died at thirty-three years of age. He 
had married Wilhelmina Bromelsick, who was 
born in Germany and came to America in an 
early day, settling in Hermann, Mo. About 1857 
he came to Kansas, and here he died forty years 
afterward. After the death of her husband Mrs. 
Brune was again married, and now makes her 
home at Eudora, this state. By her first mar- 
riage she had five children, two of whom are liv- 
ing, S. Edward and George C, the latter being 
editor of the Eudora A'ifK'.f. 

When our subject was six years of age he was 
brought by his parents to Lawrence. He at- 
tended the public schools in this citj' and also 
spent one year in the University of Kansas. In 
I S79 he accompanied the family to Eudora and 
settled on a farm, where he remained for three 
years with them. Afterward he bought the forty- 
acre place from them and continued farming 
alone until 1889, when he sold the property and 
bought the Eudora House. For four years he 
continued at the head of this hotel until it was 
destroyed by fire in 1893. His next business 
venture was as secretary of the Eudora cream- 
ery. In 1894 he went to Iowa and took a course 
in the Ames creamery .school, where he completed 
the regular studies. Returning to Eudora he 
took charge of the buttermaking department in 
the creamery, and after six months succeeded to 
the management of the plant. On resigning that 
position and selling his interest in the business 
he came to Lawrence, where he has since made 
his home. While in Eudora he served for one year 
as a member of the citj' council, and at the time of 
his removal from that place he held the office of 
justice of the peace. In politics he is a Republican. 
He is a believer in the doctrine of the denomina- 
tion in which his father was a minister. In the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen he is past mas- 
ter workman of the local lodge. While in Eu- 
dora he was made a Mason, and is now a member 
of Lawrence Lodge No. 6, A. F. & A. M. He 
was a charter member of the Fraternal Aid Asso- 
ciation at Eudora, of which he was president, and 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



397 



since his removal to Lawrence he has become as- 
sociated with that organization here. He is a 
member of Bell's military band, in which he 
plays the first clarinet. During his residence in 
Eudora he married Miss Mary A. Albright, who 
was born in Lee County, III., and about 1870 ac- 
companied her father, Charles Albright, to a 
farm near Eudora. Mr. and Mrs. Brune have 
two children, Clarence E. and George W. 



pCJlLLIAM LAMBERT, secretary, treasurer 
\ A / and manager of the Leavenworth Fruit 
Y Y and Commission Company , is one of the 
enterprising business men of Leavenworth. In 
October, 1897, he began in the fruit commission 
business in partnership with Henrj' L. Roden- 
burg, under the company name of the Leaven- 
worth Fruit and Commission Company. The busi- 
ness was incorporated in November, 1898, with 
Mr. Rodenburg as president, George C. Richard- 
son, vice-president, and Mr. Lambert secretary, 
treasurer and manager. The commission house is 
located at No. 511 Cherokee street, where foreign 
and domestic fruits and vegetables are handled, a 
specialtj' being made of apples and potatoes in 
car lots. The business is the largest in the com- 
mission line in the city, and its success is due to 
the enterprise and ability of its officers. 

Mr. Lambert was born in Loudonville, Ash- 
land County, Ohio, February 19, 1861, a son of 
Jacob and Catherine (Zider) Lambert, natives 
respectively of Holmes County, Ohio, and Ger- 
many. His father, who was for some years a 
farmer, afterward carried on a general store 
in Loudonville. In 1878 he removed to Hot 
Springs, Ark., but after four months there, dur- 
ing the same year he settled in Leavenworth, 
and afterward engaged in agricultural pursuits 
in Delaware Township, this county. In 1897 ^^ 
rented his farm of one hundred and sixty acres 
and has since lived retired in Los Angeles, Cal. 
His wife died in 1881, leaving four sons and two 
daughters, who are now living. 

Of these, William was next to the oldest. He 
remained with his father in Loudonville until 
1878, when he came to Leavenworth and entered 



the employ of James H. Foster in the dry-goods 
department, afterward being for thirteen 3-ears in 
charge of the woolen department with Ettenson, 
Woolfe & Co. He resigned his position in order 
to give his attention to the fruit commission busi- 
ness, in which he has since successfully engaged. 
As a business man he is keen, capable, efficient 
and honorable, and has won many friends in the 
busine.ss circles of Leavenworth. In national 
politics he is a Democrat, but his time is so closely 
given to his business affairs that he has little 
leisure for participation in local matters. In 
religion he is connected with the Christian 
Church. Fraternally he is past grand of Leaven- 
worth Lodge No. 2, I. O. O. F., also a member 
of the encampment, and past master of American 
Lodge No. 122, A. O. U. W. The Leavenworth 
Council, United Commercial Travelers, numbers 
him among its members. His marriage took 
place in this cit3' and united him with Noda O., 
daughter of Samuel Merchant and a native of 
Camden Point, Mo. The four children com- 
prising their family are Dottie, I^dna May, Jacob 
William and Verner. 



pCJlLLIAM BROMELSICK. At the time of 
\A/ the Quantrell raid, August 21, 1863, Mr. 
Y Y Bromelsick was a child of eleven years, 
and was living with his parents on a farm four 
miles southeast of Eudora, Douglas County. 
When the raiders marched toward Lawrence they 
made only two or three stops after leaving Kan- 
sas City. One of the.se was at the Bromelsick 
farm. They also stopped at the Bentley house, 
one-half mile east, where they killed two soldiers 
who were stopping there. Coming on to the 
Bromelsick farm, they arrived there about eleven 
o'clock. The family were all asleep, but were 
awakened by the command to surround the house. 
The father hastened to the cellar to hide, know- 
ing that his life was in danger. Some one 
knocked on the door with the butt end of a gun. 
The mother answered the knock and tried to con- 
vince the raiders that there were no men on the 
place, but they searched and soon found the father 
and the hired man. The latter, who was the first 



398 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



one caught, was taken outside, but being strong, 
knocked his two captors down and escaped to the 
cornfield. When they found Mr. Bromelsick, 
they made him dress, and as he was tying his 
shoes, the wind blew the light out. The darkness 
saved his life. He slipped away, escaped through 
the back door and fled to the field. As the raid- 
ers searched through the house thej' found the 
eleven-year-old son, whom they jerked out of 
bed, to see if he was large enough to kill, but 
finding him so small, left him alone. Meantime 
the father had fled to a neighbor, whom he en- 
deavored to persuade to hasten to Lawrence with 
the alarm, he himself being too old to undertake 
the trip; but the neighbor was thoroughly fright- 
ened and feared to venture out. The raiders left, 
carrying with them nothing but a doulile-barreled 
shotgun. About daylight Mr. Bromelsick and his 
hired man ventured back to the house, and it was 
not until they arrived that the family were sure 
they had not been killed in the night. 

August Bromelsick was born in Borgholthau- 
sen, Prussia, the son of a farmer. He married 
Francisca Vosz, who was born in the same place 
as himself. They had five children, viz.: Henrj-, 
who lives near Hermann, Mo.; Mrs. Wilhelmina 
Walters, of Eudora, Kans.; Mrs. Charlotte Fem- 
mer, who died in Eudora; Mrs. Anna Miiller, of 
St. Joe, Mo.; and William, the youngest, who 
was born near Hermann, Mo., April i8, 1852. 
The father brought his family to America and 
became a pioneer of Hermann, Mo., where he en- 
gaged in farming. In i860 he came to Douglas 
County, Kans., where he improved a half-section 
of land. Late in life he retired from active labor 
and settled in Lawrence, where he died in iS95,at 
the age of ninety-three. In politics he was a Re- 
publican. He took a prominent part in the Ger- 
man Methodist Church, in which he was a class- 
leader. His wife died while visiting a daughter 
in Warrenton, Mo., at the age of eighty-three 
years. 

The education of our subject was obtained in 
the grammar school of Eudora and the high 
school of Lawrence. For seven years he clerked 
in a dry-goods store in this city, after which he 
entered the firm of H. A. Kendall & Co., dealers 



in gents' furnishing goods, and successors to 
Wilder Brothers. They first occupied a small 
store, but in 1877 Mr. Bromelsick bought out his 
partner and has since bought the building at No. 
807 Massachusetts street, which he has occupied 
since 1893. His store is as complete in details 
and perfect in arrangement as any of the kind in 
Kansas. Two floors are utilized for the stock, 
the most of which is sold at retail, although some 
jobbing is done. His stock of hats is the largest 
in the city, and in stj'le and price the utmost sat- 
isfaction is given. In addition to the business 
here he is a director of the Atlas Building and 
Loan Association of Lawrence, which he assisted 
in incorporating. In politics he is a Republican. 
For two years he was a councilman from the 
third ward. He is a member of Lawrence Lodge 
No. 6, A. F. & A. M., and Lawrence Chapter 
No. 4, R. A. M. 

In Trenton, 111., Mr. Bromelsick married Miss 
Louisa Eisenraayer, who was born in Mascou- 
tah, St. Clair County, 111., daughter of an early 
settler of Illinois who is now president of the Eis- 
enmayer Milling Company. She received a good 
education and is a graduate of the Illinois Female 
College at Jacksonville, 111. In religion she is 
identified with the First Methodist Episcopal 
Church. Mr. and Mrs. Bromelsick have two 
sons, Walter and Alfred. Their older son is a 
graduate of the high school and is now connected 
with the mill in Springfield, Mo. 



HEODORE H. RUEDIGER, deceased, who 
vi'as one of the highly esteemed citizens of 
Wakarusa Township, Douglas County, con- 
ducted a farm on section 33, and was also identi- 
fied with mercantile interests in Lawrence. He 
was born in Germany September 6, 1841. When 
seven years of age he was brought by his parents 
to America, they settling on Staten Island. He 
was educated in Alfred University, New York 
City, under Dr. Kenyon, and took a business 
course in Rochester, N. Y. When the Civil war 
broke out he enlisted, but he was under his ma- 
jority and his mother refused to permit him to 
join the army. He then went to Germanj', where 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



399 



he traveled for his brothers who were engaged in 
the manufacturing business. After five years 
spent abroad he came again to the United States, 
this time engaging in business in Salina, Kans. , 
as a member of a drj'-goods firm. Later he was 
interested in farming with a brother in Osage 
County. About 1868 he came to Lawrence and 
formed a business partnership with Henry Rest- 
ing, which continued for some years. But the 
confinement was not congenial to one of his na- 
ture, and, selling out, in 1885 he came to the 
farm in Wakarusa Township where his widow 
now resides, and in which he had previously be- 
come interested. While in Lawrence he was con- 
nected with the Watkins Loan Company, in 
which he held a responsible position. Upon com- 
ing to the farm, which is situated four miles west 
of Lawrence, he devoted his time to raising 
stock. 

Mr. Ruediger was one of the originators of 
the Douglas County creamery, in which he served 
as a director and for two years was president. 
On his farm he had a number of Holstein and 
Jersey cows, and he engaged quite extensively in ■ 
dairying. When horses were of more value than 
now he did considerable in that business. He 
was a progressive farmer, using sensible methods 
in all of his work. The grain raised on his place 
he used almost wholly for feeding his stock, 
seldom selling any. In addition to the two hun- 
dred and forty acres in his home place he had 
charge of one hundred and sixty acres belonging 
to his wife's brother. All of the improvements on 
his place were made under his immediate super- 
vision. He built a fine residence on the side of 
the hill and named it "Grand View," which 
name the beautiful prospect rendered very ap- 
propriate. 

Prior to the Greeley presidential campaign Mr. 
Ruediger was a Republican, but afterward he 
affiliated usually with the Democrats, although 
inclined to be independent in his views. He 
steadfastly refused to enter the field of politics, 
and although urged to become a candidate for 
state treasurer, he declined the honor. He was 
not a member of any church, although he fre- 
quently worshiped with the Congregationalists. 



During the early part of his life he was secretary 
and treasurer of the Melville Mining Company, 
which owns property at Silverton, Colo. So- 
cially he was highly esteemed, yet he cared little 
for fashionable entertainments, his tastes being 
toward home life and domestic enjoyment, and 
his home was an ideal one, in which each mem- 
ber of the family sought to promote the other's 
happiness. 

October 10, iSyi.Mr. Ruediger married Bertha, 
daughter of August Poehler, of Lawrence. They 
had three children: Alfred Poehler, a graduate 
of the University of Kansas, now engaged in the 
drug business in Lawrence; Paul Theodore, who 
manages the home farm; and Aimee Marie, who 
is a student in the University of Kansas. Mrs. 
Ruediger was born in Boston, Mass., and re- 
ceived an excellent education, both in German 
and English. Her father was an early settler 
of Lawrence and is now in Germany. He was 
born in Detmold, Germany, and at twenty-one 
years of age came to America, settling in Boston, 
where he was connected with the firm of Chicker- 
ing & Co. About 1 854 he removed to Burlington, 
Iowa, where he engaged in business with his 
brother, Theodore. From there he and his brother 
came to Lawrence in 1864. 

On his home farm Mr. Ruediger died October 
27, 1898, after a long illness, caused by cancer of 
the stomach. He was laid to rest not far from 
the scenes so familiar to him and amid the sur- 
roundings that associations had rendered dear. 



I A FAYETTE MILLS, who came to Leaven- 
liL worth in January, 1853, was from that time 
LJ until his death intimately associated with 
the growth and development of the city, among 
whose citizens he held a high position as a man 
of integrity and worth. He was born in what is 
now Schuyler County, N. Y. , May 3, 1827, and 
was a son of Thomas and Elizabeth Bennett 
Mills, both natives of New York. His father was 
the son of George Mills, a Revolutionary soldier. 
He studied law in youth, and was admitted to the 
bar in New York, where he engaged in practice. 
Later in life he removed to St. Joseph, Mo., of 



400 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



which city he was the first mayor. He settled on 
a claim of one hundred and sixty acres where the 
Patee house now stands. In 1852 he went to 
California, but returned a few years later and 
died in Leavenworth. 

The subject of this sketch was next to the 
youngest of eight children. When his mother 
died he was taken to the home of his grandfather, 
George Mills, who was a pioneer of New York, 
and came to the Seneca Lake v-alley from Penn- 
sylvania when but two families resided there, lo- 
cating upon a portion of the L'Hommidieu 
Patent, on the eastern bank of Catharine Creek. 
Here in his humble houseof logs, in 1797, he en- 
tertained the Duke of Orleans, who afterward 
became Louis Philippe of France. 

In his Indian bateau he navigated the waters 
of the Seneca long before a sloop or schooner had 
rested upon its surface. He was one of the old- 
est Free Masons in the state, having become a 
member of that fraternity in 1800. This enter- 
prising and hardy pioneer was the first post- 
master in that region. The receipts of the first 
quarter were thirty-seven and a-half cents, of 
which the general government received one-half 

Mr. Mills was married May 26, 1847, to Cath- 
arine, daughter of Phineas and Catharine Casper 
Mills, of New York. Her great-grandfather, 
John Casper, was a native of the Kingdom of 
Saxony. He emigrated to America in 1745, and 
fought in the Revolution. His son, David, the 
grandfather of Catharine Mills, fought in the war 
of 1812, and was wounded. The Casper and 
Mills families were both of Holland-Dutch de- 
scent, the name of Mills being originally Von 
Mehl. Both families have been intensely loyal 
to their adopted land. David Casper, who served 
in the war of 18 12, was repre.sented in the Civil 
war by one son (who was also in the Mexican 
war) and twenty grand-sons and grand-sons-in- 
law. 

Mr. Mills finst settled in Lake County, 111., 
where he remained three years. From there he 
went to St. Joseph, Mo., and in January, 1853, 
went to Fort Leavenworth as clerk in the pay- 
master's department. Later he was transferred 
to the quartermaster's department as chief clerk, 



holding that position until the close of the Civil 
war. In 1857 he built a house on Shawnee and 
Thirteenth streets, which was the first house in 
that part of the city. There he remained until his 
death, which occurred October i, 1873. Politic- 
ally he was a Union Democrat, and fraternally 
was a Knight Templar and Scottish Rite Mason, 
having attained the thirty-second degree. 

Mr. and Mrs. Mills have had three children, 
Virginia, Katie and Fayette Maclin, of whom 
the first named is the sole survivor. She was 
married in 1881 to Captain Frank H. Mills, 
U. S. A., of the Twenty-fourth Infantry, which 
won such fame during the Santiago campaign. 
Captain Mills was retired a few years since on 
account of disability. He was the son of Surgeon 
Madison Mills, U. S. A., who served over forty 
years, and died at Governor's Island in 1873. 
Captain Mills died July 29, 1899. Besides his 
son. Dr. Mills has had two sons-in-law and four 
grandsons in the armj'. 

Mrs. Mills is an Episcopalian; at an early day, 
in conjunction with two others, she assisted in 
starting a mission, which has grown to be a large 
church (St. Paul's). Of the three original mem- 
bers she alone survives. Among the people of 
Leavenworth, where for .so long a time she has 
made her home, she has a host of warm friends. 



CVSAIAH N. BARLEY, who is a farmer in 
I Grant Township, Douglas County, was born 
X, in Champaign County, Ohio, near Urbana, 
in 1840, a son of George and Julia (Spigman) 
Barley, who were born, reared and married in 
Virginia. His grandfather, John Barley, also a 
native of the Old Dominion, followed agricultural 
pursuits there, owning a large tract of land. Of 
his children, the third, George, received a pub- 
lic-school education and at the age of about twen- 
ty-six settled in Ohio, where he improved land 
and carried on farm pursuits. At the same time 
he was also interested in stock-raising. Upon 
the Democratic ticket he was elected to a number 
of offices in his township. When he went to 
Champaign County he and his wife brought with 
them the first cradle ever taken into that county. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



401 



They were the parents of four sons and three 
daughters, of whom two sons are the only mem- 
bers of the family in Kansas. 

Remaining with his father on the home farm 
until twenty-four years of age, Mr. Barley then 
enlisted in Company F, One Hundred and Thir- 
ty-fourth Ohio Infantry. He was at once sent 
to the front and stationed in front of Petersburg 
and Appomattox. At the close of the war he 
was mustered out in Columbus, Ohio. After a 
short stop in Illinois he came to Kansas in 1865. 
Here he farmed and freighted until 1870, when 
he bought his present farm. The land had been 
but slightly broken and he at once set about its 
improvement. In 1884 he erected the residence 
he has since occupied. He has engaged in rais- 
ing corn, wheat and potatoes, making a specialty 
of the latter. About 18S1 he became interested 
in raising horses. Three years later he bought 
an imported stallion and two imported mares, 
since which time he has raised a number of full 
bred horses. 

As a member of the Republican party Mr. 
Barley has been active in local politics, and he 
usually attends the county conventions of his 
party. Several times he has been elected to 
township offices, and for years he has been a 
member of the school board. In 1870 he married 
Miss Mary Gaskell, who was born in New Jer- 
sey, but at the time of their marriage was living 
in Kansas. They have an only son, Charles E. , 
in whose education they have been deeply inter- 
ested, being desirous to fit him for the responsi- 
bilities of life. He is now a student in Went- 
worth Military Academy. 



qJEORGE H. DAVIS, superintendent of the 

a Great Western Manufacturing Company, is 
one of Leavenworth's most progressive citi- 
zens. Intensely interested in all that pertains to 
the development of the town, he is especially 
alive to the importance of a thorough and mod- 
ern educational system; and, while he has re- 
fused other public offices, he has given much 
time and thought to his work upon the board of 
education. He believes that by giving to the 



children elevating educational influences and en- 
vironments they will be prepared for even the 
highest spheres of activity, and will be made 
honest, capable and public-spirited citizens. 

A member of the school board for ten years, 
during six years of that time Mr. Davis has been 
its president. He has been instrumental in in- 
troducing many improvements in the schools and 
has aided in the improvements (to the amount of 
$50,000) that have been made during his time of 
service. He originated a plan for keeping a sys- 
tematic account, in brief form, of every item of 
expense, and issues an annual report, showing 
how the money has been expended, also present- 
ing statistics regarding the attendance upon the 
schools, cost of supplies, collections, etc. During 
1898 there was an average daily attendance, at 
the eleven city schools, of almost three thousand, 
the largest attendance ever recorded during any 
year of the city's history. By an increase of ac- 
commodations and teachers, the average number 
of pupils in each room had been reduced to thir- 
ty-eight from forty-four the previous year; and 
the valuation of school property had been raised 
from $84,000 to $94,000, while the valuation of 
furniture was more than $16,000. 

Mr. Davis is of eastern birth and parentage. 
His grandfather, James Davis, who was of Welsh 
descent, was born in Farmington, N. H., and en- 
gaged in farming and stock-raising there. The 
family was founded in America soon after the ar- 
rival of the "Mayflower." The grandfather's 
death occurred in Beverly, Mass., at seventy-nine 
years. His son, James P., was born in Dover, 
N. H., and was an own cousin of Governor Frank 
Davis of Massachusetts. He became a pork packer 
and stock dealer at Farmington and Dover, and 
later in Cambridge and Beverly, Mass. In 1847 he 
settled in Alton, 111., where he was superinten- 
dent of a packing house until his death, 1858. 
He married Elizabeth W. Webber, who was 
born in Beverly, Mass., the daughter of John P. 
Webber, a farmer and stock-trader, also a manu- 
facturer of and dealer in cotton goods, and later 
a manufacturer of mustard; her mother was 
Desire Wellman, member of an old and promi- 
nent family of Massachusetts. Mrs. Elizabeth 



402 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Davis died in Massachusetts, December 2, 1898. 
Of her seven children all but two are living, our 
subject being the oldest and the onlj- one in the 
west. One son, James E., who was a member 
of the One Hundred and Forty-fourth Illinois In- 
fantry during the Civil war, afterward died in 
Illinois. 

In Cambridge, Mass., where he was born 
April 16, 1838, the subject of this sketch received 
,his primary education. Later he attended school 
in Beverly. In 1851 he joined his father in 
Alton, 111., where he attended .school during the 
spring and fall, and in winter worked in the pack- 
ing house. In 1855 he was apprenticed to the 
machinist's trade in a foundry in Alton, where 
were manufactured engines and saw-mill ma- 
chinery. After three years he completed his 
trade. Afterward he worked with his father in 
the pork-packing business and when his father 
died he became superintendent of the packing 
house, continuing in the position until he came 
west in February, i86o. In 1859 his mother 
and the other children had returned east, and in 
the summer he joined them in Massachusetts, 
and for a short time worked in George Fox's 
shops in Boston, but soon returned to Alton. 

On coming to Leavenworth Mr. Davis secured 
employment in the Great Western shops. Aftfr 
one month he was made foreman. While his 
time was principally given to his work he was 
also active in the various movements resulting in 
the Civil war. In i860 a mob attempted to hang 
a murderer; the sheriff appealed to Mr. Davis for 
assistance to prevent the mob from capturing the 
man, and Mr. Davis with a few others saved the 
man's life, but later the .same man was condemned 
to death and hanged in Denver. After a short 
time in Leavenworth Mr. Davis went back to 
Alton and resumed his former position as super- 
intendent. In the spring of 1861 he became su- 
perintendent of bridges for the Chicago & Alton 
Railroad. In the fall of the same year he went 
to Springfield, as superintendent of James 
Lamb's packing house. In the spring of 1862 he 
engaged at his trade in Litchfield, 111., for the 
Terre Haute Railroad. After three months he 
returned to Alton, where he was superintendent 



of Walker's packing house. December 14, 1862, 
in Alton, he married Annie S., daughter of An- 
drew Mather, a native of Scotland and an early 
settler of Alton, where she was born. The two 
children born of this union, James A. and George 
H., Jr., died in infancy. 

From the spring until the fall of 1863 Mr. 
Davis was in the employ of the Patterson Iron 
Works Company of Alton, after which he was 
superintendent of Wetherbee's packing house. 
Upon the death of Mr. Wetherbee he went east 
for a short time, and on his return became con- 
nected with John Smith's pork-packing establish- 
ment in Alton, but failing health forced him to 
resign. Afterward he was assistant foreman in 
a machine shop, of which, in 1866, he became a 
part owner, contiiuiing until the .spring of 1S68, 
when the firm of Dumford & Davis was dissolved. 
He then again came to Leavenworth, where he 
was foreman of the Great Western Manufactur- 
ing Company until 1873 and since then has been 
superintendent of the works. 

In Alton in 1859 Mr. Davis w'as made an Odd 
Fellow. He is now a past officer in Mechanics 
Lodge No. 89, and its representative in the grand 
lodge. He has also been connected with the en- 
campment, and in former j^ears was a member of 
the Knights of Honor. He is now first chief 
patriarch in the Modern Woodmen of America. 
In national politics he is a Democrat, but in local 
matters is liberal, believing in the best man for 
the place, irrespective of political affiliations. 
With his wife, he holds membership in the First 
Presbyterian Church of Leavenworth. 



■ DWIN T. REES, grand scribe of the Grand 
'S Encampment of Kansas, is one of the most 

. prominent members of the Independent Or- 
der of Odd Fellows in the state. His connection 
with this order began in 1875, when he was made 
a member of Metropolitan Lodge No. 27, in which 
he afterward served as noble grand, and which 
he represented in the grand lodge. Later he be- 
came identified with Far West Encampment No. 
I , in which he passed all of the chairs and was 
chosen grand scribe in 1891. In 1893 he was 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



403 



appointed grand representative to the Sovereign 
Grand Lodge held in Milwaukee, Wis. He is a 
charter member of Canton Leavenworth, in which 
he has held various official positions and is now 
clerk. In 1866 the headquarters of the Grand 
Encampment of Kansas were established in Leav- 
enworth and Samuel F. Burdette was chosen 
grand scribe, a position which he filled continu- 
ously until 1 89 1, when he was succeeded by Mr. 
Rees, the present incumbent. 

The home of Mr. Rees is in Leavenworth, of 
which city his father, Amos, was one of the earli- 
est settlers. The latter, a native of Kentucky, 
removed from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Missouri in 
boyhood with his parents, the family home being 
established in Chariton County, where he studied 
law and was admitted to the bar. Afterward he 
engaged in practice and for a number of years 
served as prosecuting attorney for a district that 
included all of northwestern Missouri. For some 
years his home was in Platte City. He was one 
of the thirty-two men who laid out the city of 
Leavenworth. In 1855 he established his home 
in this place and built a residence on South Sec- 
ond street. From that time he was extensively 
and successfully engaged in the practice of law. 
He was born December 2, 1800, and died in 1886, 
when about eighty-six years of age. Fraternally 
he was a Mason. His wife, Judith C. (Trigg) 
Rees, was born in 1809 and died in March, 1895, 
at the age of eighty-five. They were the parents 
of four children, namely: Sarah E., who died in 
Leavenworth, in March, 1895; Lewis T. , a trav- 
eling salesman whose home is in Leavenworth; 
Mary M. and Edwin T. 

The subject of this sketch was born in Platte 
City, Mo., Augusts, 1852. His education was 
obtained in the grammar and high schools of 
Leavenworth. The first knowledge of business 
that he obtained was when employed as clerk for 
Lewis Mayo of this city, and later he was em- 
ployed by other business men here. For some 
years he carried on a coal business of his own, 
continuing thus engaged until he was elected 
grand scribe in 189 1. Since then his attention 
has been given closely to the duties of his office, 
and he has been very successful in the work to 



which he now devotes himself Besides his con- 
nection with the Odd Fellows, he is also identi- 
fied with the Muscovites at Topeka. In matters 
political he gives his support to the Democratic 
party. 

EHARLES HOWARD RIDGWAY. It is 
doubtful if Ottawa has any citizen who of 
recent years has done more to promote its 
material progress than the subject of this article. 
Since he came here in 1889 he has not limited 
his attention to his chosen occupation, the insur- 
ance business, but has been identified with local 
enterprises of various kinds and has been especial- 
ly helpful in advancing measures for the benefit 
of the city. He acted as manager of the old 
Auditorium and assisted in securing the funds 
for the building of the Rohrbaugh, which he 
opened and managed until the pressure of other 
interests necessitated his resignation. Realizing 
the need of an organization among the business 
men of Ottawa, he took an active part in start- 
ing the Commercial Club and has since been one 
of its leading members. An idea of his energy 
may be gained from the statement that the two 
largest and finest Fourth of July celebrations 
ever held in Ottawa were under his auspices. He 
also became interested in the Franklin County 
fair, which had run down and was burdened with 
a heavy debt. During the seven years that he 
served as secretary of the association a fair was 
held each year, premiums and all expenses were 
paid, and a large indebtedness was also wiped 
out. As an insurance agent he built up one of 
the largest local agencies in the west, having his 
office at No. 232 Main street, where he repre- 
sented ten of the old-line fire insurance compa- 
nies. February 9, 1899, the state insurance com- 
missioner, Mr. Church, appointed him assistant 
insurance commissioner, and he sold his local in- 
surance business in order to take active charge 
of his office. In this position he has one hun- 
dred and twenty-five companies under his su- 
pervision. His work entails great responsibility, 
but he is fully equal to every emergency, and has 
won merited praise for his wise management of 
affairs. 



464 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Mr. Ridgway was born in Ripley, Brown 
County, Ohio, August 17, 1865. Hi.s father, Alex- 
ander McClain Ridgway, also a native of Ripley, 
was a son of Charles Ridgway, who was born 
near Philadelphia, a descendant of one of two 
brothers, Jacob and Amos Ridgway, who came 
from Switzerland to Philadelphia. Charles be- 
came a pioneer in the pork packing industry on 
the Ohio River and for 3-ears had flatboats run- 
ning as far south as New Orleans. He attained 
remarkable success and was one of the wealthi- 
est men of Ripley. A man of versatile ability, 
he worked as merchant, cooper, manufacturer 
and farmer. The citizens of Maysville, K)'., 
offered him a large bonus if he would bring his 
plant to their town. He was a prominent busi- 
ness man and was known all along the river. 
Fraternally he was a Mason. He was very active 
in the founding of Antioch College, and built a 
church at Ripley, besides doing other philan- 
thropic and religious work. 

Alexander McClain Ridgway became superin- 
tendent of his father's mercantile establishment 
in Ripley. He was accustomed, at an earlj- age, 
to go acro.ss the mountains to Philadelphia and 
from there ship trunks full of merchandise to 
Ohio. He graduated from Antioch under Prof. 
Horace Mann as A. B., then entered Yale, 
where he remained until the outbreak of the 
Civil war. June 18, 1861, at the age of twenty- 
five years, he enlisted as second lieutenant of 
Company C, Twelfth Ohio Infantry, but soon 
was made first lieutenant of Company C, Thir- 
teenth Regiment, under Colonel Lowe. He was 
seriously wounded at Carnifax Ferry and was 
brought back to Ripley on the .steamer "Marj- 
Cook." Upon being mustered out he gave his 
attention to the shoe business in Cincinnati, 
where he died February 10, 1868, from the ef- 
fects of his wound. He married Mary Maxwell 
Gaddis, who was born in Ripley, Ohio, a daugh- 
ter of David and Jane (Eastou) Gaddis, natives 
respectively of Pennsylvania and England. Her 
father, who was of Scotch-Irish descent, was a 
contractor and builder in Ripley, where he died 
at the age of eighty years. He was a devoted 
Methodist and helped to build the church of this 



denomination in Ripley. He had a brother, John, 
in the war of 1812. Mrs. Ridgway was given a 
fine musical education and studied both in Cin- 
cinnati and Philadelphia. For ten years she was 
a teacher of vocal music in the Cincinnati con- 
servatory of music. She now resides in Ottawa 
with her only child, the subject of this sketch. 

When only fifteen years of age our subject had 
charge of a mercantile establishment. Two 
years later he entered Antioch College and there 
he occupied the room which had been his father's 
twenty-five j-ears before, and the name of "Alex. 
Ridgway" was still to be found on the door, 
where it had been cut by a hand long since stilled 
in death. After two years in college our subject 
in 1884 came to Kansas and entered Baker Uni- 
versity, working his way through that institu- 
tion. He spent a year in South Dakota, then re- 
turned to the university. For a time he was em- 
ployed as traveling salesman for the wholesale 
house of G. E. Weikert & Co., stationers. On 
resigning that position he opened an insurance 
agency in Ottawa. He was married in Baldwin 
City to Susie E. Schnebly, who was born in 
Gla.sgow, Mo., and received her education at 
Baker University. They are the parents of two 
children, Wayne and Helen. Fraternallj- Mr. 
Ridgway is past officer both in the lodge and en- 
campment of Odd Fellows. 



(TOSEPH G. SCHNEBLY, M. D., decea.sed, 
I was born on a farm near Xenia, Greene 
Q) County, Ohio. After completing his edu- 
cation in the Delaware (Ohio) University he 
taught school, being for several years principal 
of the Franklin .school in St. Louis, Mo., where 
he had twenty-three teachers inider him. At the 
same time he began the study of medicine. He 
attended the old Pope Medical Institute of St. 
Louis, and afterward took a course of lectures 
in the Keokuk (Iowa) Medical College, where 
he graduated in 1866. Before Kansas had been 
covered with a net work of railroads as at pres- 
ent, he came to this state, and journe3'ed by 
stage from Topeka to Manhattan, where he be- 
came a professor in the Kansas Agricultural 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



405 



College. After some years in that institution 
he removed to Baldwin and accepted a position 
as professor of mathematics and chemistry in 
Baker University, then a new and small insti- 
tution. 

Some years later Dr. Schnebly purchased a 
drug store in Baldwin, and while managing the 
business he also practiced medicine. His last 
years were spent in retirement, and he died in 
Baldwin April 25, 1895. Fraternally he was 
connected with the blue lodge of Masons. He 
raised and organized a company for service in the 
Civil war, but, not being strong enough to enter 
the service himself, he was obliged to turn the 
command over to another. In politics he was a 
Republican. In iSSi he was elected to the state 
legislature and in 1883 was re-elected. 



nOSEPH S. BOUGHTON, who has long been 
I numbered among the progressive citizens of 
(2/ Lawrence, is the member of an old Connecti- 
cut family. The genealogy of the family in this 
country is traced back to the early settlement of 
New England, His grandfather, John Bough- 
ton, who served in the war of 1812, joined the 
tide of emigration that had started toward the 
west and, crossing the Hudson, he established 
his home upon a farm in Cayuga County, N. Y. 
The father, Rev. A. Boughton, was born and 
reared in Cayuga County, and became a pioneer 
Baptist minister in that part of the state, where 
he preached for about forty years. He died at 
Moravia when seveuty-twoyearsofage. His wife, 
Hannah, was a member of the Squires family, 
well known among early settlers along the Hud- 
son River, and of Holland- Dutch and Scotch 
descent. She was the daughter of a soldier in 
the war of 181 2. At this writing she makes her 
home with her daughter in Lawrence, besides 
whom she has three children, her other son, 
George, being in a New York regiment during 
the Civil war. 

Born in Oswego, N. Y. , March 2, 1839, the 
subject of this sketch was reared in Cayuga 
County, and attended Cortland Academy. At 
the age of seventeen he began to teach. In 



i860 he went to Pipestone, Berrien County, 
Mich., where he engaged in teaching for a year. 
In August, 1 86 1, he enlisted in Company B, 
Sixth Michigan Infantry, being mustered in as 
corporal at Kalamazoo. He was sent to Balti- 
more and joined the Butler expedition to New 
Orleans, after which, during the summer of 1862, 
he was in that city and on the Mississippi. The 
only important engagement in which he took 
part was the battle of Baton Rouge. In October, 
1862, he was honorably discharged at New 
Orleans on account of physical disability. Re- 
turning to Moravia, N. Y., as soon as able he 
secured a clerkship in the quartermaster's de- 
partment, and was with Sherman's army from 
Chattanooga to Atlanta, and was discharged at 
Nashville in the fall of 1864. At once became 
to Lawrence, joining a sister, Mrs. Paul R. 
Brooks, who had come here in the early settle- 
ment of the town with a half-sister, Mrs. Clark. 

Shortly after he came to Lawrence Mr. Bough- 
ton selected and purchased a number of books 
and started a circulating library. The move- 
ment proved so successful and popular that it be- 
came the foundation of and was merged into the 
Lawrence city library, which is owned and sup- 
ported by the city and is a permanent institution. 
For his connection with a movement so elevat- 
ing he deserves great praise. For two years he 
published the Kaw Valley Courier, a weekly Re- 
publican paper, which he sold to John Speer, 
editor of the Tribune. Afterward he traveled 
for the Tribune, securing subscriptions and acting 
as correspondent to the paper. In 1878 he began 
the printing of legal blanks and blank books for 
the use of banks, real-estate agents, attorneys, 
city and township officers, etc. During the years 
that have since followed he has built up a large 
and valuable business and has become known 
through the entire state, from all points of which 
he receives orders. Besides keeping in stock every 
kind of legal blank and blank book, he carries 
office stationery, and is prepared to furnish circu- 
lars of every kind. His office is at No. 639 Massa- 
chusetts street. 

In Lawrence Mr. Boughton married Miss 
Elizabeth Gill, who was born in England, and in 



4o6 



PORTR-\IT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



in&mcy was brought by her parents to the United 
States, they settling first in WLsomsin, but snb- 
seqnently coming to Kansas. The foor childreu 
of Mr. and Mrs. Boaghton are: Arthur C. who 
is in the genoal office of Swift & Co., Chicago; 
Paul G.. who is with the Hall Lithographing 
Company in Topeka; Gertrude H., a student in 
the University of Kansas: and Sydney A., who 
is in business with his &ther. 

Fraternally Mr. Boaghton is connected with 
WashingtcMi Post No. 12, G. A. R., in region 
he is identified with the Methodist Episcopal 
ChoTcfa, and in politics is a RepaUican. He is a 
member of the Select Friends Order and is the 
editor and pablisher of the Sflett Friend Maga- 
simf, the official (vgan of the &ateTnit3-. 



EAPT. HENRY B. DICKS, of Leavenworth, 
was bom in St. Loois, Mo., April 4. 1S43. ^ 
son of John R. and Mary 'Harmon) Dicks, 
natives respectivdy oS Virginia and Peimsylva- 
nia. His father, who was reared on a &rm, went 
to Philaddidiia and kamed the tailor's trade. 
From there he proceeded to St. Loois, where for 
many years he engaged in merchant tailoring, 
and met with fair success in his work. He was 
a man of genial di^tosition, kind-hearted and 
geDeroos, and had many friends in St. Louis. 
His death occnrred in that dty when be was fifty- 
five. His wife passed away when sixty -two years 
of age. Of their five children, three sons are 
now living, two of whom, Samn^ W. and William 
L., reside in St. Louis, the latter being connected 
with William Barr's dry-goods house. Another 
son, George W., who was foreman of a cracker fac- 
tory in Leavenworth for eleven years, died here 
when forty-seven years of age. Ellen, the cmly 
dangbter, married Harry O. Gorman, of St. Paul, 
and died at thirty-five years of age. 

The second of the sons was Henry B., onr 
sobject. He was educated in pnblic and Catho- 
lic schools in St. Loois. In ApriL 1S61, he en- 
listed in Company C of the Dixie gnaid. A 
mooth later he was captnred at Camp Jadcsoo 
and in October was paroled, going to Memphis, 
Tenn., where be joined a battery. ]2. Next be 



went to Springfield, Mo., and soon afterward 
took part in the battle of Elkhom. Returning 
to Memphis with his company, he remained in 
Tennessee for some time, and took part in the 
battle of Corinth. He held the rank of sergeant 
of his company. At Brook Haven, Miss., he 
was captured, but was at once paroled and went 
to Jackson, thence to Lauderdale, Miss. , where 
for several months he was on guard duty in a 
hospital. Returning to his command, he spent 
a short time with it, later went back to Lauder- 
dale, thence proceeded to Enterprise, where he 
clerked for the provost-marshal for six months. 
He was then detailed with the lieutenant of his 
company, who was provost -marshal. 

.\t the close of the war Captain Dicks went to 
New Orleans, and a week later returned to his 
home in St. Louis. For two years he clerked in 
a fish store on Olive street, after which he col- 
lected for large stores for several years. His 
next enterprise was in the tobacco business, buy- 
ing crops and selling the same to the manufac- 
turers. Three years were spent in that business. 
When Granite Mountain mining stock was low 
in St. Louis he invested heavily, and the subse- 
qoent rise in prices brought him a fortune. Since 
then he has invested his money in loans and 
property and has devoted himself to the manage- 
ment of his interests, engaging in no active busi- 
ness. In 1897, in company with Mr. Edison, 
Mr. Hunt and M. B. Dono\-an. he purchased the 
Excdsior Springs hotel property, at Excelsior 
Springs, Mo., and just before the fire he sold his 
interests there. 

While in St. Louis he married Miss Catherine 
Breiman, who died in Leavenworth. Of the 
three children hora to their union, Lillian died 
when sixteen and William O. when twenty-five 
years of age. Anita, the youngest of the three, 
makes her home with her aunt in Leavenworth . 
Captain Dicks occupying rooms in the Ryan 
block. For several years he was a notary public 
in St. Loois. 

While he is a stanch Democrat, he never 
SDOght office nor has he any taste for party af- 
fairs, although he is always willing to help his 
friends who are candidates for office. Fraternally 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



407 



he is connected with the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen. While he is not engaged in busi- 
ness, he finds sufficient to occupy his atten- 
tion in the oversight of his moneyed interests. 
He is fond of sports, especially of fishing, 
and was one of the princif>al movers in the 
organization of the Leavenworth Anglers' Asso- 
ciation. His health, however, being far from 
good, he is unable to devote as much time to 
active sports as he would enjoy, but he has not in 
consequence lost his interest in them. He is a 
kind-hearted man, and many poor persons have 
been the recipients of his help and practical 
sj-mpathy. 



WILLIAM W. BROWN, who has made his 
home in Douglas County since boyhood, 
was bom in Mount Pleasant, Ind., Octo- 
ber 19, 1S44, a son of John and Magdalen (Rapp) 
Brown. He was one of seven children, five of 
whom are living, nameW: CaroUne, John C, 
William W., Joseph A. and Mar\- L. His father, 
a native of Baden-Baden, Germany, bom in iSoS, 
learned the trade of a tailor in youth and after- 
ward came to America, arriving in this country 
after a voyage of three months. He spent some 
time in looking for a suitable location. After his 
marriage, which took place in Cincinnati, Ohio, 
he settled in Mount Pleasant, Ind., where he es- 
tablished a tailoring business and buUt up a lu- 
crative trade. In 1S54, leaving his family in 
that town, he took a trip through Nebraska. Mis- 
souri and Iowa, seeking a new location, and 
finally selected a place in Iowa, where he bought 
some town lots. Returning to Indiana, in the 
fall of 1S55 he started with his family for Iowa, 
going via St. Joseph, Mo. In that city he was 
comi)elled to remain for the winter, and while 
waiting for spring he and his son-in-law, Mr. 
Munzer, oi)ened a tailoring establishment. When 
spring came he abandoned his intention of set- 
tling in Iowa. In the spring of 1S57 he came to 
Kansas, settling in Lecompton, where he and 
his son-in-law opened a clothing store and mer- 
chant tailoring establishment. In 1859 he pur- 
chased a farm four miles southwest of Lecompton 



and two years later disposed of his business and 
removed to his farm, where he continued to re- 
side until his death, in 1876. 

The first experience of our subject in farm 
work was in i860. During the CivU war, in 
1863, he enlisted in Company D, Fifteenth Kan- 
sas Cavalry, and immediately afterward was sent 
on detached dutj- to St. Joe, Mo. , where he was 
engaged first in picket duty, and afterward de- 
tailed on scout dut\-. This occupied his time 
during the greater p>art of 1864. He was mus- 
tered out of the service at Leavenworth, October 
19, 1865. Returning home after his discharge 
he continued on the farm for eighteen months, 
when he purchased eighty acres adjoining the 
homestead. At a later date he purchased an- 
other eighty, and now owns one hundred and 
sixty. While he carries on general farming, he 
has given much of his attention to stock-raising, 
and has become known as one of the substantial 
agriculturists of the count%-. Although not a 
partisan he is a stanch Republican. His wife is 
connected with the United Brethren Church, and 
whUe he is not identified with it or anj- other de- 
nomination he is in sympathy with Christian 
work and has been a generous contributor to 
worthy causes. 

December 15, 1870, Mr. Brown married Miss 
Elizabeth Shirley, daughter of Isaac Shirley, a 
native of Missouri. Her father came to Kansas 
in 1855 and settled near Lecompton upon a farm, 
where he remained until his death. Three chil- 
dren were bom to the union of Mr. and Mrs. 
Brown. Of these two are living, namely: Charles 
F., who was bom March 24, 1S79: and Beulah 
G., March 10, 1S91. 



0ILAS BENTLEY MEEKER. Franklin 
?\ County is the home of many men who were 
\^ J early thrown upon their own resources and 
whose natural aptness was developed by contact 
with the world, resulting in making them more 
successful perhaps than they would have been 
had they been reared in wealth. Among this 
number is Mr. Meeker, who has resided in Kan- 
sas since 1870, having settled in Ottawa during 



4oS 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



that year. After twelve years in this city en- 
gaged in following the trade of a carriage painter 
and trimmer he purchased an eighty-acre farm 
in Ohio Township, where he has since resided. 
He is now the owner of three hundred and sixty 
acres in one body, and gives his attention princi- 
pally to buying and feeding cattle. 

In Livingston Township, Essex County, 
N. J., Mr. Meeker was born July 14, 1836. His 
father, Abijah, who was born in Essex County 
in 1802, resided on a farm until 1854, when he 
removed to Newark, N. J., and embarked in the 
grocery business. As a business man he was 
fairly successful. A Whig in early life, he was 
later identified with the Democratic party, and 
held various ofiBces, such as member of the town- 
ship committee, etc. In religion he was a Bap- 
tist. His death occurred in Newark when he 
was fifty-three years of age. His father, Jeph- 
tha, a native of the same county and a lifelong 
farmer, was a son of one of tlie eleven sons 
of Timothy Meeker, Sr. It is a remarkable 
fact that all of these sons, together with their 
father, served in the Revolutionary war, the 
father of Jephtha, Timothy, Jr., being a minute 
man, while his father was a sergeant and served 
during the entire war. All were natives of New 
Jersey. Our subject's mother, Julia (Wade) 
Meeker, was born in New York City, but .spent 
almost her whole life in Essex County, N. J., 
and died in Kansas when eighty-two years of 
age. Of her five children, two are living, Silas 
B. and Jennie, wife of Prof M. L. Ward, of 
Ottawa, Kans. 

When seventeen years of age our subject was 
apprenticed to the trade of a carriage trinnner in 
Newark, N. J., and at the expiration of his 
time (four years) he began working at his trade 
in Newark and Warren County, N. J. Later he 
engaged in the carriage business in Franklin, 
N. Y., for eight years, but sold out in 1870, 
having decided to settle in Kansas. In politics 
he is a Republican, but always refuses to accept 
nomination for office. During his residence in 
New Jersey he married Miss Eliza Squier, of 
Essex County, who died in Franklin, N. Y. 
Five children had been born to their union, but 



two of these died in infancy. Julian L., the 
oldest of the three now living, is a farmer in 
Oklahoma. William S. al.so lives in that terri- 
tory. Grace R., who resides with her father, is 
a member of the Daughters of the Revolution, 
(Topeka Chapter) by virtue of seven ancestors 
who served in the Revolutionar}' war, the family 
having been one of the earliest and most promi- 
nent among the pioneers of New Jersej'. The 
second marriage of Mr. Meeker united him with 
Eniily J. Squier, a sister of his first wife. She 
died in June, i8gi, leaving two children, Roy S. 
and Jennie E. 

HENRY ANTHONY, who owns one of the 
good farms of Peoria Township, Franklin 
County, was born May 12, i860, on the 
place where he now resides, and is a son of John 
and Margaret (Hammel) Anthony. He had only 
such educational opportunities as the common 
schools of the neighborhood afforded. When 
twenty-two years of age he started out for him- 
self, renting and operating the homestead of six 
hundred and forty acres. He now has four hun- 
dred acres under cultivation, and raises corn and 
hay principally, but never sells any grain or feed, 
using it for his stock. He keeps on his place 
from one to two hundred and fifty head of Durham 
cattle and about three hundred head of Poland- Chi- 
na hogs. At this writing he is the owner of three 
hundred and sixty-seven acres, a part of the 
homestead, and a quarter-section of other land. 

Political matters have received considerable 
attention from Mr. Anthony, who is a stanch 
Democrat in national issues, but in local elections 
supports the men whom he considers best quali- 
fied to represent the people. He has served as a 
member of the .school board. Fraternally he is 
connected with Wellsville Lodge No. 356, A. F. 
& A. M., and Select Knights, A. O. U. W. A 
Baptist in religion, he was one of those who as- 
sisted largely in the building of the house of 
worship now occupied by this congregatioji, as 
well as the former edifice which was burned. 
His attention is given closely to the management 
of his farm. He is an energetic, hard-working 
man, and may usually be found working on his 




WILI.IAJI S. FINLF.Y. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



411 



land. The location of his place is excellent, be- 
ing on section 33, seven and one-half miles south 
of Wellsville and ten miles east of Ottawa. In 
1S96 he built a large crib and barn, 34x60 feet, 
which has room for two wagons to drive in side 
by side. 

The marriage of Mr. Anthony took place Jan- 
uary I, 1888, and united him with Mary O. 
Sumstine, of Franklin County. They are the 
parents of four children, Victoria Lynn, Lena 
Dell, Walter Clyde and Laura Gladys. 



pCJlLLlAM S. FINLEY, president of the 
I A/ Williamsburg State Bank, is one of the 
V Y best-known men in Franklin County, 
among whose citizens he wields an influence that 
is apparent in the promotion of helpful enter- 
prises. He is recognized as a man of progressive 
plans, who is interested in education and every 
good work, and who, in the line of financiering, 
exhibits a keenness of perception and an accurate 
judgment that proves him to be adapted to the 
banking business. 

A son of James R. and Elizabeth (Feaster) 
Finley, the subject of this sketch was born in 
Crawford County, Pa., in 1831. He was edu- 
cated in common schools and in DufiPs Com- 
mercial College at Pittsburgh, Pa. , after which he 
was employed in clerical positions, and also, for 
two years, followed the carriage-maker's trade. 
In 1857 he went to Kewaunee, Wis., where he 
carried on a lumber business as a member of the 
firm of Kelly, Finley & Co., later Taylor, Finley 
& Co. For ten years he was one of the most 
active business men of Kewaunee. In 1867 he 
went to Fond du Lac, Wis., where for a short 
time he was interested in a drug bu.siness, but 
later became a member of the lumber firm of 
Hamilton, Finley & Co., remaining in the town 
for eleven years. 

Severing his connection with business interests 
in Wisconsin, in 1878 Mr. Finley came to Kansas 
and settled on a stock farm south of Ottawa, in 
Ohio Township, where he engaged in stock farm- 
ing for four years. In 1882 he sold the farm and 
came to Williamsburg, where he purchased the 
16 



private bank of Mr. Bartholow, and this he con- 
tinued as a private institution for sixteen j'cars. 
The Williamsburg State Bank was organized in 
1898, with him as president and his son, James 
R., as cashier, since which time the bank has en- 
joyed a steady growth in deposits. Besides the 
bank he is interested in the feed mill and elevator 
at Williamsburg, and is also the owner of farm- 
ing land and town property. 

While in Wisconsin Mr. Finley was a member 
of the state legislature in i860 and 1861, being 
elected on the Republican ticket. For one term 
he also served as treasurer of Kewaunee County. 
Since coming to Kansas he has been prominent in 
the Republican party in Franklin County. In 
1898 he was elected to represent the fifteenth dis- 
trict in the state legislature, and during his term 
in the lower house was a member of the com- 
mittee on banks and banking, also the committee 
on assessment and taxation. Both in Wisconsin 
and in Kansas he has attended state conventions 
of the Republican party. For fifteen years he 
has been a member of the school board. At the 
breaking out of the Civil war the governor of 
Wisconsin commissioned him draft commissioner 
for Kewaunee County and he completed the draft. 
Fraternally he is associated with the Knights of 
Honor. 

By his marriage, in 1851, to Miss Laura A. 
Swift, Mr. Finley has one son, James R., who 
was born in 1869. He received his education in 
local schools and is also a graduate of Sprague's 
Correspondence School of Law, at Detroit, Mich. 
Since completing his studies he has been asso- 
ciated with his father, and is filling the position of 
bank cashier with efficiency. He married Miss 
Mary Pearson, of Williamsburg, where they now 
reside. 



EHARLES F. W. DASSLER, attorney-at- 
law, of Leavenworth, is well known, not 
only in the city where he resides, but 
through the authorship of law works that are 
accepted authorities in the various matters of 
which thej' treat he has become known through- 
out the entire country, and is recognized as one 
of the most accurate law writers of the nineteenth 



412 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



century. The following list of his works proves 
that his life during the past quarter of a centurj' 
has been a busy and useful one, honorable and 
creditable to himself and helpful to his profession: 

1874. Dassler's Kansas Digest, 1 volume; publisher, 

W. J. Gilbert. 
187G. Dassler's Kansas Statutes, 2 volumes; publisher, 

\V. J. Gilbert. 
187!). Compiled Laws of Kansas, 1 volume (under act of 

legislature); publisher, W. J. Gilbert. 

1880. Dassler's Kansas Digest, 1 volume; publishers. 
Mills & Co. 

1881. Compiled Laws of Kansas, 1 volume; publishers, 
Geo. W. Crane & Co. 

1881. K.-insas Addendum, Green's Pleadingand Practice, 
1 volume; publisher, W. J. Gilbert. 

1881. Reprint of McCahon's R. and 1 Kansas R., with 
notes and additional cases, 1 volume; publishers, 
F. P. Baker & Sons. 

1882. Reprint of Vols. 2 and 3, Kansas Reports, with 
notes, 2 volumes; publishers. Mills & Co. 

1883. Reprint of Vol. 4, Kansas Reports, with notes, 1 
volume; publishers, Mills & Co. 

1883. Leavenworth City Ordinances, 1 volume; pub- 
lishers, Dassler & Sbafer. 

1884. Reprint Vols. 5, 6 and 7, Kansas Reports, with 
notes, 3 volumes; West Publishing Co. 

1885. Compiled Laws of Kansas, 1 volume; Geo. W. 
Crane & Co. 

1885. Reprint Vols. 8,9, 10 and 11, Kansas Reports, 
with notes, 4 volumes; West Publishing Co. 

1886. Reprint Vols. 12, 13, 14, 15, 21 and 22, Kansas 
Reports, with notes, G volumes; West Publishing 
Co. 

188G. Kansas Addendum, Green's Pleading and Prac- 
tice ('2d edition), 1 volume; Gilbert Book Co. 

1887. Reprint Vols. 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28 and 29 Kansas 
Reports, with notes, 7 volumes; West Publishing 
Co. 

1893. Kansas Form Book, 1 volume; Crane & Co. 

1894. Kansas Digest ( new volume 2), 1 volume; Crane 
&Co. 

1899. Compiled Laws of Kansas, 1 volume; Crane & Co. 

Mr. Dassler was born in St. Louis, Mo., April 
3, 1852, a son of John G. and Mary (Hintze) 
Dassler, natives of Germany and Lutherans in 
religion. They resided for years, and until their 
death, in St. Louis, where he engaged in the 
mercantile business. Of their five children now 
living Charles is the eldest and the only one in 
Kansas. It was in 1868 that he came to this 
state. At first he made Salina his home and was 
employed as a clerk there. With a desire to fit 



himself for the profession of law he returned to 
St. Louis and entered Washington University, 
from which he graduated in 1873 with the degree 
of LL. B. He was admitted to the Missouri bar, 
but at once came to Leavenworth, and in July of 
the same year was admitted to the barof Kansas. 
Since then he has given his attention to the gen- 
eral practice of his profession and to the compila- 
tion and editing of the various law books with 
which his name is identified. He was married 
in this city to Miss Lee L. Marsh, who was born 
in Ohio and bj- whom he has a son, John Carl. 

In politics Mr. Dassler is a Democrat. He has 
twice been elected city attorney, which po.sition 
he filled creditably. For four years he repre- 
sented the second ward in the citj' council, of 
which he was president during two years of the 
time. In 1880 he was his party's candidate for 
the state senate, and, notwithstanding the fact 
that this district was largely Republican, he was 
defeated by less than thirty votes. 



"HOMAS J. HINES. From the close of the 
Civil war until his death, Mr. Hines was 
identified with the business and agricult- 
ural interests of Leavenworth County. During 
the first seven j'ears of his residence here he con- 
ducted a countrj^ store in Salt Creek Valley. 
Meanwhile he purchased a farm in the southern 
part of Easton Township and in 1872 he turned 
his attention to agricultural pursuits. He was 
the owner of seven hundred and fifty acres, and 
was recognized as one of the largest land owners 
in the township of Easton. Much of his time 
was given to the raising of horses, cattle and 
mules, which he shipped to eastern markets. He 
continued actively engaged in the stock business 
and general farm pursuits until his death, which 
occurred on his homestead in 1892, at the age of 
sixty-six j'ears. 

A son of James and Anna (Butler) Hines, the 
subject of this sketch was born in Ireland in 
1826. Three years later his parents, leaving 
him in Ireland, came to America and settled in 
New York state. Shortly afterward his father 
returned tg Ireland, and there died. A few 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



413 



years later the mother moved to Ohio, where her 
death occurred. When fifteen years of age our 
subject crossed the ocean, landing in New 
Orleans, where he spent some time. Later he 
visited his mother in Ohio. In 1849 he went to 
California bj' water and for three 5-ears he suc- 
cessfully engaged in mining, but, unfortunatelj', 
a bank failure caused the entire loss of his earn- 
ings. Returning east, he was for three years 
employed on a farm in Knox County, Ohio. In 
1855 he removed to southern Iowa, and there en- 
gaged in farming for seven years, at the same 
time being proprietor of a hotel in Bloomfield. 
During the Mexican war he enlisted for service, 
but the war ended before his regiment was 
ordered to the front. During the Civil war his 
sympathies were with the north, but the care of 
his large family rendered it necessary for him to 
remaia at home. At the close of the war he es- 
tablished his home in Leavenworth County, with 
whose interests in agriculture and business he 
was afterward identified. Fraternally Mr. Hines 
was connected with the Masons. In religion he 
was of the Roman Catholic faith, as is his family. 
He took an active part in local politics and 
aided the Democratic party. For three years he 
held the office of poor commissioner. He was a 
man of sound judgment and his advice was fre- 
quently sought by others in his community, 
among whom he had a high reputation for intel- 
ligence, integrity and discretion. Three times 
he returned to Europe, in order to visit his 
friends in Ireland and also for the purpose of at- 
tending to business matters there. While in 
Ohio, August 5, 1849, he married Catharine, 
daughter of Adam Stephan, member of an old 
family of that state and New York. Mrs. 
Hines was born in Onedia County, N. Y. The 
children born of their union are as follows: 
Mary, who became the wife of Peter Moahan; 
John D., who is engaged in the cattle business at 
Winchester; James, of Denver, Colo.; Elizabeth, 
wife of Dr. T. C. Craig, of Easton; Katie; Will- 
iam, a member of the firm of Hines Brothers; 
Ella, who is Mrs. Christopher Higgins; Anna, 
who married Paul Sieben; and Charles, of the 
firm of Hines Brothers. Mrs, Hines continues 



to reside in the village of Easton, where she has 
a host of warm personal friends among the peo- 
ple of this community. Her daughter Mary and 
the latter's husband are deceased, and thej' 
left two daughters and two sons, one of the 
latter being deceased. The grandchildren make 
their home with Mrs. Hines. 



30HN W. BUNN, oil inspector for the Union 
Pacific Railroad and also one of the oldest 
employes in the expert department of the 
Galena oil works, was born in Allegheny, Pa., 
July 25, 1851, a son of John and Selina (Berk- 
heimer) Bunn, natives respectively of Salem, 
N. J., and Pennsylvania. Concerning our sub- 
ject's father, we quote the following from a local 
paper: "John Bunn, a nonagenarian, and for 
twenty years a resident of this state, died at the 
home of his daughter, Mrs. J. A. Barackman, No. 
32 Porter street, Kansas City, Kans., on the even- 
ing of May 6, 1899. The funeral was held on 
Monday, May 8, at 2 p. m., from the Highland 
Park Methodist Episcopal Church, and interment 
made in the Oak Grove cemetery. 

"Mr. Bunn was born in Alloway's Town, Sa- 
lem County, N. J., August 17, 1808, and was 
therefore ninety years, eight months and nine- 
teen days old at the time of his death. 

"Thrown upon his own resources when but 
eight years of age, by the death of his father, for 
a number of years he followed the life of a sailor 
boy along the Atlantic coast. In 1824, when but 
a lad of sixteen, he saw General LaFayette. To 
make sure of doing this he resorted to the same 
artifice used by Zaccheus of old, climbing — not a 
fig tree but a gas post in front of Liberty Hall, 
Philadelphia, and so dense was the throng that 
as he related it, he "had to stay there three mor- 
tal hours" before he could find room to descend. 
About this time he was an apprentice in the 
largest shipyard on the Delaware river, serving 
seven years to thoroughly learn his trade. After 
getting his papers as a master ship builder he 
started for the west, crossing the Alleghany 
mountains before there were any railroads west 
of them. He descended their western slope on 



414 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



the inclined plane railroad that was then oper- 
ated with rope from Hollidaysburg to Cone- 
luaugh. He had charge of the first drj' dock at 
Pittsburgh, Pa. He built steamboats at Pitts- 
burgh and Brownsville, Pa., also barges and flat 
boats at a number of towns near the head of the 
Ohio river. He was well known among river 
men from Pittsburgh to New Orleans when the 
river was the great highwaj' of commerce in the 
west. 

"In 1855 he, with his family, moved from Pitts- 
burgh to Wetzel County, Va., where he lived 
until the fall of 186 1. Having been reared 
among the Quakers he had imbibed many of their 
ideas and had strong convictions against slavery. 
Once while reading his paper, the New York 
Tribune, in the town postoffice, it was snatched 
from his hand by a man who afterward became a 
colonel in the Confederate army. This same man, 
Robert T. McEldowney, after the Rebellion came 
to Mr. Bunn and apologized for the act, Mr. 
Bunn's eldest son, B. H. Bunn, with others, 
having furnished Colonel McEldowne)' money 
with which to get home in a respectable manner. 

"Mr. Bunn was the only man in the county in 
which he lived who voted for Abraham Lincoln 
in i860. This was before the ballot .system was 
a law in Virginia, when every man walked up 
to the window and announced the names of those 
for whom he wished to vote. This vote of Mr. 
Bunn's aroused a bitter feeling against him, and 
resulted in the burning down of his steam saw 
and grist mill, at New Martinsville. 

"He soon after moved onto his farm across the 
river in Ohio. Coming of "fighting stock" his 
father a veteran of 18 12, and his grandfather a 
noted Indian fighter, he could do no less than 
seek to enter the Union army. This he did but 
was rejected on account of his age. However, 
his two eldest sons entered the service long before 
either had reached the age of eighteen, and all 
three of his sons-in-law were Union veterans. 

"Mr. Bunn was married to SalinaE. Berkheim- 
er, March 12, 1827, and was the father of eleven 
children; seven of these grew up to have families 
of their own. Six children, four sons and two 
daughters, are still living and are all residents of 



Kansas. These are: Mrs. Julia A. Barackman 
and William M. Bunn, of Kansas City; Thomas 
Bunn, of Fort Scott; John W. Bunn, of Ottawa; 
Burris H. Bunn and Mrs. Lina Lynian, of Rush 
Center. There are also living twenty-seven 
grandchildren and fifteen great-grandchildren. 

"Mr. Bunn in 1868 moved to Tennessee, living 
there several years during the troublous times of 
the reconstructionary period, then returned to 
Ohio, where his wife died in 1877. In the fall 
of 1878, four of his children having located in 
Rush County, he with his other three children 
also came to Kansas. 

"He resided in Center Township, this county, 
from the fall of 1878 to the summer of 1882, when 
he removed to Ottawa, living with his widowed 
daughter, Mrs. Lizzie Williams, up to the time 
of her death in the fall of 1886. He then made 
his home with his son John W. , but for the past 
year or more, since his health became so poor, 
he has lived with his daughter, Mrs. Barackman. 

"Mr. Bunn was a strong partj- man and a strong 
Republican from the party's organization until 
his death. He voted at every presidential elec- 
tion since he became of age, except in the fall of 
1856, then not being a resident of the state long 
enough to gain citizenship. 

"He was ever religiously inclined, being a firm 
believer in the truths of th ; Bible, while not at 
all sectarian. Himself a man of the strictest in- 
tegrit}', he deemed it a crime to repudiate honest 
debts. He was one of those of whom it was truly 
said, "His word is as good as his note." To his 
children he has bequeathed that best of legacies, 
the memory of a life well spent in honorable la- 
bor, faithfully done. 

"It had been known for a short time that the end 
of his existence was drawing near. Gradually 
his vital powers ceased to exert themselves, and 
death came calmly and peacefully to the life 
which had spanned nearly across the century." 

The earl}- years of our subject's life were spent 
in Allegheny, Pa., and Wetzel County, W. Va. 
Soon after the close of the war he went to Frank- 
lin County, Tenn., and later made his home on 
a plantation in Mississippi. In 1874 he came to 
Kansas and settled on a claim near Rush Center, 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



415 



Rush County. As time passed by he transformed 
the place into a valuable farm, on which he en- 
gaged in raising broom corn and various grains. 
In 1880 he went to Kansas City and soon after- 
ward received appointment as oil inspector on the 
Kansas Pacific division of the Union Pacific road. 
After two j-ears he was appointed inspector of the 
whole system, his headquarters being in Omaha, 
from which place he traveled over the whole line 
of the railroad. In 1890 he established his home 
in Ottawa, where he now resides. Since his first 
connection with the railroad there has been a 
radical change in the oil business, and this road 
was the first to contract with the Standard Oil 
Compan)' for oil on a mileage basis. He is a 
member of the expert department of the Galena 
oil works, with whom he meets annuallj' at 
Franklin, Pa., and he has served as a member of 
various of its committees. 

In politics Mr. Bunn is a Republican. He is 
identified with the Congregational Church, in 
which he has officiated as treasurer and deacon. 
He was married in Rice County, Kans., to Miss 
Mary Crusan, who was born in Indiana County, 
Pa. They are the parents of five children, 
namely: Elizabeth Maxwell and Gertrude E., who 
are graduates of the high school and are now at- 
tending Ottawa University; John J., Charles M. 
and Frank Euin. 

0AMUEL F. FEW, M. D., was born in 
2\ Woodstock, Va. , May 26, 1820, a son of 
y^J Samuel and Mary (Prichard) Few, natives 
respectively of Chester County, Pa., and Win- 
chester, Va. His father, who was for years, and 
until his death, a merchant tailor in Woodstock, 
was descended from one of three brothers, who 
came to America from Wales, one of whom set- 
tled in Pennsylvania, another in Ohio and the 
third in Georgia. The one who .settled in 
Georgia was William Few, one of the signers of 
the constitution of the United States and a man 
of great prominence in colonial affairs. The 
family were Friends in religious belief. The 
Prichard family were early settlers of Virginia 
and were prominent in the history of that com- 
monwealth. 



In the family of Samuel and Marj- Few there 
were three sons, the oldest and youngest of whom 
were Stephen and William, both of whom died 
in Virginia. The second son, Samuel F., gradu- 
ated from the University of Virginia with the 
degree of A. B., and in 1846 graduated from Jef- 
ferson Medical College of Philadelphia, with fhe 
degree of M. D. Afterward he opened an office 
in Covington, Va. In 1854 he removed west to 
Independence, Mo. Shortly afterward he be- 
came connected with the Leavenworth Town 
Company and assisted in laying out this city, 
spending his time between this place and Inde- 
pendence,, but in 1855 he located permanently in 
Leavenworth. Having considerable means he 
invested in property and laid out an addition to 
the city. During the boom days he was wealthy, 
but the subsequent depreciation in real-estate 
values affected him considerably. He was 
assistant surgeon at Jefferson Barracks and dur- 
ing the war, at Fort Leavenworth. After the 
war he became a member of the pension board, 
in which capacity he served until his death, De- 
cember 3, 1S92. He was a stanch supporter of 
the Union and a free-state man. After the dis- 
integration of the Whig party, to which he be- 
longed, the Republican party received his sup- 
port. During early days he was one of the offi- 
cers of the court and for years he was city physi- 
cian. Fraternally he was a Mason and in relig- 
ion held to the faith of the Friends. 

In Covington, Va., March 8, 1850, occurred 
the marriage of Dr. Few to Miss Annie E. Callag- 
han, wjio was born in that town. Her father, 
John Callaghan, was born in Ireland in 1787 and 
in childhood came to the United States with his 
father, Dennis O' Callaghan, who became a planter 
of Virginia and a man of considerable wealth. 
For many years he served as sheriff of Alleghany 
County. The O'Callaghan family was original- 
ly from Scotland and was of the Scotch Presby- 
terian faith. The wife of Dennis O'Callaghan 
was Margaret Pierson, also the descendant of 
Scotch ancestors. John Callaghan dropped from 
his name the prefix O' which had been used by 
his ancestors. He married Maria Pulliam, who 
was born in Fredericksburg, Va., and died in 



4i6 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



the Old Dominion about i860. She was a 
daughter of Richard Pulliam, a planter of Vir- 
ginia, and a descendant of English ancestry. 
Six children comprised the family- of John and 
Maria Callaghan, viz.: William, who died in Vir- 
ginia; Annie E. , Mrs. Few; Robert, who died iu 
Leavenworth; Thomas and Edwin, planters in 
Virginia; and John, a farmer in Texas. Mrs. 
Few is still living at the old Leavenworth home- 
stead, No. 712 South Fifth street. 



yy|.\J. A. G. ABDELAL, M. D., who has 
Y made his home in Lawrence since 1869, 
(3 was born iu Marseilles, France, February 
7, 1832, and is a member of a family whose 
original name, Abdallah (meaning slave of God) 
was changed to its present form after settlement 
in France. As far back as 1500 the office of aga 
(commander-in-chief) of the Maraalucts, a cavalry 
force twenty thousand strong, was held by mem- 
bers of the family, descending from one genera- 
tion to another, in unbroken line, until the grand- 
father of our subject held the office. The latter 
was appointed mayor of Cairo, as a means of con- 
ciliating the inhabitants of that town, recently 
captured by Napoleon. When Napoleon had 
evacuated Cairo and returned to France the aga 
followed him to that country, where he was by 
him made general of the Mamalucts of tlie Im- 
perial Guard. He remained in the office from 
about 1790 to 1800, and died in Marseilles when 
advanced in years. 

Jo.seph Abdelal, the doctor's father, was born 
in Alexandria, Egypt, and was employed as ad- 
ministrator of a line of steamers between Marseil- 
les and Alexandria. After fort)' years of active 
life he retired from business and his last years 
were spent quietly in his home town, Marseilles. 
He married Ellen Agaub, who was born in Tur- 
key, but was reared in France and continued to 
reside in the latter country until her death. Her 
father, Pierre Agaub, was a Frenchman and was 
engaged in diplomatic service in Turkey and 
other countries, discharging his duties so faith- 
fully that the French government made him a 
knight of the Legion of Honor. 



In the famil}- of which the doctor was a mem- 
ber there were two sons and two daughters, but 
he and a sister in France alone survive. His 
brother. Gen. Louis Abdelal, was one of the of- 
ficers who won renown in the French army, serv- 
ing through the Franco-Prussian war as com- 
mander of the Eighteenth Army Corps. As 
major he led the heroic charge at Balaklava, 
where he saved the English army from destruc- 
tion. After the charge he was made lieutenant- 
colonel of the First Hussars and an oflBcer of the 
Legion of Honor, also served as ordnance officer 
to the sou of King Louis Phillipe. He died in 
France in 1890 at sixty-one years of age. His 
son, Alfred, is now captain of the Ninth Regular 
Dragoons. 

The subject of this sketch graduated from the 
Royal College of Marseilles in 1852, and by 
special dispensation received the degree of M. D. 
He entered the French army as assistant surgeon 
of the First Regular Algerian Sharpshooters, and 
.served in Algeria until the war with Russia, 
when he was transferred to the Black Sea region. 
For three months he was detached in hospital 
service. At the taking of Sebastopol he was at 
the front. Upon the declaration of peace his 
regiment was sent to Paris, where they were 
stationed for seven months. Returning to Algeria 
he was on detached duty at Arab Bureau for two 
years, being assistant surgeon of the first class, 
and afterward rejoined the regiment. In 1S59 
he was sent to Italy and participated in the 
campaign of 1859 60 in that country, taking part 
in various battles. When the war closed he re- 
turned to Algeria with the regiment. Upon the 
declaration of war between France, England and 
Spain against Mexico, the regiment was ordered 
to Vera Cruz, Mexico, remaining there until the 
fall of 1862. After some time Napoleon III. 
issued a proclamation permitting officers and 
soldiers of the French army to pass from there 
into Maximilian's army. He availed himself of 
the privilege and became a surgeon-major in a 
Mexican regiment, where he remained until 
Maximilian was captured. 

On resigning his conmiission Dr. Abdelal en- 
gaged in private practice in different cities of 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



417 



Mexico and the south. lu 1868 he came to 
Lawrence, where he has since carried on a gen- 
eral practice and for two terms, under Cleveland, 
was chairman of the board of pension examiners, 
also served as coroner of Douglas County from 
1870 to 1872. He is a member of the Douglas 
County, State, Eastern District and American 
Medical Associations. In politics he is a Demo- 
crat. He was made a Mason in Lodge No. 6, in 
Lawrence, and has attained the Scottish Rite de- 
gree. He is also connected with the Turn Verein, 
Odd Fellows, National Union and Sons of Her- 
man. 

The facility with which Dr. Abdelal speaks 
French, English, Turkish, Spanish, Italian, 
Greek and Latin, makes him at home in almost 
every part of the world except China, which is 
one of the very few countries he has never visited. 
His life has been a verj' active one, and his serv- 
ice in the army reflected the highest credit upon 
his ability. He was married in Baltimore, Md. , 
in 1868, to Miss Marie LaFevre, who was born 
and educated in Paris and died in Lawrence in 
1870. 

r"RANCIS M. JENKINS, a veteran of the 
JM Civil war and a farmer of Marion Township, 
I ' Douglas County, was born in Rappahan- 
nock County, Va., January 15, 1833, a son of 
Newman and Maria (Weekly) Jenkins, of whose 
twelve children eight survive. They are: Har- 
rison, a farmer in Osage County, Kans. ; Francis 
M.; Nancy, who married Cyrus Beadles, and 
lives in Champaign County, Ohio; Mary, wife of 
Henry Arnold, of Overbrook, Kans.; Elizabeth, 
wife of Peter Berry, of Champaign County, Ohio; 
Washington, who is engaged in carpentering in 
Champaign County; Margaret, wife of Stephen 
Dixon, of Jay County, Ind. ; and William, a 
farmer of Mercer County, Ohio. 

The Jenkins family was established in Virginia 
in a very early day. Newman Jenkins was born 
in Rappahannock County, where he married and 
settled upon a farm. In 1837 he removed to 
Ohio and established his home in Licking Coun- 
ty. Later he made several removals to adjoining 
counties, and died in Mercer County at the age 



of seventy-two years. His father, Timothy Jen- 
kins, was born in Rappahannock County and 
spent his entire life upon a farm there. His 
father-in-law, Frank Weekly, al.so a native of 
Virginia and a member of a well-known family 
there, served in the war of 181 2, and died at the 
advanced age of one hundred and fifteen years. 

In the subscription schools of the early half of 
the nineteenth century our subject acquired his 
education. In 1855 he left the parental roof and 
began life for himself, his first year's experience 
being as a farm hand in different parts of Ohio. 
In 1856 he married Miss Mary C. SafBe, who 
was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, a daugh- 
ter of Thomas and Louise (Shaw) Saffle. Her 
father, a native of Virginia, moved to Ohio prior 
to his marriage and settled in Muskingum Coun- 
ty, where he engaged in farming and resided 
until his death. After his marriage our subject 
purchased a farm of forty acres in Muskingum 
County, where he settled down to agricultural 
pursuits. During his residence there. May 2, 
1864, he enlisted in Company E, One Hundred 
and Sixtieth Ohio fnfantry, and was sent with 
his command to the front, doing service in the 
Shenandoah Valley. While there he took part 
in the engagements at Middletown and Harper's 
Ferry, besides numerous skirmishes. At the ex- 
piration of his term of service he was mustered 
out at Zanesville, Ohio, September 7, 1864. 

In the fall of 1865 Mr. Jenkins removed to 
Moultrie Count}^ 111., and one year later came 
to Kansas, arriving in Douglas County Novem- 
ber 27, 1866. While living in Illinois he had 
traded for his present farm in Marion Township, 
and here he has since engaged in general farm- 
ing. Since 185S he has been a member of the 
Methodist Church and an active worker in its 
various enterprises. Believing thoroughly in 
public schools, he has done all in his power to 
advance the schools of his district, and for many 
years rendered efficient service as treasurer of the 
school board. In politics he is a firm Republican, 
always voting for party principles. Since 1S70 
he has been a member of the Masonic blue lodge, 
and he is also connected with Richland Post No. 
370, G. A. R. 



4i8 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Of the seven children born to the union of Mr. 
and Mrs. Jenkins five are living, nanielj': Hiram, 
who cultivates the home farm; Louise, wife of 
M. T. Harding, a farmer of Douglas County; 
Salome, who married Sanford Owens, a farmer of 
Osage County, Kans. ; Carrie, wife of Edward 
Dodder, a farmer of Osage County; and Mary, 
who married Jacob Wright and also makes her 
home in Osage County. 



y yi RS. MARY (GILL) ELWELL, who is one 
y of the most highly respected ladies of Pal- 
(9 niyra Township, Douglas Count}-, was born 
in Cornwall, England, October 27,1827, and came 
to America with her parents when she was four- 
teen years of age. She is a sister of William H. 
Gill, in whose sketch the family history appears. 
Her education was obtained in Galena Seminary, 
at Galena, 111., where she afterward taught until 
the time of her first marriage. In 1853 she be- 
came the wife of Samuel Nye, who was born 
and reared in Massachusetts, thence went to 
Helena, Ark., and engaged in business as a com- 
mission merchant, also was in St. Louis for a 
time. At the time of his marriage he was liv- 
ing in Elizabeth, 111., where for years he car- 
ried on a mercantile business and also had min- 
ing interests. A man of high character, kind 
heart, liberal disposition and great energy, he 
won many friends and met with fair .success in 
business. Had he chosen, he might have been a 
leader in politics, but his tastes did not lie in that 
direction, although he was a stanch believer first 
in Whig principles, and afterward a Republican. 
He died in Elizabeth at the age of fifty-one years, 
leaving two children, Julia, who married Joseph 
Buttrick, of Michigan; and Samuel W. Nye, a 
farmer owning a good farm adjoining his moth- 
er's homestead in Kansas. In 1884 Samuel W. 
married Miss Olive G. Hays, from Ohio; he is 
now the father of three daughters: Mary Hope, 
Lucile and Esther. 

In October, 1859, Mrs. Mary G. Nye was mar- 
ried to Stephen E. Elwell, of Elizabeth, 111. Mr. 
Elvvell was born in Warren, Ohio, and in youth 
learned the carpenter's trade, but later engaged 



principally in mining. In 1867 Mrs. Elwell came 
to Kansas and settled on a claim in Douglas 
County that was a gift to her from her brother 
John. At the same time Mr. Elwell went to 
Montana, where he engaged in mining for ten 
years but did not meet with .special success. Dur- 
ing his stay in Montana he was a member of the 
territorial legislature. Finally he returned to 
Kansas and his last years were spent on his wife's 
farm. Politically he was an active Democrat and 
a leading politician, but never sought office for 
himself. He was thrown from a wagon and killed, 
November 17, 1886, when sixty -nine years of age. 
John K., the elder, attended for two years the 
Kansas State University, but graduated from 
Baker University, Baldwin, Kans. Soon after 
graduating he went to Buenos Ayres, South Amer- 
ica, where he was employed as auditing clerk on 
the railroad across the continent from Buenos 
Ayres to Chili, and made one trip to the end of 
the unfinished road at the base of the Andes. He 
left Buenos Ayres on account of the revolution 
of 1892. His ne.xt scene ofoperations was Cuba, 
where he was bookkeeper for an iron mining 
company near Santiago. Later he was engaged 
in the lumber business and acted as manager for 
a steamboat company. At the time of the war 
with Spain President McKinley appointed him 
interpreter and assistant to Miss Clara Barton 
and the committee of investigation in Cuba. After 
she had given up the Red Cross work of relief in 
Cuba he took a vessel loaded with provisions to 
Havana and Matanzas. He also assisted General 
Lee in his work as United States Con.sul. Since 
the close of the war he has been president, treas- 
urer and manager of the Elwell Mercantile Com- 
pany at Santiago de Cuba, which company is a 
very large one and makes important shipments 
of lumber, fruit etc. He also has important real- 
estate interests on that island. The younger son, 
Charles, who was educated at Baldwin and the 
University of Kansas, at Lawrence, was for a 
time local editor of the Lawrence Journal and af- 
terward ticket agent at Lawrence for the Santa 
Fe Railroad. Later he was for two years city 
ticket agent in Denver, Colo., but resigned the 
p;isition to go to Cuba, in order to assist his 




S 



< 
as 







X 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



4±t 



brother, with whom he has since been associated 
in the real-estate business. At the time of this 
writing he is foreign war correspondent for the 
associated press and is now at San Domingo with 
Jiminez, president of the new republic. 



3 AMES LEIBEY, M. D., deceased, was born 
in Hamburg, Germany, and in boyhood ac- 
companied his father, Frederick, to America, 
settling first in Philadelphia, but soon going to 
the Cumberland Valley, where he was reared and 
educated. He then went to New Orleans, where 
he studied medicine and began its practice. Re- 
turning north in 1848 he left New York for Cali- 
fornia via Cape Horn on the ship "Columbus," 
and after a monotonous voyage landed in San 
Francisco. Going inland, he engaged in min- 
ing. In 1852 he returned east, bringing with 
him a considerable amount of gold-dust. For a 
time he made his home in Cincinnati, Ohio, 
where he owned property, but later went back 
to New Orleans and embarked in the sugar refin- 
ing business, making shipments of sugar to the 
north by boat. 

In Logansport, Ind., in May, 1856, Dr. L,eibey 
married Miss Nancy A. Graham. Their wed- 
ding tour was a trip to Leavenworth, Kans. , 
where they arrived on the 30th of the same 
month. On the 3d of October, 1856, they came 
to Lawrence in a stage with nine passen- 
gers, guarded by twenty-six dragoons, whose 
presence the border warfare rendered necessary. 
Crossing the Kaw by means of a rope ferr}^, they 
entered the town that was to be their future 
home. Both being ardent free-state advocates 
and stanch Republicans, they incurred the hatred 
of pro-slavery sympathizers, whose malice they 
suffered more than once. They were living in 
Lawrence at the time of the Quantrell raid and 
lost their residence and business propertj^ by fire. 
Dr. Leibey was taken a prisoner and locked in a 
room above the hardware store, it being the in- 
tention to fire the building with him in it. A 
guard was placed before the store to prevent his 
escape. Mrs. Leibey was driven out of her house 
by the gang. Learning her husband's where- 



abouts, she went to the guard and appealed to 
him for the doctor's release, but in vain. After- 
ward another rufBan was put on guard and she 
made her appeal to him, but of course without 
avail. As she stood watching, she saw the 
guard hurry across to a saloon. At once she ran 
upstairs, took her husband down the rear stairs 
and hastened with him to the river, where they 
escaped in safet)'. 

After the raid. Dr. and Mrs. Leibey returned 
to Leavenworth and remained thereuntil a house 
was built for them in Lawrence. From the 
shock and danger of the raid Mrs. Leibey suf- 
fered a long illness and it was some time before 
she regained her former strength. In October 
they returned to Lawrence and took up their res- 
idence in a frame house that had been built for 
them. Soon afterward they erected the residence 
in which Mrs. Leibey and her daughter now 
make their home. The latter, Lily Graham 
Leibey, is an accomplished musician, highly edu- 
cated, well informed in arts, music and science, 
and is her mother's companion both in domestic 
interests and the broader field of knowledge and 
culture. Dr. Leibey was a man of more than 
ordinary ability. His education was broad and 
he was familiar with several languages, besides 
being a musician, a performer on various in.stru- 
ments and a vocalist. From the age of seven- 
teen he was a member of the Presbyterian 
Church and his life was that of an earnest Chris- 
tian. Fraternally he was identified with the 
Masons. His death occurred in 1868, when he 
was fifty-six years and ten months old. 



iyiRS. NANCY A. (GRAHAM) LEIBEY is one 
y of the pioneer women of Lawrence, to whose 
patriotic devotion and sterling judgment 
much of the early growth of this city was due. 
Much has been written and much said concern- 
ing the men who came to Kansas in early days 
with the hope of making this a free state, and 
certainly too much cannot be said in their praise; 
but little has been written regarding the women 
who came west in the '50s, who endured all the 
horrors and suffered the hardships of border war- 



42i 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



fare, and who, in spite of all perils, remained 
true, faithful and steadfast to the end. Such, in 
brief, isthestory of Mrs. Leibey'slife. Shecame 
west a bride, leaving a home where every comfort 
had been found and a state where peace reigned; 
from such a place she was brought to a state rent 
with dissension and stained with the blood of 
martyred citizens. Like her husband, she was a 
radical Abolitionist and was determined to do all 
within her power to advance the free-state cause. 
In earlj' da)'s .she became acquainted with all the 
noted men of Kansas and was an ardent admirer 
and personal friend of "Jim" Lane and other 
Abolitionists. 

In an early day the Grahams came from Scot- 
land to Delaware, where Mrs. Leibey's father and 
grandfather (both named Israel) were born. The 
former grew to manhood on the large homestead 
and had every advantage which ample means 
could provide. His father, who was a remarka- 
ble man in many respects, was a man of thought 
and high honor. Becoming convinced that 
slavery was unjust, he freed his slaves, removed 
to Pennsylvania, and bought for each slave a 
small farm there, helping them to get a start in 
the world. He had twenty-one children bj' one 
wife and all attained mature years and married, 
afterward scattering into different parts of the 
country. 

The mother of Mrs. Leibey was Mary, daugh- 
ter of Daniel Bowen, both natives of Kent Coun- 
ty, Del. Her father, who was a large farmer, 
enlisted in a cavalry company during the Revo- 
lution and served under LaFayette at the battle 
of Brandywine, where he was wounded. He re- 
turned home for a short time, but as soon as able 
went back to the army and witnessed the surren- 
der of Cornwallis at Yorktown. He died in Del- 
aware. 

In 1835 Israel Graham, Jr., and his wife moved, 
by wagon, to western Pennsylvania, settling near 
Pittsburgh. While they were crossing the Alle- 
ganies, and were nearUniontown, Fayette Coun- 
ty, Pa., a daughter was born to them, in a 
hunter's lodge high up on the mountains. For a 
cradle they used a sugar trough. It was this 
daughter, born amid strange surroundings, who 



was destined to become one of the pioneers of a 
state that was then unknown. The family pro- 
ceeded to the vicinity of Pittsburgh, where Mr. 
Graham engaged in the manufacture of salt for 
six years. Next he moved to Springfield, Ohio, 
where he took contracts for the building of canals 
and roads. In 1850 he settled on a large farm 
near Logansport, and in time became the owner 
of additional land and engaged extensively in 
stock-raising. He was a man of broad ideas, 
natural talent, strong character and firm princi- 
ples, was generous to the needy, and kind to all. 
Had fate brought him into public life he would 
have been a power for good throughout his na- 
tion. He possessed a stalwart frame, was never 
ill, and in physique was well proportioned, being 
six feet and two inches in height. His wife died 
in Ohio when thirtj'-three years old and he passed 
away in 1879, when almost seventy-five. Thej' 
were the parents of five children, the eldest of 
whom is our subject. The others are: Mrs. Hes- 
ter Toner, of Kewana, Ind. ; Mrs. Cassie Reighter, 
of Logansport, Ind. ; Mrs. Sarah Coppic, of 
Brownwood, Tex.; and France, of Fulton, Ind. 

From the age of seven until fifteen our subject 
lived in Springfield, Ohio, where she attended 
the public schools and academy. When seven- 
teen she began to teach in Logansport and con- 
tinued until her marriage three j-ears later. She 
then came to Kansas with Dr. Leibej- and has 
since made this state her home and has main- 
tained the deepest interest in its welfare. While 
in Leavenworth a body of men came from Platte 
County, Mo., to terrify the free-state people. 
She was sitting on the porch at the Phillips house 
as the}', passed by. The next morning another 
company appeared and surrounding the house, 
sent some of their men into the house. Several 
free-state men were shot in the hall, and William 
Phillips was killed and his brother wounded. 
Fearing the seizure of their possessions, she had 
the trunks taken into a building in the rear of a 
neighboring house and there locked. All free- 
state workers were ordered by the pro-slavery 
invaders to leave, and many, fearing for their 
lives, hastened away, some going on the boat 
"Emma." Dr. and Mrs. Leibey were boarding 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



4^3 



with Colonel Sharpe, a pro-slavery man. A mob 
from Alabama swamp ordered them to leave, and 
they went to Richland Landing, then down the 
river by boat. During the passage they met the 
"Old Emigrant," and boarded it, finding among 
its passengers Mr. Geary, the new governor of 
Kansas, who had been a friend of the doctor in 
California. They returned with him to Fort 
Leavenworth and remained in the colonel's home 
for twenty-one days. Afterward they experi- 
enced all the perils of war times in Lawrence and 
more than once escaped as by miracle. 

Since Dr. Leibey's death Mrs. Leibey has 
given her attention to the management of her 
property and moneyed interests, in which, being 
a thorough business woman, she has been quite 
successful. She has never lost her love for Kan- 
sas and no one rejoices in its prosperity more 
than does she. 



ROBERT M. BRUCE, owner of the Lawrence 
lumber yard, is a son of Charles Bruce, 
one of the pioneers of Kansas. His grand- 
father, Lawson Bruce, who was a prosperous 
New England farmer, was a son of Rev. Rufus 
Bruce, a minister, who during the Revolution 
fought in defense of American liberty. The 
family is of Scotch extraction. Charles Bruce 
received an academic education and for four years 
engaged in teaching. After his marriage he car- 
ried on a drug business in Logansport, Ind. , for 
ten years. Coming to Kansas in 1858, he took 
up a claim in Douglas County, near Blue Mound, 
and for three years devoted his time to its im- 
provement. In 1 86 1 he opened a lumber yard 
in Lawrence, later also had a yard in North 
Lawrence. During the Civil war he went to]the 
front to defend the state against Price and took 
part in the battles of Westport, Little Blue and 
others along the border of Missouri. He was an 
ardent free-state man and in politics supported 
Republican principles. For two terms he held 
the office of councilman, and he also served as a 
member of the school board. Fraternally he was 
connected with the Odd Fellows. 

At the time of the Quantrell raid Charles 
Bruce, in common with all free-state men, ex- 



perienced all the dangers incident to an indis- 
criminate massacre of men and destruction of 
property. He was in the field milking his cows 
when he saw the raiders approaching. At once 
he hastened to alarm his neighbors. He then 
turned his horses loose and, jumping on one, 
started toward Mount Oread. He was inter- 
cepted by three of the band. They inquired who 
he was, but he parleyed with them, evading a 
direct answer. Finally they compelled him to 
jump from his horse and were going to kill him, 
when the leader interfered and told him to run 
for his life. He escaped into a cornfield. He 
lived to see the downfall of slavery, the preserva- 
tion of the Union and its subsequent magnificent 
progress. He died in Lawrence May 4, 1890. 

In Niles, Mich., January 6, 1852, Charles 
Bruce married Miss Julia A. Pettibone, who died 
May 5, 1873. Of the Pettibone family the only 
survivor is Capt. Milton Pettibone, who is rep- 
resented in this work. Her father, John R., a 
native of New York state, settled near Ypsilanti, 
Mich. , and while rowing two ladies across the 
river there, was accidentally drowned. To this 
family belonged Roswell Pettibone, for whom 
ex-Governor Roswell P. Flower, of New York, 
was named. Charles and Julia A. Bruce were 
the parents of three children who grew to ma- 
turity. Edwin Lawson Bruce, the oldest, is 
proprietor of a large wholesale and retail lumber 
business in Kansas City. The daughter, Mrs. 
Addie Petrie, lives in Wichita, Kans. The sec- 
ond son, Robert M., was born on the claim at the 
edge of Miami County, Kans., January 16, 1862, 
and was reared in Lawrence, receiving his edu- 
cation in the grammar and high schools and also 
graduating from the Lawrence Business College. 
From boyhood he was interested in the lumber 
business and early became familiar with every 
detail. When his brother went to Kansas City 
the firm title became C. Bruce & Son, and the 
two yards were consolidated at No. 627 Massa- 
chusetts street. After the death of the father in 
1890 our subject consolidated the Lawrence and 
Kansas City yards, and the firm became the Bruce 
Lumber Company, incorporated. In 1898 he 
sold his interest in the company and bought 



424 



-PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



the Lawrence yard, where he has a frontage of 
seventy five feet on Massachusetts street and two 
hundred feet on Vermont street, with a large 
yard containing all kinds of lumber and build- 
ing material. This is the oldest yard in the 
citj- and is one of the most successful as well. 

Fraternally Mr. Bruce is connected with the 
Uniform Rank, K. P., and in politics is a Re- 
publican. He is a member of the Hoo Hoos 
Lumberman's Association. His residence stands 
at No. 275 Walnut street. He was married iu 
Kansas City to Miss Hattie Rollins, who was 
born in Jefferson County, Kans. , and by whom 
he has two daughters, Addie and Marie. Mrs. 
Bruce is a daughter of Joseph D. Rollins, who 
settled in Lawrence in 1856, became a large con- 
tractor and builder here, but was burned out at 
the time of the Quantrell raid, losing everything 
he had. Afterward he engaged in stock-raising 
in Rural Township, also for a few years engaged 
in mining at Silverton, Colo. During the Civil 
war he took part in the campaign against Price. 
He now makes his home with his daughter, 
Mrs. Bruce. 



y y ICHAEL REEDY, decea.sed, was for some 
y years engaged in business in Lawrence. 
(9 He was a member of an old eastern family. 
His grandfather, Michael Reedy, Sr. , was born 
in Pennsylvania and in 1812 removed to Ohio, 
where, after having served in the second war with 
England, he devoted himself to the clearing and 
improvement of a farm in Ross County. He was 
a son of Conrad Reedy, a soldier of the Revolu- 
tion, who died in Buffalo Town.ship, Northamp- 
ton (now Union) County, Pa., August 3, 1859; 
his wife died in Ross Countj', Ohio, March 28, 
18 1 8. 

The Rcedj- family trace their lineage to the 
Webbers of Holland. In 1610 Walfort Webber, 
of Holland, married Anna Cook, and their son, 
Walfort, was married in 1630 to Anna Wallis. 
Next in line of descent was Armant Webber, who 
married Jainetta Comilus in 1675, and their son, 
Walfort (3d), married Gratzie Jacob in 1697. 
The daughter of the latter couple, Catherine 
Webber, in 1743 became the wife of John Francis 



Geltner, and their daughter, also named Cather- 
ine, in 1765 was married to Conrad Reedy. In 
September, 181 1, their son, Michael Reedy, was 
united with Mary Magdalene Davis. In 1849 
their son Conrad (our subject's father) , married 
Caroline Delong, who was born in Berks County, 
Pa., accompanied her parents to Ross County, 
Ohio, at an early date, and died in 1893, at the 
age of sixty-nine years. The first Walfort Web- 
ber settled on the Isle of Manhattan and accumu- 
lated a large fortune, becoming the owner of a 
vast estate there. In his native land he had 
fallen in love with Anna Cook, a member of a 
noble family. His social position being inferior 
to hers, her family refused their consent to the 
marriage, so the young couple ran away from 
home and were married. Thus it was that the 
family became established in America. 

Near Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio, Conrad 
Reedy was born and reared. He became a farmer 
in Colerain Township, that county. In 1870 he 
brought his familj- to Lawrence, Kans., where 
he invested in real estate, and later he engaged 
in business with his sons. He died May 12,1897, 
at eighty-one years of age. He and his wife were 
Lutherans in religious faith. They had five chil- 
dren, viz.: Catherine, Byron and Cleary, all de- 
ceased; Lewis, who is engaged in the grocery 
business in Lawrence; and Michael. The last- 
named was born in Colerain Township, Ross 
County, Ohio, February 4, 1863, and was seven 
j^ears of age at the time the family settled in 
Kansas. His education was obtained in the 
grammar and high school of Lawrence. In 1882 
he entered into partnership with his father in the 
grocery business, and his brother also became 
connected with the firm, which was dissolved in 
1897, our subject taking the vinegar and cider 
business, which had been started in 1891. His 
steam hydraulic cider mill had a capacity of sev- 
enty-five barrels a day, and the output, a fine 
quality of cider vinegar, he sold throughout the 
state of Kansas. In 1898 he also became inter- 
ested in the fuel business. 

In Eudora, Kans., June 19, 1894, ^^r- Reedy 
married Sarah, daughter of Jacob Strobel, a pio- 
neer farmer of that .section, having gone there 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



425 



when Indians still roamed over the prairies. One 
child, Howard Lester, was born of their union. 
Politically Mr. Reedy was a Democrat and served 
on committees and attended conventions of his 
party. He was connected with the lodge and 
encampment of Odd Fellows, was a member of 
the Turn Verein, the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen and the Fraternal Aid Association. 
His death occurred September 3, 1899. 



/3LARENCE; CASE GODDARD, M. D. The 
ll Evergreen Hospital, which was established 
\J in 1890 for the treatment of nervous dis- 
eases, is situated on the corner of Limit .street 
and Maple avenue, Leavenworth, and is the 
largest private ho.spital in the state. The insti- 
tution was established and has since been con- 
ducted under the efficient supervision of Dr. 
Goddard, who organized and is president of the 
Evergreen Place Hospital Company, and whose 
business abilit}' and professional skill have been 
apparent in the systematic management of the 
hospital. In March, 1898, the building burned 
to the ground. He immediately began rebuild- 
ing, and now has one large main building, be- 
sides a smaller structure, with twelve acres of 
lawn whose well-kept appearance adds to the 
general effect. Having made a special studj- of 
nervous diseases, also of diseases of the eye and 
ear, the doctor is admirably qualified to stand at 
the head of a large institution of this kind, and 
the success with which he is meeting proves that 
he possesses the confidence of the people. 

The Goddard family is of English extraction 
and was early identified with the historj' of New 
England. Marcellus Goddard, a soldier in the 
Revolutionary war, married a Miss Case, who de- 
scended from an old eastern family; he was a life- 
long resident of Connecticut. His son, Edwin 
Pinney Goddard, was born in Connecticut and 
removed to Ontario County, N. Y., where he 
was a merchant and receiver of the port of Canan- 
daigua on the canal. He was a succe.ssful busi- 
ness man, and the proprietor of large mills and 
packing houses. In 1856 he came west to Illinois 
and opened a store at Abingdon, Knox County. 



Four years later he settled in Leaven worth, where 
he established the first large nursery in the cit3^ 
and as a member of the firm of E. L. Wheeler & 
Co., was actively interested in the horticultural 
business, having a nursery on Maple avenue and 
Thornton street. His death occurred in this city 
in the spring of 1867. 

The marriage of Edwin P. Goddard united him 
with Maria Fillmore, who was born in Wayne 
County, N. Y., February 9, 1812, and is now 
making her home with her son, the subject of 
this sketch. Her father, Luther Fillmore, a tan- 
ner in Wayne County, N. Y., was a nephew of 
William Fillmore, the father of the thirteenth 
president of the United States. Eight children 
born to Edwin P. and Maria Goddard grew to 
maturity, and six of these are still living. One 
of the sons. Judge Luther Marcellus Goddard, 
was county attorney of Leavenworth County in 
early days, but afterward removed to Denver, 
Colo., and is now associate justice of the supreme 
court of Colorado. The other sons are: George 
Washington, a mine operator at Eldora, Colo.; 
Cyrus Fillmore, also of Eldora; Byron Strong, a 
farmer of Leavenworth County; and Clarence 
Case, of this sketch. The last named was born 
at Gorham, Ontario County, N. Y., March 21, 
1849, and was reared at Walworth, Wayne Coun- 
ty, N. Y., Abingdon, 111., and Leavenworth, 
Kans. , having made this cit}' his home after 
i86o. After the death of his father he began to 
study medicine under Dr. J. W. Brock, and later 
entered McDowell College, where he studied for 
a term. In 1873 he graduated from Bellevue 
Hospital Medical College, New York, with the 
degree of M. D. The following year he took a 
special course in eye and ear work at the college 
and hospital. From 1875 until 1887 he was con- 
nected with the United States army as physician 
and surgeon, and during these twelve years he 
was stationed successively at Forts Sill, Elliott, 
Tex.; Riley, Kans.; Lyon, Garland and Craw- 
ford (the three last in Colorado) and Leaven- 
worth. 

Upon retiring from the army Dr. Goddard 
turned his attention to civil practice, making a 
specialty of diseases of the eye and ear. Since 



426 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



1890 his attention has been given largelj- to the 
management of the hospital, bnt he also engages 
in private practice, and has his office on the 
corner of Fifth and Delaware streets. He is a 
member of the Leavenworth County, Kansas 
State, Missouri Vallej', Eastern Kansas Medical 
Associations; also the State Sanitary A.ssocia- 
tion and American Medical Association. From 
1889 to 1891 he served as county physician. In 
the Episcopal Church, of which he is a member, 
he has been senior warden and is now a vestrj-- 
man. Fraternally he is connected with Leaven- 
worth Lodge No. 2, A. F. & A. M., of which he 
is past master; Leavenworth Chapter No. 2, R. 
A. M.; Leavenworth Commandery No. i, K. T. , 
of which he is eminent commander; and Abdal- 
lah Temple, N. M. S., of which he is chief 
rabban. 

The residence of Dr. Goddard stands on the 
corner of Middle and Fifth avenues. He was 
married in Platte County, Mo., to Miss Clara C. 
Weibling, who was born in Indiana, and in 1857 
came to Leavenworth with her father, Harmon 
Weibling, who opened up the first mail route to 
Denver, also a coach line to Denver, and was for 
years a mail contractor, dying in Leavenworth 
in 1872. The only child of Dr. and Mrs. God- 
dard is Clarence Brock Goddard. 



(TOHN HERRIES. Since he first came to Kan- 
I sas, in the fall of 1856, Mr. Herries has wit- 
(2/ nessed the growth and development of this 
part of the great west, and has himself been inti- 
mately connected therewith. Asa pioneer he was 
well known among other early settlers, while as a 
farmer he has been more than ordinarily success- 
ful. The place which he owns lies on sections i 
and 2, in Alexandria Township, Leavenworth 
County, and consists of three hundred and twen- 
ty acres, the most of which he now rents. The 
house stands on section 2, and near it is a fine 
orchard of fruit trees in good bearing condition. 
After years of activity he is to some extent re- 
tired from farming, and is enjoying the comforts 
gained by his industry and good judgment. 
Mr, Herries wasbonj in Scotland January 12, 



1830, and was reared on the farm owned by his 
father, James Herries. When sixteen years of 
age he came to America and settled near Hamil- 
ton, Ontario, where he engaged in the mercantile 
business. However, not meeting with the suc- 
cess he desired, he came to the States, settling in 
Iowa in the spring of 1856. In the fall of the 
same year he came to Kansas, and after two 
months in Leavenworth he settled in Coffey Coun- 
ty, taking up a quarter-section of land near Bur- 
lington. The land was raw and its improvement 
occupied his attention for some years. In the fall 
of 1861 he went to the southwestern part of Kan- 
sas and engaged in hunting wolves for the hides. 
During the winter he secured three hundred 
hides. Early in 1862 he enlisted in the Fifth 
Kansas Infantry as a private in Company E, and 
served throughout the war, taking part in the 
battles of Helena and Pine Bluff, where, with 
only six thousand men, the Union forces held off 
Price with fifteen thousand. 

On being discharged from the army in Novem- 
ber, 1865, Mr. Herries sold his place in Coffey 
County and removed to Leavenworth County, 
where he bought one hundred and sixty acres in 
Alexandria Township. Of the property less than 
fifty acres had been improved. He at once began 
the work of getting the land in good shape. In 
this he has been successful, and the farm now 
ranks among the best in the township. He has 
also added to its acreage until it is double its 
original size. During the years of his life in Kan- 
sas he has experienced all the trials and hard- 
.ships incident to starting in a new country, where 
there were no improvements and few settlers. He 
also experienced the perils connected with the 
free-state movement. He was one of the few 
who did not need aid when Pomeroy came 
through in 1861 ; on the other hand, he was able 
to help others who had been starved out. In the 
stock business, particularly in the raising of 
Shorthorn cattle, he has been quite successful, 
and he still owns a large number of head. 

Politically Mr. Herries is a Republican. While 
in Coffey County he was the first judge of the 
county, but has since refu.sed nominations for all 
oflBces, During the existence of the Grange he 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



427 



was one of its members. In religion he is of the 
Presbyterian faith. In 1865 he married Mrs. 
Sarah (John.son) Dillon, a sister of Col. H. P. 
Johnson. They are the parents of two sons and 
two daughters, namely: Henry, who is a farmer 
in Alexandria Township; Mollie; John P., agent 
for the Northwestern Railroad at McLouth; and 
Nettie, wife of Robert B. Kessinger. 



^OHN DUFFIN, who is one of the oldest set- 
I tiers of Salt Creek Valley, was born in Bal- 
O lysullin. County Antrim, Ireland, February 
2, 1831. During his boyhood and youth he re- 
mained in his native land, where he learned the 
weaver's trade, and also became familiar with 
farm pursuits. In 1851 he came to America, 
and for six months was employed in New York 
City. July 7, 1852, he enlisted as a private in 
the regular army and was assigned to the First 
Regiment of Mounted Riflemen. His service 
was principally in Texas and New Mexico, and 
he was stationed at Fort Union, N. M., for some 
time. He fought in a number of battles with 
Indians and was obliged to be constantly on the 
alert for these treacherous foes. During the early 
part of the Civil war his regiment was ordered 
east to report to General McClellan, but after 
traveling about one-half the distance over the 
plains was ordered back to Fort Union to protect 
the frontier. Ten years of service in the regular 
army impaired his health to such an extent that 
he was unable to continue longer as a soldier. 
For this reason he was honorably discharged. 
He then sought an occupation and climate in 
which he might reasonably hope to regain his 
strength. 

Coming to Leavenworth County in 1862, Mr. 
DuflSn bought a homestead claim in Kickapoo 
Township, and on this place he has since en- 
gaged in farming and gardening. In addition to 
the raising of grain and some stock, for several 
years he kept a road house, his property lying 
on the military road. For twenty years he also 
carried on a large dairy business, in which he 
built up an extensive trade. Since coming to this 
region he has not only been in better health, but 



has also been fairly prosperous. He has been in- 
terested in local matters and affiliates with the 
Republican party. October i, 1859, ^t Taos, 
N. M., he was granted his final papers of full 
American citizenship. In religion he adheres to 
the Roman Catholic faith, in which he was 
reared, and he now holds membership in the 
Fort Leavenworth Church. Fraternally he is 
connected with Custer Post, G. A. R. 

In Taos, N. M., August 28, 1859, Mr. Duffin 
married Margaret Ryan, daughter of Daniel and 
Mary (Griffin) Ryan, natives of Ireland. She 
died January 16, 1897, at the age of fifty-five 
years. Of their ten children eight are now liv- 
ing, viz.: Rose, wife of Charles Ferguson; John, 
in San Antonio, Tex.; Daniel, a farmer in Leav- 
enworth County; Edward, who served in the 
war with Spain; Mary, wife of John Luce; Mur- 
tha C; Bernard, now in North Platte, Neb.; and 
Agnes G. , who is at home with her father. 



pCJlLLIAM G. HESSE. One of the most 
\ A / important business industries of Kansas is 
YV conducted by the William G. Hesse & Son 
Manufacturing Company, of Leavenworth, who 
own the largest manufacturing establishment of 
the kind in the state and make shipments through- 
out the entire western country. The company 
was incorporated in 1892, with W. G. Hesse as 
president and O. H. Hesse vice-president and 
secretary. In July, 1899, Alexander Pieper was 
admitted as a member of the firm. The products 
include vehicles of every kind. In the various 
buildings connected with the business, which 
have a combined floor space of seventy-seven 
thousand and two hundred square feet, may be 
found all the modern machinery for the manu- 
facture of different parts of woodwork of wagons, 
carriages and buggies. One of the specialties of 
the firm is the manufacture of the patent short- 
turn Ludlow wagon, which can turn on six-foot 
circle high wheels. 

A resident of Leavenworth since 1857, Mr. 
Hesse, the president of this company, was born 
in Saxony, Germany, July 5, 1838, a son of 
Henry and Anna (Wartman) Hesse, natives of 



428 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



the same province. His grandfather, WilHam 
Hesse, came to Saxony during the Napoleonic 
wars, and continued to live there until his death, 
in 1846. At first he followed the harness- 
maker's trade, but afterward carried on a starch 
factory and brewery. Henry Hesse was a black- 
smith by trade and built up a large trade in his 
chosen occupation. He died in Saxony when 
seventy-six 3-ears of age. In his family there 
were three children: William George; Frederick 
Henry, who was a soldier in the German army 
and has since carried on a blacksmith's business 
at his father's old stand; and Anna Sophia. 

The bo}'hood days of our subject were passed in 
Langensalza, his native town, where he followed 
the carriage-maker's trade. When fifteen he 
came to America, leaving Bremen on a sailer that 
arrived in New York City after a voyage of 
forty-two days. Afterward he worked in New 
York City, Philadelphia, Washington, D. C, 
and for two years in St. Louis. In 1857 he came 
to Leavenworth and soon afterward started a 
shop here, his location being on Shawnee street, 
between Third and Fourth streets. During the 
war he .started a shop on the corner of Seventh 
and Sioux streets, where he outfitted freighters 
with large wagons. There he continued until 
187 1. During the latter j-ear his shop was 
burned, entailing a heavy loss. His next ven- 
ture was the purchase of property on Cherokee, 
between Fourth and Fifth streets, where he built 
up a business. In 1883 he built the carriage 
factory on Pawnee street, and this he has since 
operated. At this writing he has two buildings 
and a lumber yard on Pawnee street. The 
buildings are 60x60 and 60x80 respectively, 
with four floors; and the lumber yard is 56 x 125. 
On Cherokee street is a repository and hardware 
store built by Mr. Hesse, with three stories and 
basement, 48x125 feet in dimensions. In the same 
block is a factory where tops are manufactured. 
The business has been built up almost wholly 
through the energy and business ability of the 
company's president, who is a man of wise judg- 
ment, force of character and discriminating in- 
sight into business details. While carrying 
under his supervision all weighty affairs con- 



nected with thfe business, he at the same time 
does not lose sight of those apparently trivial 
matters which, though seeming small, neverthe- 
less afi"ect the profits of an enterprise to a great 
extent. With a keen judgment he superintends 
every detail, directs his employes (both those in 
the factory and those on the road), and carries 
into everj- matter the shrewd discrimination that 
has always been one of his leading characteristics. 
In this city occurred the marriage of Mr. 
Hesse to Miss Selina Stauber, who was born in 
Zurich, Switzerland, and accompanied her par- 
ents to St. Louis. Of the seven childrei> born of 
this union four are living, viz.: Amelia, Mrs. 
A. L. Ruhl, of Kansas City, Mo.; Sophia, Mrs. 
James McGuire, of Kansas City; Otto H., vice- 
president and .secretary of the manufacturing 
company; and Louise, at home. 



yyilSS MARY E. DOLPHIN. No state is 
Y more advanced than Kansas in the attention 
(g paid to the education of the young. Not 
onl}' has it a magnificently equipped state uni- 
versity, but its public schools too are unsur- 
passed in thoroughness and in the high character 
of their teachers. All over the state there are 
men and women who devote their lives to the 
progress of the coming generation, and who.se 
highest reward is to see the intellectual advance- 
ment of the race. In this good work no one has 
taken greater interest than the superintendent of 
the schools of the city of Leavenworth, Miss 
Dolphin, who has been connected with the edu- 
cational interests of this city since iSSy. Her 
education was acquired in Susquehanna County, 
Pa., and in the Universit}' of Michigan, where 
she took a special course in mathematics. In 
1S83 she graduated in President Taylor's first 
class from the state normal of Kansas. After 
teaching for six years in Emporia she took 
charge of mathematics in the Leavenworth high 
school and also acted as assistant principal. In 
1896 she was elected bj' the school board to the 
responsible position she has since filled by annual 
re-election. Her continuance in ofiice is the best 
evidence of her fitness for the position. Her 




JULIUS S. EDWARDS. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



431 



duties are many and of great responsibilty. In 
the city schools she has sixty-eight teachers, be- 
sides which she also has a training class of twenty 
who act as substitutes and assistants. In count- 
less ways her influence has been felt in the ad- 
vancement of the schools. Imbued with a love 
for her work, she enters with enthusiasm into 
everj'thing calculated to raise the standard of 
education. She keeps in touch with every ad- 
vance made in the educational world and adopts 
in her work every suggestion which she believes 
will be of practical assistance in the conduct of 
the schools. 

In February, 1899, Miss Dolphin attended the 
convention of national superintendents at Col- 
umbus, Ohio, and had the distinction of being 
one of four lady superintendents present. She is 
a member of the State Social Science Federation, 
also of the Saturday Club, the oldest club for 
ladies in Leavenworth. Socially she is held in 
the highest esteem by the people of Leavenworth 
and is a welcomed guest in the best homes, 
where her high intellectual attainments are recog- 
nized and admired. 



(lULIUS S. EDWARDS, treasurer and an or- 
I ganizer of the Citizens' Mutual Building and 
(2/ Loan Association of Leavenworth, has been 
connected with this flourishing organization since 
it was started and holds certificate No. i , the first 
issued by the company. The officers of the asso- 
ciation, other than himself, are L- Hawn, presi- 
dent; J. Hannon, vice-president; C. S. Hartough, 
secretary; and L- G. Hopkins, attorney. With 
a capital stock of $1,500,000, the company is pre- 
pared to carry on its business successfully and 
profitably for all concerned. During fifteen years 
of business there has not been a loss or a fore- 
closure, and the reports, duly audited, reveal a 
most satisfactory condition of the finances, which 
may justly be attributed to the efiiciency of the 
official corps. 

In Bridgeton, N. J., the subject of this sketch 
was born June 29, 1849. His father, Steen Ed- 
wards (or, Edward Steen, as he was known in his 
native land) was born December 24, 18 10, in Co- 
penhagen, Denmark, and was reared in the hom? 

17 



of his grandfather Langeland. At fifteen years 
of age he was confirmed in the Lutheran Church. 
His education was received in a naval academy, 
and from 1825 to 1840 he was employed in a navy 
3'ard. Then, with a number of other men, he 
bought a vessel and planned to come to America 
in it, but the ship was wrecked offthe coast of 
Spain and all on board came nearly being lost. 
They landed in Bayonne, France, and sold the 
wreck for a small sum. Of all the men Mr. Ed- 
wards was the only one who had enough money 
to pursue his way to the United States. He set- 
tled in St. Louis, but after a year went to Natchez, 
where he lay ill with fever for six months. He 
then went to Florida as a volunteer in the Indian 
war, and after six months in active service was 
made an assistant in a hospital, for which work 
his knowledge of medicine fitted him. Later, for 
two years, he served as a physician in the army, 
and during the time he had charge of a small hos- 
pital. On retiring from the army he practiced 
medicine in northern Florida for a year, then 
spent five months in Havana, Cuba, after which 
he traveled through the southern states as physi- 
cian and dentist. 

In 1846 Mr. Edwards settled in Bridgeton, 
N.J., where he engaged in farming until 1857, 
and afterward give his attention for four years to 
the canning of vegetables and fruits. In 1871 he 
built a greenhouse and engaged in business as a 
florist, building up a large business that is now 
carried on by his sons. In 1883 he took into 
partnership his second son, Theodore E., the firm 
name becoming S. Edwards & Son. In Septem- 
ber, 1896, he gave up his interest to his son, 
Adolph E. , when the title was changed to T. E. 
Edwards & Bro. Since then he has lived in re- 
tirement on his farm near Bridgeton. For one 
of his age (eighty-nine) he is active and strong. 
He is a member of an old and honorable family 
in Denmark, whose genealogy appears in the 
" Familj' Tree of a family Steen in Denmark, 
Norway and the United States," prepared by H. 
H. Steen in 1896. 

The marriage of Steen Edwards, in 1848, uni- 
ted him with Miss Mary Ann Dare; she was born 
in Bridgeton, N. J., March 3, 1825, a daughter 



432 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



of Eli and Zelika (Seel}') Dare, and has always 
lived on the homestead where she was born. 
November i6, 1898, they celebrated their golden 
wedding. All of their sons (eight in number) 
are still living. They are as follows: Julius Steen, 
of this sketch; Theodore Edward, born June 22, 
1852, now in business at Bridgeton; Odin Ru- 
dolph, who was born June 21, 1855, and for sev- 
eral years was a merchant in Philadelphia, but is 
now superintendent of the Medico-Chirurgical 
Hospital in that city; Leslie Sherwood, who was 
born October 20, 1857, and is engaged in the 
nursery business at Glendora Springs, Los Gatos, 
Cal.; Adolph Eugene, who was born vSeptember 
6, 1861, and is a florist at Bridgeton; Devoux 
Bard, who was born May 13, 1864, and has en- 
gaged in the florist's business at Atlantic City, 
N. J., since 1884; Otto William, who was born 
September 7, 1867, and is a machinist in Camden, 
N.J. ; and Valdemar Emile,who was born Sep- 
tember 14, 1871, and is superintendent of an in- 
surance company at Bridgeton, N. J. 

The boyhood days of our subject were .spent in 
Bridgeton, where he and all of his brothers were 
born. He was educated in the public schools 
and in a commercial college in Philadelphia. For a 
time he was employed as a bookkeeper in Philadel- 
phia. From there, in April, 1 881, he came to Leav- 
enworth, where he has since made his home. For 
several years he was manager for a canning com- 
pany, and now holds a similar position with the 
Globe Canning Company, in which he holds an 
interest. At the organization of the Citizens' 
Building and Loan Association he was made pres- 
ident and served as such for four years, after which 
he was chosen treasurer, and he is now serving 
his twelfth 3'ear in the latter capacity. The 
greater part of his time is devoted to the manage- 
ment of the finances of the association, in which 
he has been unusually successful. In national 
politics he is a Republican, in local matters lib- 
eral. In 1886-87 he was a member of the city 
council. A member of the Presbj'terian Church, 
he officiates as a trustee of the same. Besides 
his other interests he is engaged with W. E. 
Fletcher in the insurance business, and with C. S. 
Hartough in the real-estate business. 



In Philadelphia, Pa., December 25, 1876, Mr. 
Edwards married Lizzie Drew Patterson, who 
was born there Maj' 29, 1849. Her father, Cal- 
lender Patterson, was born in Perry ville, Md., 
May 6, 1820, and is now a dentist in Philadel- 
phia; her mother, Lizzie Pierce Drew, was born 
in Providence, R. I., May i, 1816, and died in 
Philadelphia August 22, 1887. Mr. and Mrs. 
Edwards are the parents of two children. The 
son, Aubrey St. Clair, was born in Philadelphia 
January 19, 1879, and is a sergeant in Company 
C, Twentieth Kansas Infantrj-, now stationed at 
Manila. The daughter, Lillian Irene, was born 
in Leavenworth June 23, 1884, and is now com- 
pleting her education. The family stands high 
socially and its members are esteemed wherever 
known . 



EHAUNCEY FLORA, who is a pioneer of 
1857, is engaged in farming and stock- 
raising on section 10, Delaware Township, 
Leavenworth County. In 1894 he bought Green- 
wood cemetery and the fruit farm adjoining, con- 
sisting of thirty acres. The laud is planted in 
fruits of all kinds, mostly berries and grapes. 
He is making a .specialty of fine horses, and owns 
Chauncey F. (formerly Black Rover), with a 
record of 2:21, sired by Pretender, who was by 
Dictator; dam sired by Bourbon Wilkes, son of 
George Wilkes. This fine horse he keeps at the 
head of his stable. Among his colts is Free 
Silver, standard bred, by the sire of Falmouth 
(which has the best three-year old record); dam 
by Delbrino. On the farm is a large stable with 
twenty-three stalls, while all the other con- 
veniences of a stock farm may be seen here. 

Mr. Flora was born in Logansport, Ind., June 
4, 1848, a son of Hon. R. V. and Mary (Ross) 
Flora, atid a grandson of Adam Flora and John 
Ross. His paternal grandfather, who was the 
son of a German pioneer of Virginia, was a 
soldier in the war of 18 12 and afterward, with his 
family, removed from the Old Dominion to Ohio, 
settling upon a farm near Cincinnati, where he . 
died. One of his sons, Jacob, a soldier in the 
Mexican war, settled in Kansas in 1867 and died 
in McPherson County. R. V. Flora was a con- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



433 



tractor and builder in Indiana, and had the 
original contract for the Wabash Railroad from 
Delphi to Indianapolis, but, the company chang- 
ing hands, he was defrauded of f 100,000, the 
judgment for which is still preserved. In 1856 
he settled in Kansas, where he was a contractor 
and builder, building the state penitentiary, as 
well as store rooms and residences. About 1878 
he retired from business. He died in 1895, when 
eighty-one years of age. Politically a Democrat, 
he served as sheriflf and member of the legisla- 
ture for one term each and for several terms was 
a member of the city council. At the time of 
his death he was the oldest Mason in Kansas, 
where he was connected with the blue lodge, 
chapter and commandery. His first wife died in 
1855, leaving a son, Chauncey, and two daugh- 
ters, one of whom resides in Chicago, the other in 
lyincoln. Neb. His second marriage was child- 
less; by his third wife he had two sons, Horace 
P. and George V., both of whom are traveling 
salesmen. 

When a boy our subject worked at brick- 
laying about eighteen months, while his father 
was putting up the Fort lycavenworth buildings. 
In 1864 he and his father crossed the plains with 
two wagons and four yoke of oxen each, driving 
to Virginia City, Nev. Indians were trouble- 
some and they lost one of the men in their party 
on the return journey in 1865. After returning 
to Leavenworth our subject was for five years in 
the employ of Leibenstein & Co. , then was with 
James Wilson in the dress goods department of 
his store for a year. As traveling salesman for 
Haas & Co., of Leavenworth, he spent some 
years on the road in Kansas and Nebraska. He 
then entered the railway mail service as postal 
clerk between Kansas City and Kiowa, Kans., on 
the Santa Fe, but, at his request, his run was 
changed to the Kansas Central, between Leaven- 
worth aud Miltonvale. 

On the Democratic ticket, in the fall of 1889, 
Mr. Flora was elected sheriff of Leavenworth 
County, at first being chosen to fill a vacancy in 
the ofiSce, then was elected by a majority of seven 
hundred and ninety-nine. In 1891 he was nomi- 
nated again, biit as it was illegal for ^ sheriff to 



serve more than two terms, and as his election to 
fill a vacancy was considered one term, he did 
not become a candidate again. His father was 
placed on the ticket in his stead and was elected, 
he serving as undersheriff from 1892 to 1894. 
He was a very efficient officer, and captured 
many well-known crooks. Several murders were 
committed during his term of office, but only one 
murderer escaped him, and this man was located 
in Mexico, but the authorities refused to give 
him up. While serving as undersheriff Mr. 
Flora was a prominent candidate for United States 
marshal and had endorsements from every part 
of the state. During the strike at the Home 
mine he appointed twelve of the strikers deputies, 
and, knowing all the men, he soon quelled the 
riot; but his opponent took advantage of this fact 
and succeeded in turning enough votes to defeat 
him for marshal. 

In Leavenworth Mr. Flora married Jennie 
Fisher, who was born on the place where she still 
lives. Her father, George M. Fisher, came from 
Virginia to Kansas in 1855 and engaged in farm- 
ing in Leavenworth County until his death. Mr. 
Flora has one son, Lawson. He is identified 
with the Red Men and his wife is also a member 
of Pocahontas Tribe. He was made a Mason in 
King Solomon Lodge No. 10, and is now con- 
nected with the chapter and commandery also, 
while his wife is identified with the Eastern Star. 
In the Knights of Pythias he has served as 
chancellor. 



r"REDERICK W. HARTMAN. There are 
1^ few of the farmers of Douglas County who 
I have been more successful than the subject 
of this sketch. In 1870 he purchased two hun- 
dred acres of land in Marion Township. From 
this as a nucleus he has built up a large and 
finely improved farm, adding to the original 
acreage from time to time as his means permitted 
or the opportunity was presented. His total 
landed possessions now aggregate about twenty- 
two hundred acres in Franklin, Douglas and 
Osage Counties, to all of which property he 
gives personal supervision. On his home farm 
he has erected a residence that rivals many an 



434 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



elegant city home. The land, too, has been 
brought under an excellent state of cultivation. 
From 1885 to 1888 he rented his farm and moved 
to Baldwin City, but returned in i88g, and has 
since resided here. For some years he has been 
a director in the Kansas State Bank at Overbrook, 
0.sage County, and since 1897 has officiated as 
president of the institution. 

Born in Prussia, Germany, July 8, 1836, Mr. 
Hartman was a boy of twelve when his parents, 
Frederick M. and Jane (Burd) Hartman, crossed 
the ocean to the United States and settled in 
Sheboygan, Wis. There his father died in 1865, 
at the age of sixty-five, and his mother when 
eighty-eight years of age. There were four 
children in the family: Henry, who died in She- 
boygan, Wis.; Minnie, Mrs. Anton Meyer; 
Hannah, wife of Jacob Dingle; and Frederick 
W. The last named grew to manhood in Wis- 
consin, and in 1859 went to Sangamon County, 
111., where he worked on a farm for a few years. 
In 1862 he enlisted in Company A, Seventy-third 
Illinois Infantry, and was assigned to Sheridan's 
division, Army of the Cumberland, in whose 
engagements he participated until the close of the 
war. 

After a short visit in Illinois Mr. Hartman 
came to Kansas, in October, 1865, and settled in 
Ottawa. In the spring of 1S66 he went to the 
Indian Territory and bought cattle, which he 
drove to Ottawa. In 1867 he purchased eight}' 
acres in Franklin Countj' and there engaged in 
farming for three yeans. He then sold the prop- 
erty and bought his present farm in Marion 
Township, Douglas County. Since coming to 
Kansas he has made his own way in the world, 
and his success is worthy of commendation, for 
it has been acquired without outside assistance, 
but .solely through his own and his wife's energy 
and determination. For several years he was a 
member of the .school board, and he has aided in 
the erection of schoolhouses and also of churches. 
In politics he is a Republican. His marriage, in 
1868, united him with Cloey Etta Dial, who was 
born in West \^irginia, and by whom he has 
three children: Frederick M. ; Ida, wife of Robert 
Walker; and Henry F. Mrs. Hartman is a 



daughter of Thomas Dial, a native of North 
Carolina, who migrated to West Virginia in boy- 
hood and in later years became a large and pros- 
perous farmer there. 



(TACOB PLANZ, of Lawrence, was born in 
I the city of Alsfeld, Hesse-Darmstadt, Ger- 
\Z) many, October 10, 1842, a son of Eberhart 
and Elenore (Koch) Planz, natives of the same 
place. His paternal grandfather, Werner Planz, 
was a baker in Alsfeld and a member of an old 
family that had been Lutherans since the days of 
the reformation. He had two children, a son 
and daughter. The former was an industrious, 
persevering man, and doubtless would have be- 
come well-to-do had he not died at middle age. 
He married a daughter of Jacob Koch, a butcher 
in Alsfeld, and a member of an old family there. 
They were the parents of three daughters and 
one son, all of whom came to America. Their 
youngest child, Jacob, was reared in his native 
town and attended school until his confirmation 
at fourteen years of age. In boyhood be became 
familiar with the baker's trade, through having 
helped an uncle in his shop. 

Desiring to escape military oppression our sub- 
ject came to the United States in the fall of 1859. 
He left Bremenhaven in September on the sailer 
"Theresa," which landed in Baltimore after an 
uneventful voyage of six weeks. Stopping in 
that city he secured work as a baker on South 
St. Charles street, where he remained about two 
and one-half years. He then went to St. Louis, 
Mo. , where he first worked as a baker and later 
as a brewer. While there he served as a mem- 
ber of the state militia. In 1865 he came to 
Kansas. For a time he worked at his trade in 
Leavenworth, but on the gth of September of 
the same year he came to Lawrence, where for 
almost five years he was employed as first hand 
in the Lawrence bakery. He then started the 
Kansas bakery. In 1872 he bought the lot at 
No. 1 1 12 Pennsylvania street, and here he built 
the bakery which he still occupies. He has 
built up a very large business that is not limited 
to the city, but extends through the surrounding 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



435 



country and adjoining towns. Besides his busi- 
ness block he owns four houses here, his prop- 
erty holdings being quite valuable. 

In the city of l,awrence occurred the marriage 
of Mr. Planz to Miss Mary Stoebener, who was 
born in Germany and came to this country in 
company with her father, Marx Stoebener, settling 
upon a farm near Willow Springs, Douglas 
County, in 1866. Five children comprise the 
family of Mr. and Mrs. Planz, namely: Mrs. 
Mary Willmann, of Lawrence; Mrs. Louisa 
Sellers, of Scottsburg, Ind.; Gerhard, Berthold 
and Arthur Jacob, all of whom are bakers by 
trade and assist their father in the management 
of the bakery. In religion the family are of the 
Lutheran faith. 

©AMUEL DODSWORTH, deceased, formerly 
2\ mayor of Leavenworth, member of the city 
CyJ council and the board of education, was 
prominently identified with many important in- 
terests of his home town, and held a position 
among its most successful business men. Al- 
though almost his entire life was passed in Kan- 
sas, he was of eastern birth and parentage, and 
was born in New York City March 16, 1846. The 
Dodsworth family is of English lineage. His 
grandfather, Samuel Dodsworth, was a builder 
in England, while his father, John, also a native 
of that country, was reared in his native town, 
Birmingham, and in 1845 crossed the ocean, set- 
tling in New York City, where he worked at the 
bookbinder's trade. Later he was similarly en- 
gaged in Philadelphia. In 1855 he came to Kan- 
sas and at Lawrence opened the first bookbind- 
ing business in the entire territory. Among the 
contracts awarded him were those for the binding 
of the territorial and later of the state laws. He 
spent a short time in Iowa City, but returned to 
Lawrence, and in 1857 settled in Leavenworth. 
From that time he engaged in the stationery and 
book business until his death, which occurred in 
1862, at forty-one 5'ears of age. 

Just before leaving England, in 1845, John 
Dodsworth married Miss Charlotte Richardson, 
who was born in Birmingham. She was a daugh- 
ter of William Richardson, a gunsmith by trade, 



and a soldier in the English army during the Na- 
poleonic wars of 181 2-15. Of the children born 
to John and Charlotte Dodsworth two died 
young; Mrs. Annie M. Shoemaker resides in 
Leavenworth; and the only son, Samuel, is de- 
ceased. The last-named, on the death of his 
father, succeeded to the management of the sta- 
tioner}' and book business, and this he afterward 
successfully conducted. In addition to the man- 
agement of his business interests he was for two 
terms a member of the city council, and from 
1893 to 1895 served as mayor of Leavenworth, 
discharging the duties of that office with the 
fidelity and efficiency noticeable in every position 
that he occupied. Politically he was always a 
stanch Republican and always upheld party prin- 
ciples. His death occurred June 10, 1896. 

In Leavenworth, October 16, 1872, Samuel 
'Dodsworth and Miss Annie Few were united in 
marriage. Mrs. Dodsworth was born in Inde- 
pendence, Mo., where her parents. Dr. Samuel F. 
and Annie E. Few, were at the time residing. 
However, she was reared in Leavenworth, and 
has known no other home save this city. Her 
educational advantages were of a superior char- 
acter and admirably qualified her for the high 
position in society that she now holds. In relig- 
ion she is connected with the First Presbyterian 
Church and closely identified with many of its 
activities. Her family consists of five children: 
Lottie, who is a graduate of the high school; 
Walter, who has succeeded his father in the man- 
agement of the Samuel Dodsworth Book Com- 
pany on Delaware street; Marie, John and Helen, 
all at home. 



EHARLES A. ASHBY, who is engaged in 
farming in Douglas County, was born upon 
the farm which he now owns and operates. 
Through his paternal ancestors he descends from 
an old family of Virginia. His father, James C. 
Ashby,was born in Kentucky, and at an early 
age accompanied his parents to Indiana, where 
he was reared upon a farm, early becoming fa- 
miliar with agricultural pursuits. After his mar- 
riage he engaged in farming in that state until 
1S57, when he and his brother came to Kansas 



436 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



and pre-empted claims, he settling in Douglas 
County, and his brother locating directly across 
the line in Franklin County. Politically he 
was a Republican and always voted with his 
party, but took little part in public affairs. 
He was an earnest member of the Method- 
ist Epi.scopal Church, and a man of upright life, 
who won many friends in his locality. Through 
his energetic management he became the owner 
of three hundred and seventy acres, representing 
his unaided efforts. Upon the farm where he 
had resided for eleven years he died November 
30, 1868, aged forty-four years. 

The mother of our subject bore the maiden 
name of Mary F. Foster and was born in Ken- 
tucky, whence in 1829 she accompanied her par- 
ents to Indiana, settling in Putnam Count}', near 
the Ashby homestead. There she was reared, 
educated and married. Her father, Henry 
Foster, was born in Virginia near the Maryland 
state line, and was reared in Kentucky, where 
he learned the cabinet-maker's trade. In the 
early days of Indiana he entered land in that 
state, and there he resided until he died, at sixty- 
five years. He was of Scotch lineage. His 
wife, Jane (Nelson) Foster, was born in Ken- 
tucky in 1803, of Irish parentage. In 1866 she 
accompanied a son to Kansas and afterward re- 
mained in Baldwin until her death, at sixty-four 
years. After the death of Mr. Ashby, in 1868, 
his widow took up the management of the home 
farm, and upou it she afterward continued to 
reside. At an early age .she became a member 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and that de- 
nomination represented her religious views dur- 
ing her entire life. In its faith she passed from 
earth August 4, 1894, aged sixty-six years. In 
her family there were six children, Henry, 
Charles, Jennie, Alice, Mary and Rose. 

At the time of his father's death our subject 
was nearly ten years of age, he having been born 
December 5, 1858. He continued on the home- 
stead with his mother, upon whose death he in- 
herited a portion of the estate. Desiring to pos- 
sess the entire property he bought the interests 
of the other heirs, and now owns one hundred 
and si.xty acres of valuable land. Upon his 



place he engages in general farm pursuits and 
has also commenced to raise Durham cattle. He 
gives his attention quite closel}' to the manage- 
ment of his land, and does not mingle in political 
affairs anj- further than to ca.st a Republican 
vote at elections. 



(JOHN F. FAUCETT. When the tide of 
I emigration began to turn toward Kansas, 
(2/ among those who decided to come west was 
Mr. Faucett, then a young man living in Indiana. 
In 1S56 he started west by team. He spent the 
winter in Iowa and early in the spring resumed 
his journej', having traded his horses for two 
yoke of oxen, with which he drove through to 
Douglas County. In what was then a part of the 
Shawnee Indian reservation (now included in 
Palmyra Township), he entered a claim, March 
18, 1857. Settling on the place he put up a 
shanty and began the improvement of the land. 
Here he has since made his home. While 
serving in the army he sold a portion of his 
claim, in order to secure needed mone}' for the 
support of his family, and he now occupies eighty 
acres, all of which is under cultivation. 

Mr. Faucett was born August 12, 1825, in 
Hendricks County, Ind., the year after it was 
organized as a county. He is a member of an old 
\'irginia family. His grandfather, John Faucett, 
a native of the Old Dominion, was a boy of nine 
years when he, a brother and sister, and their 
mother, were taken prisoners by the Indians. 
The savages promised his mother that .she could 
return home, but her son never heard of her 
again. He was held a captive for three years, 
and afterward was taken b}- a chief as his son, 
being kindly treated in every way. Finallj' a 
white man bought him from the chief, giving a 
horse in exchange. He was taken into his 
benefactor's home and lived with him on a farm 
for some years. At the opening of the Revolu- 
tionary war he enlisted as a private and continued 
in the service uirtil the close of the conflict. In 
later years he was given a pension by the govern- 
ment. He moved from Virginia to Ohio and 
later to Indiana, where he died at eighty-six 
years. In politics he was a stanch Democrat. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



437 



He married Eva Frj% who was born in Virginia 
and died in Indiana at eighty-six years. Both 
were faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

The father of our subject, Joseph Faucett, was 
born on the Ohio River when his parents were 
moving from Virginia to Ohio. He was reared 
in the latter state and learned the tailor's trade in 
Franklin, afterward following that occupation for 
several years. From Ohio he removed to Hen- 
dricks County, Ind., and bought a tract of tim- 
ber land, which he cleared and improved, and 
upon which he remained until his death at 
seventy-three years. During the winter months, 
when it was impossible to do much on the farm, 
he worked at his trade, and at one time, while an 
apprentice, he had an order for an overcoat for 
General Harrison. He was an earnest Christian, 
holding membership in the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. Politically he voted with the Demo- 
crats, and upon his party ticket was elected to 
various local offices. He married Rebecca M. 
Huron, who was born in Ohio and died in In- 
diana, January i8, 1873, when about sixty-nine, 
her death occurring the same 5'ear as that of her 
husband. They were the parents of three sons 
and seven daughters, of whom six are now living. 

When a boy our subject assisted his father in 
clearing the home farm. His education was 
limited to about three months' attendance at the 
subscription school each winter. When he was 
twent3'-one he began to work by the month. 
Seven years later he married and settled on a 
rented farm, where he remained until his re- 
moval to Kansas. He has been a hard-working, 
persevering man, and is deserving of success. 
August 28, 1862, he enlisted in Company H, 
Second Kansas Cavalr3% and served as a private, 
taking part in various engagements. From 
January until July, 1863, he was stationed at 
Springfield, Mo., after which he went to Fort 
Smith, Ark. During the next winter he was at 
the outposts near that fort, and in March was sent 
south after Price, to prevent the latter from re- 
enforcing Smith on the Red River. L,ater he re- 
turned to Fort Smith and Van Buren. While he 
was never wounded in battle nor taken prisoner. 



he sustained an injury from a horse falling upon 
him, and he had many narrow escapes during his 
three years of service. His time was principally 
given to scouting and skirmishing. At the close 
of the war he was mustered out at Fort Gibson, 
in July, 1865. 

By the marriage of Mr. Faucett to Miss Mary 
E. Poe, of Hendricks County, Ind., three daugh- 
ters were born. They are: Ella, wife of Fred- 
erick Sturdy, of Galena, Kans. ; Effie, who mar- 
ried William Reed, of San Francisco, Cal. ; and 
Alma, wife of J. F. Keefer, a farmer of Douglas 
County, Kans. The family are connected with 
the Presbyterian Church, to which Mr. Faucett 
has contributed for years. Active in local affairs, 
he has always given his support to the Republican 
party. He is interested in Grand Army matters 
and belongs to Seth Kelley Post No. 410, at 
Vinland. 



GJMBROSE P. EGGLESTON. The pages of 
Ll this work would not be complete without 
I I appropriate mention of the gentleman whose 
name introduces this sketch. He is a pioneer of 
Tonganoxie Township, Eeavenworth County. 
To his energy and industrj' the native soil was 
made to yield an abundant harvest, and the wild 
stretch of land, covered with brush, has given 
way to cultivated farm land. Taking up two 
quarter- sections of land in the northern part of 
the township he erected a house and there he 
continued to reside for years. In 1896 he retired 
from active work and now makes his home across 
the county line in McLouth. 

Several generations of the Eggleston famil}' 
have resided in America. The first to come was 
Biggett Eggleston, who emigrated from England 
and whose wife was from Scotland. The family 
was worthily represented in the Revolution. 
Dutchess County, N. Y., was their home from an 
early day, and there our subject's father, Truman 
Eggleston, was born and reared, and spent his 
entire life engaged in farming. By his marriage 
to Eorinda Paine, three sons and four daughters 
were born, of whom our subject and two sisters 
alone survive. He was born in Dutchess Coun- 
ty, N. Y., April 25, 1826, and was Uext to the 



438 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



oldest of the famil}'. His education was obtained 
in district schools. At an early age he began to 
cultivate one of his father's farms. In 1849 he 
moved west as far as Ohio. He was the first of 
the family to seek a western home and was not a 
little criticised for so doing, but the after years 
proved the wisdom of the move. He taught 
school in and later near Toledo, and also bought 
a tract of timber land, which he cleared. In 1868 
he moved from Ohio to Kansas, where he after- 
ward engaged in stock-raising and farming. For 
many years he served as justice of the peace, an 
office that he filled worthily. In religion he is a 
Universalist. 

Before he was twenty-one Mr. Eggleston mar- 
ried Armilla Hayward, but she died two years 
later. In 1858 he married Catherine Johnson, 
who died in the summer of 1867. September 17, 
1868, he was united with lyida Phelps, of Michi- 
gan. Of their three children, two are living: 
Murray Chapin, who conducts the old home- 
stead; and Lorinda M., wife of John F. Harding, 
who lives near McLouth, Jefferson County. 



pCjlIyLIAM FEVURIvY owns seven hundred 

\ A / and twenty acres in Leavenworth County 
V V and is numbered among the most success- 
ful farmers and stock-raisers of Alexandria Town- 
.ship. He was born in Baden, Germany, April 
I, 1835, a .son of Michael and Catherine Fevurly, 
also natives of Baden. His father brought the 
family to America in 1841 and settled in Phila- 
delphia, but after five years removed to Elk 
County, Pa., and bought a farm near St. Mary's, 
remaining there for several years. In 1847 
the wife and mother died and the family then be- 
came scattered. At the time of his death he was 
fifty years of age. He had the religious belief of 
the Roman Catholic Church. His children are 
named as follows: Sarah, wife of Mathias Hon- 
atte, of Pennsylvania; Rosie A., who has been 
twice married and is now a widow; William; 
Robert, a farmer and stock-dealer in Leaven- 
worth County; Mrs. Kate Schultz, of Leaven- 
worth; and Hannah, who is mother superior of a 
convent in St. Louis, Mo. 



When our subject was fifteen years of age he 
secured work on a farm, for which he was paid 
$3 per month. After a year he went to Brook- 
ville. Pa., and worked at odd jobs there; 
later learned photography, which he followed in 
diSereut cities and towns of the west, staying a 
short time in each place. Having saved $2,000 
in the business, he stopped after twelve years and 
engaged in the brewery business, but lost all of 
his hard-earned savings. In 1857 he took up a 
claim in Minnesota. In the spring of the follow- 
ing year he settled in Weston, Kans., where he 
worked bj' the day in a pork-packing house. 
After a short time he went with a government 
surveying party to the Little Blue, where he re- 
mained for nine months. Afterward he traveled 
through Iowa and Minnesota, engaging in the 
picture business. In the spring of i860 he drove 
.six yoke of oxen across the plains to Salt Lake 
City, for which he was paid at the rate of $40 
a month and board. From there he went to 
California, where he engaged in mining, and 
became the owner of eighty feet in the Yellow 
Jacket. In the fall of 1863 he came to Leaven- 
worth County, having $7,000 which he inve.sted 
in land, and here he has since made his home. 
Though he is now past middle life, he can do as 
much work in one day as any one in his town- 
.ship, and is robu.st and heart}-. 

By his marriage to Miss Effie M. Coffin, of 
Minnesota, Mr. Fevurly had one son, Albert, who 
is now a wagonmaker in Easton, Leavenworth 
County. March 20, 1864, Mr. Fevurly was a 
second time married, his wife being Elizabeth J. 
McCarty, of Leavenworth County. They have 
six children, viz.: James F. and Robert, farmers 
in Alexandria Township; Mollie, wife of Milton 
Coates, of California; Fannie, who married James 
Alexander, a farmer and schoolteacher in this 
township; William Moses, and Lee, both at home. 
For fourteen years our subject has been a mem- 
ber of the school board. He has also filled the 
office of road overseer. In politics he is a Demo- 
crat, but independent in his views, especially in 
local affairs, as he believes in voting for the best 
qualified men, no matter what their politics may 
be. 




WILLIAM rATTlvRSON. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



441 



WILLIAM PATTERSON, chief superin- 
tendent of construction at the Kansas 
state penitentiary in Lansing, is one of 
the few men who have made the art of building 
and constructing a life study, and his chief aim 
has been to thoroughly master his chosen occu- 
pation. It may rightly be said that he has won 
for himself the name of one of the best building 
constructors and master mechanics in the coun- 
try. A man of quiet tastes, caring nothing for 
publicity, he is rarely seen in public assemblies, 
but prefers to spend his leisure hours in his 
home, to which he is devoted. 

Mr. Patterson was born in January, 1824, in 
Northumberland, England, his home being on 
the Scottish border. He learned the trade of 
mechanic under his father, William Patterson, Sr., 
who was an expert master mechanic and had 
charge of the construction of the county-seat of 
Chittingham. When he became a young man 
he left home and went to Newcastle, where he 
followed his trade four years. In 1850 he sailed 
for America in a ship on the Black Star line, and 
landed in New York after a voyage of thirty 
days. He remained in that city for three years 
and then went to Fredericksburg, Va., where he 
assisted in building the dam on the Rappahan- 
nock River. Afterward he began building rail- 
roads and bridges in the Shenandoah Valley, and 
many bridges that he built are still standing. 
For a time he worked at his trade on the south 
wing of the capitol in Washington. When the 
war broke out he was working in West Virginia 
and was obliged to remain there for a year. Fin- 
ally he secured a pass through the lines and went 
to Ohio, and from there in 1866 to Kansas, 
reaching Leavenworth in the fall of that year. 

When the foundation of the state penitentiary 
was laid, the state warden appointed Mr. Patter- 
son master mechanic and he had full charge of 
the construction of the left wing of the main 
building and the warden's home. In 1874 he 
was made general superintendent of construction. 
He had charge of the erection of the outer build- 
ings and the water plant. Through all the 
changes that have been made in the manage- 
ment of the penitentiary he has remained in his 



position, a fact which speaks well for him. He 
is now one of the oldest officers in the institution, 
and also one of the most highly respected men 
connected with it. In religion he and his family 
are identified with the Baptist Church. 

In 1848 Mr. Patterson married Miss Sarah 
Parker, who died in May, 1897. They were the 
parents of two daughters, namely: Isabelle, the 
widow of John Dodds, of Kansas City; and 
Euphemia, wife of William Bardthold. There 
are six grandchildren, to whose welfare their 
grandfather is deeply devoted. They are Will- 
iam and Clara Dodds, and Clarence, Edwin, 
Sarah and Nina Belle Bardthold. 



61 RNOLD FLINTJER, who is proprietor of an 
Ll insurance, loan and real-estate agency in 
/ I Leavenworth, owns and occupies a neat 
homestead of six acres near the city. He pos- 
sesses in a notable degree those qualities which 
are essential factors to success in any department 
of business life, namely: industry, perseverance, 
sagacious judgment and determination. In the 
possession of these sterling qualities he may rea- 
sonably hope for a large share of business suc- 
cess. A courteous and affable gentleman, his 
genial manner and recognized uprightness have 
won for him many friends in his home town and 
county. 

In Hanover, Germany, where he was born May 
7, 1857, Mr, Flintjer passed his boyhood days on 
a farm, attending school during the winter months 
and helping at home in the summer. In 1870 he 
accompanied the family to America and settled in 
Grundy County, Iowa, where he assisted in im- 
proving a farm. After seven years he came with 
his parents to Kansas, settling in Osborne County, 
where they acquired title to eleven hundred acres. 
In 1888 his father, Dade J. Flintjer, brought the 
family to Leavenworth County, and purchased a 
farm near the city of Leavenworth, where he con- 
tinued to reside until his death, April 14, 1895, 
at seventy-seven years of age. He had been a 
hard-working man, and for thirty-six years fol- 
lowed a seafaring life, but afterward engaged in 
farming. He was a man of religious character 



442 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



and worshiped with the Lutherans. In politics 
he voted the Democratic ticket. His wife, who 
bore the maiden name of Margaretta Brons, was 
born in Germany and died in Leavenworth Coun- 
ty, in August, 1897, at the age of seventy-two 
years. Like her husband she was a sincere 
Christian and a devoted member of the Lutheran 
Church. Of the six children in their family, 
John D., the eldest, is adjuster for an insur- 
ance company in Kansas City, Mo., and Daniel 
J. follows the same business in that city; Arnold 
was the third in order of birth; Everett is a gro- 
cer in Houston, Tex.; Maggie R. married Joseph 
Borchley and lives on the home farm; and Anton 
D. is connected with his brother in the grocery 
business at Houston. 

After the removal of the family to Leavenworth 
County our subject continued on the home farm 
until 1 89 1. He then came to Leavenworth and 
opened the agency which he has since conducted. 
Reared in the Lutheran faith, he still adheres to 
its doctrines. Politically he is a Democrat, but 
not active in partisan matters. 

His first wife was Augusta Albright, a native 
of Germany. She died in July, 1892, leaving five 
sons, Harry, Myron, Walter, Irving and William. 
Afterward he married Mrs. Bertha Herrwald, of 
Bonner Springs, Kans., who by her former mar- 
riage has a son, Henry. 



IILLIAM FREIENMUTH, head miller for 
the Tonganoxie Milling Company, is also 
extensively engaged in the fruit business. 
He owns a farm of two hundred acres in Tongan- 
oxie Township, Leavenworth County, of which 
he has seventy acres planted in fruit trees, all set 
out by himself. While he superintends the man- 
agement of the fruit orchard, he hires the labor 
done and makes the raising of fruit the principal 
industry on the place. In the management of 
his varied business interests he is keen and alert, 
quick to see an advantage, and equally quick to 
avail himself of it. 

The subject of this sketch was born in Switzer- 
land June 23, 1849. His father, whose name was 
the same as his own, emigrated from Switzer- 



land to South America and later settled in the 
United States. When a boy our subject worked 
in his father's mill. At twenty-five years of age 
he left his native land with his father and crossed 
the ocean to the Argentine Republic, where he 
engaged in farming. At that time wheat was 
just being started and he engaged in raising it, in 
connection with other cereals. After one j'ear 
devoted to farming he turned his attention to mill- 
ing, in which work he was occupied for two years. 
He then came to the United States and for a year 
was employed in St. Louis, later spent a year in 
a mill at Lawrence, Tex., also was in Dallas and 
Houston. In 1879 he settled in Kansas. At first 
he was employed in Bowersock's mill in Law- 
rence, later was appointed head miller in the Pa- 
cific mill, where he remained until 1889, and from 
there came to Tonganoxie. Since then he has 
been connected with the Tonganoxie Milling 
Company. The mill was built with a capacity of 
one hundred and fift}- barrels. It has been man- 
aged so carefully that it has gained a wide repu- 
tation for the excellence of its products. Eight 
men are employed outside of the office. In May, 
1899, 3 decided change was made in the manage- 
ment of the mill, by means of which it is now 
possible to grind hard wheat and also to econo- 
mize in power. 

In politics Mr. Freienmuth is independent, 
never having allied himself with any party. He 
is quiet and retiring by disposition, but genial 
and companionable with friends, and has gained a 
high place in the regard of those with whom he 
has had business relations. In Lawrence, Kans. , 
in 1885, he married Miss Eda Fischer, of that 
city. They are the parents of three children, Ed- 
ward Otto, Alma and William Hans. 



<A AJ.CLARKSON REYNOLDS, who is a pio- 
y neer and representative citizen of Palmyra 
(S Township, Douglas County, was born at 
Reynolds Mills, Randolph County, N. C, July 
7, 1828. His father, Isaac, also a native of that 
place, was in early life employed in a saw and 
grist mill and upon a farm there. When thirty 
years of age he removed to Parke Countj', Ind., 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



443 



where he spent two years upon a farm. His 
next location was in Wayne County, Ind., where 
he built one of the first steam mills in the state. 
After conducting this mill for thirteen years he 
removed to another point in the same county 
and bought a mill, which he conducted until a 
short time before his death. In politics he was 
first a Whig, later a free-soiler and Abolitionist, 
and finally a Republican, and he took an active 
part in local and national affairs. In religion he 
was a Quaker. He died at the age of eighty 
years. 

The grandfather of our subject, Francis Rey- 
nolds, was born in North Carolina and resided 
there until seventy-five years of age, when he 
went to Indiana, remaining there until his death, 
at the age of eighty-four years. Reared in the 
Quaker faith, he always adhered to that religion. 
His grandfather, a native of England, came to 
America for the purpose of seeking a home, and 
selected a location now occupied by the city of 
Philadelphia. He started back to England for 
his family, but was drowned at sea. Later his 
wife and children crossed the ocean and settled 
on land that he had selected. At that time, 
John, father of Francis Reynolds, was a mere 
child. The Reynolds family originated in France, 
but left that country for England on account of 
religious persecutions. 

Our subject's mother, who bore the maiden 
name of Sarah Hinshaw, was born in North 
Carolina and died in Indiana when thirty years 
of age. She left four children, the youngest of 
whom was only ten days old. Only two are now 
living, Edwin, of Henry County, Ind., and 
Clarkson. The last-named spent his boyhood 
days in Indiana, where his parents settled in 
1832. He learned the trades of carpenter and 
millwright, at which he was employed until 1850. 
Led by the discovery of gold in California he 
started west March 29, 1850, and crossed the 
plains, arriving at his destination September 15. 
After a year in the mines he went back to Indi- 
ana. In 1855 he settled upon a tract of wild land 
in Jo Daviess County, 111., but in the spring of 
1857 came via ox -team to Kansas, spending five 
weeks and two days on the way. Arriving in 



Douglas County, he settled on a tract of one 
hundred and sixty acres in Palmyra Township, 
and there he remained until 1872, when he sold 
the place. Next he went to Linn County, bought 
wild land and engaged in bringing it under culti- 
vation. In 1878 he sold out there and bought 
his present farm, desiring to be near a good 
school, where his children might have desired 
educational advantages. 

May 23, 1852, Major Reynolds married Miss 
Olinda B. Routh,who was born in Wayne County, 
Ind., January 16, 1832, and spent her girlhood 
years in the house where she was born and mar- 
ried. Her father, Joseph Routh, a native of East 
Tennessee, went to Indiana in youth and settled 
on a farm, where he spent his remaining years. 
At the time of his death he was sixty years of 
age. During the Civil war he had four sons and 
two sons-in-law in the Union army. He married 
Letitia Burroughs, who was born in Ohio and 
accompanied her parents to Indiana in girlhood, 
the country at that time being new and unim- 
proved and Indians still roaming through the 
forests. She died there at fifty years of age. 
Major Reynolds and wife are the parents of five 
children: Dora J., wife of Marion Hathaway, 
of Muncie, Ind.; Sarah Letitia, who was born in 
Illinois and is the wife of William H. Riggs, of 
Osage County, Kans. ; Thomas Arthur, who 
was born in Kansas during the territorial days, 
and is now president of the Kanask Mining Com- 
pany of Arkansas, chief of the Coffey ville (Kans. ) 
fire department, and connected with a store in 
the latter city; Mattie Alice, who married Will- 
iam A. Stephens and resides in Eldorado Springs, 
Mo.; and Charles Edwin, who is clerking in a 
hardware store in Coffeyville. 

Active in the Republican party, Major Rey- 
nolds was in 1859 elected the first assessor of his 
township. Since then he has frequently served 
as trustee and assessor. For nineteen years he 
served as a member of the school board. October 
10, 186 1, he enlisted as a private in Company B, 
Ninth Kansas Cavalry, and served in the ranks 
for eighteen months, being mustered out April i, 
1863. He then returned to Douglas County and 
in the fall of 1863 was elected to the legislature. 



444 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



serving in the session of 1864. During the latter 
year he assisted in raising the Sixteenth Kansas 
Cavalry, and in October was commissioned major 
of the regiment, which was ordered to Colorado 
to protect the people from the Indians. He was 
mustered out in Leavenworth December 6, 1865. 
His interest in army matters led him to allj' 
himself with the Grand Army. He belongs to 
E. D. Baker Post No. 40, at Baldwin, of which he 
was adjutant for two j^ears and commander one 
year. In 1853 he was made a Mason at Economy, 
Ind. He is the only living charter member of 
Palmyra Lodge No. 23, A. F. & A. M., in 
Baldwin, which he assisted in founding and of 
which he was master for eighteen years. He 
was reared in the Quaker faith, but marrying 
outside of the sect has not since been identified 
with it. He has been prospered financially 
and now owns one hundred acres of as good land 
as may be found in Palmyra Township. 



30SEPH H. DREISBACH. The position 
occupied by Mr. Dreisbach in Tonganoxie is 
that of one of its most prominent and suc- 
cessful business men. With many of the best 
known enterprises of the town he is intimately 
identified. His reputation is that of a successful 
business man, who, while aggressive and push- 
ing, is yet guided by a conservative judgment 
and shrewd common sense, and who uses sound 
judgment in all of his business transactions. In 
1892, with his father and brothers, he opened a 
general mercantile store, and thus was founded 
the large establishment he now conducts. He 
built up a large and profitable trade, occupying a 
three-story building 30 x 100 feet in dimensions, 
and stocking it with a complete line of mer- 
chandise; but in 1899 he closed out his .stock of 
dry goods and boots and shoes and has since 
made a specialty of hardware and agricultural 
implements, handling the McCormick reapers, 
Nichols and Shepherd threshers, Studebaker 
wagons, the Bradley, Wheeler and J. I. Case 
machinery, etc. Besides this business he has 
other interests. In 1898, with Whitsed Laming 
and W. C. Phenicie, he bought the mill propert}', 



introduced a new rotary sifting process and 
organized the Tonganoxie Milling Company, of 
which he is president. The mill has a capacity 
of two hundred barrels a day, and has proved 
one of the most important industries in the town. 
He is also a stockholder in the Tonganoxie 
Creamerj- Company and the Tonganoxie Building 
and Loan Association. In 1898 he built a corn 
elevator with a capacity of five thousand bushels, 
and he has aLso operated acorn mill since 1892. 

Mr. Dreisbach was born in Franklin Township, 
Carbon County, Pa., August 24, 1862, a son of 
D. H. and Mary E. (Benner) Dreisbach. His 
grandfather, Daniel Dreisbach, a native of Penn- 
sylvania and a farmer by calling, was a son of 
Gustavus Dreisbach, who was born in North- 
ampton County, of French and German descent, 
and married Rebecca Solt, who was born in 
Pennsylvania, of French de.scent, and was the 
daughter of a Revolutionary soldier. All the 
ancestors were Lutherans. H. D. Dreisbach was 
born in what is now Carbon Countj' July 21, 
1831, and was the oldest son in a family of ten 
children. At .seventeen years of age he went to 
Allentown, where he learned the wagon-maker's 
trade, and then returned home and opened a 
shop. Later he was engaged in the lumber busi- 
ness at Pine Run, Carbon County, and after^vard 
was employed at Maria Furnace. After having 
carried on a store of his own in Ironton, Pa., he 
spent several years on a farm in Carbon County, 
and then put down two wells in Venango County. 
At Milton, Pa., he was for three years a member 
of the firm of Balliet, Dreisbach & Klinger, pro- 
prietors of a lumber business and planing mill. 
In 1868 he came to Kansas and settled on a farm 
of one hundred and seventy-eight acres in Sher- 
man Township, Leavenworth County, which 
property he still owns. In the fall of 1892 he 
settled in Tonganoxie, where the firm of J. H. 
Dreisbach & Co. began in business, its members 
being himself and his sons, J. H., L. K. and A. J. 
L. K. Dreisbach has since retired from the firm. 
In January, 1897, he assisted in organizing the 
Tonganoxie Creamery Company, of which he is 
treasurer and a director. 

September 5, 1854, at Allentown, Pa., Mr. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



445 



Dreisbach married Mary E. Benner, daughter of 
Jesse and Harriet (Balliet) Benner. Her father 
died in early manhood and her mother afterward 
became the wife of Samuel Eewis, a prominent 
man of AUentown, who died in 1897. Mrs. 
Lewis is still living in that city. Her ancestors 
came to Pennsylvania from France at the time of 
the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and their 
ancestry can be traced, in unbroken line, to a 
great warrior of France in the sixth century. 
The first of the family in this country was 
Paulus Balliet. In early days the name was 
spelled Ballyard. The children of Mr. and Mrs. 
Dreisbach were eight in number, viz.: Emma, 
who died at sixteen years; Susan and Delia, of 
Leavenworth County; Mrs. Harriet Baker, of 
Kansas City; Asa, who is with our subject in 
business; Mrs. Mary Cheesman, of Tonganoxie; 
Joseph H. and Lawrence K. The father is a 
member of the People's party and was its candi- 
date for county treasurer in 1894. In religion he 
is identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
Fraternally he is connected with the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows and the Masons. 

Since the age of six years our subject has 
made his home in Leavenworth County. He 
remained on his father's farm until 1888, when 
he married and bought a farm in Reno Township, 
remaining there for four years and engaging in 
the stock business. The farm consisted of nine 
hundred and sixty acres and was situated four 
miles south of Tonganoxie. In politics he votes 
with the Populists at national elections, but in 
local matters favors the best man, irrespective of 
party. His marriage took place in Reno Town- 
ship and united him with Mrs. Madeline (Jee) 
Davis, who was born in England, a daughter of 
Alfred Jee, of that country. 



r^ETER EVERHARDY, sheriff of Leaven- 
U' worth County, and a resident of the city of 
\^ Leavenworth since September 22, 1866, was 
born in Cincinnati, Ohio, a son of Matthew and 
Margaret (Conner) Everhardy, natives of Prus- 
sia. His father, who came to America in 1833, 
settled in Cincinnati when that now large and 



prosperous city was a broad stretch of hazel 
brush, with a very few houses, these built of logs. 
He became a gardener in Cummingsville, now a 
part of Cincinnati, and there he died at the age 
of fifty-five years, when our subject was a small 
child. He had been twice married, and by his 
first wife, who died in 1853, he had eight chil- 
dren, four now living, viz.: Josephine Poff and 
Agnes Haag, in Leavenworth; Jacob, in Califor- 
nia; and Peter. Of the second marriage one 
child was born, a daughter, Mary, now living in 
Ohio. 

In Cincinnati, where he was born October 27, 
1847, the boyhood days of our subject were 
passed. He assisted his father in their market 
garden. In 1858 his older brother, Jacob, who 
had learned the butcher's trade, established his 
home in Leavenworth, and in 1866 our subject 
joined him here. He learned the butcher's trade 
under his brother, with whom he remained until 
1873 as an employe, and afterward the two were 
as.sociated together under the firm name of Ever- 
hardy Brothers, their place of business being No. 
205 North Fifth street. About 1875 our subject 
bought his brother's interest in the business, 
which he conducted alone, occupying a brick 
business house, which he had purchased. For 
years be has been at the head of this bu.siness, 
which is known as the Central Meat Market. In 
addition to his bu,siness property he is the owner 
of two houses on Seneca street. 

The marriage of Mr. Everhardy, in Leaven- 
worth, united him with Miss Lizzie Nagle, who 
was born in Cincinnati. They are the parents 
of five children. Their son, Jacob, graduated 
from the Jesuit College at St. Mary's, Kans., 
with the degree of A. B., and afterward gradu- 
ated from the Kansas City University Medical 
College with the degree of M. D., since which 
time he has practiced his profession in Leaven- 
worth. The daughters are Mary, Clara, Blanche 
and Louise. 

The Democratic party has always received the 
stanch allegiance of Mr. Everhardy, and he has 
been prominent in its local councils. In 1893 he 
was nominated for mayor, but the nomination 
was against his wishes and he declined to accept 



446 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



the candidacy. In the fall of 1897 he accepted 
the Democratic nomination for sheriff of Leaven- 
worth County and was elected by a majority of 
six hundred and six. He took the oath of office 
January 10, 1898, for a term of two years. This 
position he has filled with efficiency and fidelity, 
his service giving satisfaction to all concerned. 
Fraternally he is connected with the Modern 
Woodmen of America. He is identified with St. 
Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, and is con- 
nected with Branch No. i, C. M. B. A., of which 
he is a trustee. 

(John FLINNER. one of the fine farms of 
I Leavenworth County lies in High Prairie 
O Township and is owned by Mr. Flinner, to 
whose perseverance and energy its thrifty appear- 
ance is due. His lauded possessions aggregate 
three hundred and thirty acres, upon which he 
has made improvements that greatly increase the 
value of the property. In all of his work he uses 
sound judgment and business sense, hence he has 
been more than ordinarily successful, both in the 
raising of cereals and in stock-dealing. On his 
place may be seen draft horses, Shorthorn cattle 
and Poland-China hogs, and as a stock-farmer 
he is second to no one in his township. The usual 
improvements of a model estate may be seen on 
his farm, including a neat residence, good fencing, 
shade and fruit trees, etc. In 1893 he erected a 
barn which is one of the best in the county, con- 
taining, as it does, every modern equipment and 
convenience for the shelter of stock or the .storage 
of grain. 

Mr. Flinner was born at Neuengronau, near 
Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany, January 3, 
1852. He was educated in common schools and 
was employed as a sheep herder and also in roof- 
tiling works. December 26, 1867, he arrived in 
New York from his native land. After two weeks 
he went to Millersburg, Ohio, and near there he 
worked on a farm by the month for four years. 
Afterward he worked at the carpenter's trade for 
eight years. In the spring of 1882 he came to 
Leavenworth County and bought one hundred 
and ninety acres of unimproved land. Here he 
has since made his home. Possessing inventive 



abilit5\ he has given considerable attention to the 
invention of useful articles. In 1880 he patented 
a gate, and in 188 1 and 1888 patented improve- 
ments to the same; from the sale of these gates 
he has made considerable money. He is the pat- 
entee of the conductor's magnetic check-holder, 
used on passenger cars to hold checks, etc. (pat- 
ented July 18, 1899); also invented, in 1883, but 
did not patent, a rotary engine; and invented a 
fence weaving machine for the weaving of wire 
fence. Some twenty years ago he put up a small 
telephone, but never took out a patent for it. 

In politics Mr. Flinner is liberal, but inclines 
toward the Democratic party, being a supporter 
of free trade. He has served as delegate to local 
conventions and for two terms held the office of 
township treasurer. December 27, 1873, he mar- 
ried Miss Emma Sommer Manichwalde, who was 
born in Crimmitshau, Germany, and came to 
America in girlhood. They have five children: 
Louis, who isengaged in farming in this county; 
William, John, Laura and Max, at home. In the 
spring of 1896 Mr. Flinner and his wife went to 
Europe, where they remained for five months. 



Gl DOLPHUS D. BUTELL. In the occupa- 
Ll tion of buying and feeding cattle and raising 
/ I sheep, Mr. Butell has been more than or- 
dinarily successful, and he is recognized as one 
of the leading stock dealers of Douglas County. 
He is the owner of a farm in Palmyra Township 
comprising three hundred and fifteen acres, the 
most of which is in grass and pasture, as the 
owner believes stock-farming to be more profit- 
able than the raising of grain. His place ad- 
joins the old family homestead and is improved 
with substantial buildings and other accessories 
of a first-class estate. • In addition to the super- 
vision of these interests he is also president of 
the State Bank of Baldwin. 

Near where he now lives, in Palmyra Town- 
ship, Mr. Butell was born November 2, 1858. 
His father, Charles Butell, was a native of 
France, and after his marriage to Rose Stickle 
followed the brick and lime business for a .short 
time. In 1853 he crossed the ocean and settled in 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



447 



Kankakee, 111., remaining there until the fall of 
1855, when he came to Kansas and took up land 
still owned by the family. He was one of the 
very first permanent settlers in Palmyra Town- 
ship, where he improved a farm and gave his at- 
tention to agricultural pursuits. Here he died 
September 13, 1871, at the age of forty-three 
years and six months. He was fairly successful 
in life and left three hundred and twenty acres of 
land, besides other realty, all of which repre- 
sented his unaided efforts. During the Price 
raid he served in the state militia. He was a 
firm Democrat and active in party affairs, but 
never sought ofiBce. His wife, who was born in 
France in 1828, is still living on the old home- 
stead. Both were members of the Roman Catholic 
Church from childhood and in that faith reared 
their children. They were the parents of four 
sons and two daughters, viz.: Joseph, a farmer 
in Franklin County, Kans. ; Mary, wife of Nar- 
cissa Averill, a Frenchman, living in Franklin 
County; James, a farmer of Douglas County; 
Ira S., who is engaged in farming in Osage 
County; Ernestine, wife of Thomas Dyer, of 
Douglas County; and Adolphus D. 

Continuing to live at the old homestead until 
thirty-five years of age, our subject then married 
and established his home on his present farm, 
which he had previously purchased. He has al- 
ways resided in the same neighborhood and has 
many friends among the people of the township. 
Politically he is a Democrat, but is liberal in 
his ideas, and never shows a partisan spirit in 
his views. By his marriage to Miss Victoria 
Jardon, who has always lived in this township, 
he has three children, Ernest, Helen and Carl. 



ROBERT GARRETT. Prominent among 
the pioneer business men of Leavenworth is 
the subject of this article. His life history 
illustrates what may be attained by faithful and 
continued effort in carrying out an honest pur- 
pose. From the age of fifteen, when he began 
an apprenticeship to the dry-goods trade, he has 
been constantly identified with the mercantile 
business. Activity, integrity and energy have 



brought him success, and his connection with 
various industries has been a decided advantage 
to his home city, promoting its material wel- 
fare in no small degree. 

Among those who are now conspicuous in the 
commercial enterprises of Leavenworth there are 
very few who were associated with its history 
during the stirring days of the '50s and who 
participated in its growth at a time when the 
pros and cons of the slavery excitement ran high. 
In this list of pioneers belongs the name of Mr. 
Garrett. It was in 1857 that he came to Leaven- 
worth, then a small frontier village nearly three 
hundred miles below Omaha. The town had 
small claim to consideration, except for the rea- 
son that a government military post was near bj'. 
From that time to this he has been a resident of 
the place, has witnessed its growth to the most 
populous city of Kansas, and has himself con- 
tributed his quota to the advancement of its busi- 
ness interests. 

The Garrett family originated in Scotland. 
Jack Garrett, a farmer by occupation and an elder 
in the Scotch Presbyterian Church, removed 
from his native land to County Down, Ireland, 
where he died at almost eighty years of age. 
His son, John, who was born in County Down, 
engaged in farming there until his death, at for- 
ty-three years of age; he married Eliza Urey, who 
was born in County Down, of Scotch descent, 
and who died in 1877, at the age of almost ninety 
years. Both were Presbyterians in religious be- 
lief. They were the parents of eight sons and 
one daughter, viz.: James, who died in Ireland; 
Mrs. Susanna Hammond, a widow living in Ire- 
land; William, who engaged in business for some 
time in the United States, but died in his native 
country; Samuel, who died in Kentucky in 1895; 
Robert; Alexander, who came to Kansas with 
Robert in 1857, but returned east in 1874 and 
died in North Carolina in 1S94; John, who died 
in Kentucky; Frank, whose death occurred in 
Ireland; and Joseph, who died in Kentucky. 

Born in County Down in 1823, Mr. Garrett 
emigrated to the United States in 1847 on the 
sailer "Glenmore," which anchored in New York 
after a voyage of eight weeks. He settled at 



448 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Princeton, Caldwell County, K\-., where for ten 
years he engaged in merchandising. From that 
state he came to Kansas in 1857 and opened a 
grocery on Third and Cherokee streets, Leaven- 
worth, where he built up a wholesale trade that 
extended throughout the entire state. During 
the war he served as a member of the Leaven- 
worth National Guard. He continued as a gro- 
cer until 1867, when he turned his attention to 
the lumber business, opening a yard and estab- 
lishing a trade that has since grown to large pro- 
portions. He now has his office and yard on 
Sixth and Cherokee streets, and is the oldest 
lumber merchant in the city. Until 1872 the 
business was carried on under the firm title of 
Garrett & Ru.sh, but afterward the firm name 
was Robert Garrett & Co., and in 1880 his son, 
John R., was admitted as a partner, the title, 
however, remaining unchanged. During the 
spring of 1880 a branch lumber business was es- 
tablished in Kansas City, Kans., where the firm 
of Garrett & Griest have established a growing 
and profitable trade. 

During his residence in Kentucky Mr. Garrett 
was united in marriage with Miss Ellen Cobb, 
who was born there. Five children comprise 
their family, namely: Mary, who graduated from 
the high school of Leavenworth, and is now the 
wife of Joseph S. Keith, of Kansas City, Mo.; 
John R., who is his father's business partner; 
Samuel C, a graduate of the business college of 
this city and now bookkeeper for his father; 
Frank, who graduated from the high school, 
Hamilton College, and the law department of the 
Michigan State University, and is now an attor- 
ney in Los Angeles, Cal.; and Joseph H., who 
resides in Leavenworth. 

In political views Mr. Garrett supports Demo- 
cratic principles, but has never been active in 
politics, nor desired offices of a public nature, 
preferring to devote himself to his business af- 
fairs. He assisted in organizing the Manufac- 
turers' National Bank, and was a member of the 
board of directors until he severed his connection 
with the bank. He is one of the oldest surviving 
members of the First Presbyterian Church, in 
which he has long officiated as a deacon. A man 



of known reliability and excellent judgment, he 
has prospered in his undertakings, and is now 
the owner of property in the cit3', of whose busi- 
ness men he is among the most progressive and 
enterprising. In the midst of his busy life and 
his pleasant surroundings he has never forgotten 
his old home beyond the seas, and in 1871, a few 
years before the death of his aged mother, he re- 
turned to Ireland to visit her, at the same time 
renewing the associations of his boyhood's home. 



REAZIN V. FLORA. The year 1857 was a 
momentous one in the history of Kansas, 
for it was then that hundreds of men came to 
the state in order to assist in deciding its fate as 
a free or slave state, and many of these men in 
after days were intimately identified with the prog- 
ress of the commonwealth. Among these pio- 
neers was Mr. Flora, a contractor and builder, 
who had followed that occupation successfully 
in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Logansport, Ind. He 
came west at a time of great excitement, when 
the dark clouds of civil strife were hovering 
over the state and when the storm was almost 
read}' to sweep over a whole nation. His after 
life was connected with the history of Leaven- 
worth, of which he was a pioneer and prominent 
citizen. Like all pioneers, he was hospitable and 
generous; yet he possessed decided opinions, in the 
expression of which he was frank. He was a 
man of quiet tastes, and the positions of official 
prominence which he held were not of his seek- 
ing; but, when elected to them, he was faithful 
in the discharge of the trust. 

A native of West Virginia, born in Wirt County 
in 1813, Mr. Flora was a son of Adam Flora, a 
soldier in the war of 1812. His ancestors were 
colonial settlers of Virginia and a number of the 
family took part in the Revolutionary war. At 
the time he settled in Leavenworth he was a 
man of middle age. Being an efficient con- 
tractor he was given many important contracts 
and furnished employment for hundreds of work- 
men. He held a number of contracts with the 
government, and erected several buildings for the 
government at Fort Leavenworth, and he also had 




DELOS N. BARNES. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



451 



a contract with the state to erect the first wing of 
the state penitentiary at Lansing. Many sub- 
stantial business blocks in Leavenworth were 
erected under his supervision, and he continued 
actively engaged in business until his retirement 
in 1880. 

In politics Mr. Flora was a Jacksonian Demo- 
crat of the original type. He always held to the 
principles of his party and voted the ticket at lo- 
cal and general elections. During the border 
warfare days he was a member of the city coun- 
cil, at the time that D. R. Anthony was mayor. 
For two years he held office as sheriff of Leaven- 
worth County, a position of greatresponsibility, but 
which he filled efficiently. In i86g he was elected 
to the state legislature and served in that body 
for one term. Fraternally he was interested in 
Masonry and held membership in the blue lodge, 
chapter and commandery, being a Knight Temp- 
lar. He was twice married. His first wife, 
who was Jane McCoy, died in Logansport, Ind. , 
leaving threechildren: Chauncey, of Leavenworth; 
Mary, wife of Charles J. Smith, of Chicago; and 
Annabel, who married J. A. Stiner, of Lincoln, 
Neb. During the year of his removal to Leaven- 
worth he was united in marriage with Mrs. 
Margaret (Bell) Strait, by whom he had two 
sons, Horace P. and George V.. both traveling 
salesmen, with headquarters in Leavenworth. 
The death of Mr. Flora occurred in this city 
March 15, 1895. 

0ELOS N. BARNES, of Leavenworth, a pio- 
neer of '59 in Kansas, is a member of a 
family that has been represented in America 
since the latter part of the seventeenth century or 
early part of the eighteenth century. The line of 
genealogy and the various generations cannot be 
definitely traced, however, owing to the fact that 
his father, James Barnes, was left an orphan in 
childhood and hence never learned the family 
history. But it may be inferred from the record 
made by nineteenth century representatives that 
preceding generations were loyally devoted to 
the welfare of our country and large contributors 
to its development. 

Reared by an uncle in Oneida County, N. Y., 
18 



James Barnes made agriculture his life work. 
During the war of 181 2 he was the first man to 
respond to the call for volunteers to defend 
Sacket's Harbor, and enlisted at Rome, N. Y. 
When Chautauqua County was virtually a wilder- 
ness, ere yet an attempt had been made to reclaim 
its forests from their primitive wildness, he set- 
tled there and cleared a tract of land, on which 
he made many valuable improvements. Starting 
in as a farmer on a small scale, he gradually added 
to his possessions, and in time became the owner 
of four hundred acres. He experienced the hard- 
ships and deprivations incident to pioneer life, 
but, unlike many pioneers, was spared to see 
much of the result of his work and to enjoy the 
comforts his years of toil rendered possible. In 
politics he was a Whig until the formation of the 
Republican party, which party, after 1856, he 
supported with his vote. His marriage united 
him with Amanda, daughter of Solomon Noble, 
of Oneida County, N. Y., and a descendant of a 
family that was represented among the early set- 
tlers of Virginia; her great-grandmother was a 
member of the well-known Loudoun County 
family of Lees. 

Of a family of four children, the subject of this 
article is the sole survivor. His primary educa- 
tion was obtained in a school kept in a log house 
that had been built by the people of the immedi- 
ate neighborhood. Afterward he attended an 
academy in Westfield, and later was a student in 
Union College at Schenectady, N. Y. Meantime, 
during vacations, he assisted his father in making 
improvements on the home place; but upon the 
completion of his college course he left New 
York and went to Chicago, where, as civil 
engineer, he was connected with the building of 
the Chicago & Galena Railroad. In 1853 he lo- 
cated and had charge of the building of a divis- 
ion of the Chicago & Milwaukee road, and was 
connected with the Illinois & Wisconsin. 
These various lines were soon consolidated with 
the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, into 
which they were merged. 

When making explorations from Fond du Lac 
to strike the iron region, Mr. Barnes spent the 
summer of 1857 in preliminary surveys for the 



452 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



road, and in this work had Indians as his guides. 
However, the panic of 1857 put an end to further 
operations in that locality. For two years he was 
employed as chief engineer for the road running 
southwest from Oshko.sh, Wis. In 1859 he ac- 
cepted a position as chief engineer of the Park- 
ville & Giand River road, and had charge of the 
building of the roadbed from Parkville to Cam- 
eron. The outbreak of the Civil war prevented 
the completion of the road. In 1861 he bought 
a flock of sheep in New York and shipped them 
to Burlington, Iowa, from which point he had 
them driven to Kansas; this was the first flock of 
any size brought into the state. 

Owing to physical disability, Mr. Barnes was 
not eligible to enlistment in the army, but he en- 
tered the government service as master of trans- 
portation in the Second Cavalry, acting generally 
as agent for the quartermaster, looking after 
trains and providing forage for the regiment 
while on the march. In 1863-64 he was princi- 
pally engaged in providing supplies for the post 
at Fort Leavenworth. In the fall of the latter 
year he was sent by Quarterma.ster Durbin to 
gather the transportation property on the route 
between Forts Leavenworth and Smith, and take 
it out of the reach of Price's men, then raiding 
in this country. This difficult task he accom- 
plished successfully, without the loss of any of 
the government property, which he removed thirty 
or forty miles from the border and retained it 
there until the fight was over. 

In 1859 Mr. Barnes had taken up land in Kan- 
sas, and three years later he purcha.sed a farm 
of three hundred and twenty acres in High 
Prairie Town.ship, upon which he placed his 
family. After the surrender of Lee and the fall 
of the Confederacy he took up his residence on 
this farm and remained on the place until 1878, 
meanwhile operating eight hundred and eightj' 
acres as a stock and dairy farm. Removing into 
town in 1878, he was for several years engaged in 
building the Leavenworth, Topeka & Southwest- 
ern Railroad and the Topeka, Salina & West- 
ern Railroad. Afterward he became interested 
in building a part of the sewerage system of 
Kansas City. Of recent years he has given 



his attention to various industries, the manufac- 
ture of furniture and other mercantile enterprises, 
but lately chiefly to the ovensight of his farms in 
this county, as well as two farms he owns in Mis- 
souri. Besides these properties he owns consid- 
erable real estate in Kansas Citj' and Leaven- 
worth and has a comfortable home at No. 613 
Chestnut street, Leavenworth, built by himself 
in 1882-83. 

While not active in politics, Mr. Barnes has al- 
ways supported Republican principles. During 
the trying times prior to the war he did much 
by his influence to maintain law and justice in 
Kansas, and his conservative judgment acted as 
a wise check to men whose impulses were rasher 
than his. The Union had in him a stanch sup- 
porter. For twenty' years he served as county 
engineer, for four years was county surveyor and 
for a similar period held the position of city en- 
gineer, being in charge of the latter oflBce at the 
time the Leavenworth, Topeka & Southwe.stern 
road was building. It has been his steadfast 
policy' to refu.se nomination for political oflSces, 
and when nominated at one time for representa- 
tive he refused the nomination. For four years, 
under Governor Martin, he had the contract for 
handling the product of the state coal mine, and 
was the only one ever holding the contract who 
carried it out successfully. In fraternal relations 
he is a Royal Arch Mason. 

February 2, 1859, Mr. Barnes married Caro- 
line M. Wilson, of We.stfield, Chautauqua 
County, N. Y. She was a daughter of John 
Wilson, a lineal descendant of the Scotch Stuarts, 
and the youngest of a large family of children 
whose parents emigrated from Scotland and set- 
tled in the eastern part of New York. He 
was the only one of the children born in the 
United States. His occupation was that of farm- 
ing. Mr. and Mrs. Barnes became the parents of 
four children: Hiram Wilson, a farmer of Leav- 
enworth County; Jennie, wife of Thomas With- 
ers, a civil and mining engineer of Denver, 
Colo.; Jessie and Caroline A., accomplished and 
popular young ladies, who are taking care of the 
home since the death of their mother. The 
young ladies are members of the Whittier Club, 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



453 



the oldest and best-known young ladies' club of 
Leavenworth, of which Miss Jessie is now presi- 
dent, she being the thirteenth who has held the 
office. Mr. Barnes suffered the loss of his wife, 
who departed this life February ii, 1893, deeply 
mourned, not only by the family, who were de- 
prived of her loving care, but also by a large 
circle of friends and acquaintances. She was 
connected with the Presbyterian Church, was a 
charter member of the Art League, and for many 
years one of the most active members of the Or- 
phan Asylum board of trustees. She was a lady 
of charitable disposition, kind to the unfortunate 
and sympathetic with the sorrowing, and had 
many warm friends among the people of this 
neighborhood. 

I ORENZO W. HINDMAN, the owner of a 
I C valuable farm of one hundred and sixty acres 
l2f situated in Palmyra Township, Douglas 
County, was born in Sardinia, Brown County, 
Ohio, June 9, 1841. His father, Samuel, who 
was born and reared in Ohio, learned the cabin et- 
maker'strade, which he followed in that state for 
some years. In May, 1857, he came to Kansas, 
selected Douglas County as his future home and 
pre-empted a claim in Willow Springs Township, 
near the present property of his son. The sur- 
rounding country was wild and unimproved, re- 
taining the appearance of primeval nature, and it 
required constant effort through many years to 
bring the land under excellent cultivation, but he 
was determined and persevering, and in the end 
met with considerable success. After about 
twenty-five years on the same place he sold the 
property and removed to Carthage, 111., where 
he lived retired until his death, at seventy-seven 
years. A stanch Republican, he was frequently 
elected to office by his party. During the '60s 
he represented the district in the state legislature 
for one term, and for several years served as 
county commissioner. 

The grandfather of our subject, William Hind- 
man, was born in Lancaster County, Pa., and at 
an early age accompanied his parents to Ken- 
tucky. When eighteen he went with them to 
Highland County, Ohio, where and in the ad- 



joining county of Brown he spent the remaining 
years of his life, dying at the age of eighty-five. 
During the war of 18 12 he enlisted as a private 
and at the expiration of his time re-enlisted and 
was made first lieutenant of his company. In 
politics he was a Whig and in religion a Presby- 
terian. His father, Samuel, a native of Ireland, 
came to America at sixteen years of age, settled 
in Pennsylvania, and followed the weaver's trade 
in addition to farm pursuits. At the opening of 
the Revolutionary war he was commissioned 
lieutenant, later served as adjutant for a year, 
and on the reorganization of the company was 
assigned to duty on General Washington's staff. 
Unfortunately, a few days later, when General 
Washington shot a beef, Mr. Hindman, who was 
near and attempted to hold the cow down, was 
kicked by it so severely that he was disabled. As 
soon as he had recovered sufficiently to resume 
work he secured three yoke of oxen and engaged 
in hauling supplies for the colonial army, in 
which work he continued until the close of the 
war. He was a stanch Whig and a personal 
friend of Washington. At the time of his death 
he was ninety-nine years of age. 

Our subject's mother bore the maiden name of 
Narcissa Gilliland. She was born in Ohio and 
is still living, being now seventy-eight years of 
age. Our subject was educated in public and 
private schools. While his parents were on the 
frontier in Kansas they sent him back to Ohio, 
desiring that he should have better advantages 
than were then possible in the west, but he failed 
to realize the privilege and ran away, returning 
to his frontier home. March 6, 1862, he enlisted 
in Company C, Third Kansas Infantry, and later 
was transferred to the Ninth Regiment, serving 
for three years. During most of the time he was 
engaged in bushwhacking on the border or in 
scout duty, and was neither wounded nor taken 
prisoner. On his return home he bought a farm 
adjoining his father's place. In 1881 he rented 
the farm that he purchased two years later and 
upon which he has since made his home. He 
married Lizzie Taylor, of this county, and they 
have twelve children. 

As a Republican, Mr. Hindman has been act- 



454 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



ive in local politics. In 189 1 he was elected 
sheriff and served, b)' re-election, for four years, 
which is the limit of the office in Kansas. He 
has been a member of the school board ever since 
he attained his majorit}-, and like his father has 
always been influential in school work. Fre- 
quently he has .served as a delegate to county 
conventions, where his influence is always given 
in behalf of a vigorous policy on the part of the 
party. He is one of the charter members of 
E. D. Baker Post No. 40, G. A. R., at Baldwin. 



r^ D. STOKELY, who is engaged in farming 
L/^ and stock-raising on section 8, Harrison 
K? Township, Franklin County, was born in 
Mercer County, Pa., in 1847, a son of James A. 
and Hannah (McEwen) Stokely. His father, 
who was a native of Mercer County, left there in 
1856, accompanying a surveying party to Kansas, 
where he assisted in surveying parts of eastern 
Kan.sas, laying out county and township lines, 
and continuing for some time in the government 
employ. From Kansas he made a trip overland 
to California, remaining in Marysville for two 
j'ears. On his return east he brought his family 
from Pennsylvania to Marion County, 111., and 
settled on a farm there. From 1859 to 1874 he 
carried on a farm of two hundred acres, al.so en- 
gaged in cutting down timber, operating a saw- 
mill and contracting and building. In 1879 he 
again came to Kansas, this time as a settler in 
Marshall County. In 1883 he removed to Kan- 
sas City, Mo., and retired from active cares. His 
death occurred in that city in 1898, when he was 
seventy-nine] years of age. At the time of his 
first trip to Kansas he stopped in Kansas City, 
where only one house then stood. However, 
other houses soon sprang up and he as.sisted in 
doing some building there. From youth he was 
a believer in the doctrines of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church and took an active part in its work. 
The Republican party, from the time of its or- 
ganization until his death, received his stanch 
support. 

The Stokely family was founded in America by 
John Stokely, a native of Scotland, who cro.ssed 



the ocean years before the Revolutionary war and 
settled in Maryland, where it is supposed that he 
died. His son, Benjamin F. (fatherof James A.), 
was born in Maryland near the Pennsylvania 
line. He was a man of far more than ordinary 
ability and wielded a large influence upon his 
fellow-citizens. Going to Mercer County, at 
the age of twenty-seven he laid out the county 
for the government and was the first man to per- 
manently settle there, the date of his location be- 
ing October 15, 1795. The remainder of his life 
was spent in that then new county, and he be- 
came the owner of about two thousand acres 
there, almost all of which was given him in pay- 
ment for his services as surveyor. Not only was 
he a large farmer, but a successful one as well. 
His talents were varied. He seemed fitted not 
only for farming, but also for public life, and the 
offices which he held were filled with the greatest 
efficiency. Politically he was an old-line Whig. 
For years he was the leading man of the county, 
in the early history of which he was prominent. 
His long and intimate connection with local af- 
fairs made it appropriate that he should prepare 
and compile a history of the countj-, and cer- 
tainly no one was better fitted for the task than he. 
He died in Mercer County when eighty years of 
age. 

During his residence in Mercer County James 
A. Stokely married Miss McEwen, who was 
born there and who is now (at seventy -seven 
years) making her home in Kansas City, Mo. 
In the latter city her oldest and youngest sous, 
Samuel B. and James A., also reside. Her 
father, Samuel B. McEwen, was a native of Scot- 
land and settled in Pennsylvania, where he died. 
When our subject was eleven years of age he 
accompanied his parents to Illinois, where he 
grew to manhood. In 1881 he came to Kansas 
and settled on a farm iu Marshall County, where 
he made his home for almost nine years, mean- 
time not only farming, but also traveling for the 
Keystone Manufacturing Company. In 1890 he 
established his home in Kansas City, but con- 
tinued to travel for the firm until 1892, when he 
bought the old Whipple farm in Harrison Town- 
ship, Franklin County. Since then he has re- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



455 



sided on this place, engaging principallj^ in rais- 
ing and feeding stock, and using much of his 
farm (one-quarter of a section in size) for pastur- 
age of stock. In politics he is a Republican. A 
believer in good schools, while serving on the 
school board for several j-ears he labored to se- 
cure for the children of the district all the ad- 
vantages of good schools. 

March 23, 1S79, Mr. Stokely married Florence 
N. Edwards, who was born in Clark County, 111., 
a great-granddaughter of a Revolutionary soldier, 
and a member of a prominent familj', long influ- 
ential in the south, one of whose most noted rep- 
resentatives was General Morgan, of the Confed- 
erate army. Her father, William Morgan Ed- 
wards, M. D., was born near Charle.ston, S. C, 
and practiced medicine for some years in Mar- 
shall County, Kans. .where he settled in i86o. 
Later he spent ten years in Pawnee City, Neb. 
His death occurred in Thomas County, Kans. 
During a portion of his residence here he served 
as a member of the board of medical examiners 
for pensions. One of his brothers, Albert Ed- 
wards, M. D., is now engaged in practice at 
Marysville, Kans. Mr. and Mrs. Stokely are 
identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church 
and are worthy citizens of their community. 
They have four children, all at home: Edna B., 
Mabel A., Delma E. and Oeber G. 



HUGH SHANNON, a retired farmer residing 
in Lenape, Leavenworth Count}', was born 
in eastern Tennessee in 1836, a son of Hugh 
and Susan (Henry)Shannon. His paternal grand- 
father was banished from Ireland and came to 
America before the Revolutionary war, settling 
in Virginia. His maternal ancestors were exiles 
from England in an early day and settled as pio- 
neers in Cocke County, Tenn. Hugh Shannon, 
Sr., was born in the Old Dominion in 1801 and 
when small accompanied his parents to eastern 
Tennessee, where he resided until forty -five years 
of age. He then removed to Murray County, Ga. , 
and there made his home until 1870, the year 
of his settlement in Kansas. His last years 
were spent in retirement upon his son's farm in 



Leavenworth County, where he died in 1877, 
aged seventy-six. While in Tennessee and 
Georgia he took an active part in local affairs and 
was a prominent Democrat, although during war 
times he sided with the Union, being opposed to 
the institution of slavery. For many years he 
was a tax collector in Georgia and he also held 
the office of justice. His wife died in Leaven- 
worth County when eighty years of age. They 
were the parents of seven children, five of whom 
are living, viz.: John, of Murray County, Ga.; 
Robert, of Leavenworth County, Kans. ; Hugh; 
William, also of Leavenworth County; and 
George, who is living in the Indian Territorj'. 

Upon a farm in Murray County, Ga., the boy- 
hood years of our subject were quietly passed until 
the breaking out of the Civil war. In 1862 he 
was drafted into the Confederate army, but only 
served for one year. As soon as he left the army 
he went to New York. For six years he was 
employed on the steamboat "Thomas Cornell," 
plying on the Hudson River between New York 
and Kingston. In 1869 he returned to Georgia, 
where he visited his parents and friends. In the 
spring of 1870 he brought his parents to Kansas 
and settled in Lenape. Soon afterward he bought 
an eighty-acre tract in the Delaware reserve. 
This property he still owns. During the years 
that have intervened he has bought, improved 
and sold considerable farming land, and has been 
successful in his enterprises. The farm which he 
cultivated adjoins the village line and he has al- 
ways made his home in town. He has made 
a specialty of raising potatoes and has also en- 
gaged extensively in raising hogs. For some 
years he also carried on a grocery, building up a 
trade among the people of the village and sur- 
rounding country. He also bought and shipped 
grain and stock. Altogether he was for years one 
of the active business men of his section of the 
county , but more recently he has been to a large ex - 
tent retired from business cares, although he still 
maintains an oversight of his property interests. 
He is a Republican in politics and for nearly 
twenty years has been a member of the county 
central committee, has also served for two terms 
as treasurer and trustee of Sherman Township, 



456 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



and for twenty years has acted as treasurer of the 
Lenape school board. He is now filling the 
position of notary public, to which he was ap- 
pointed in 1887 by Governor Martin. In 1877, 
under President Hayes, he was appointed post- 
master at Lenape, which oflSce he held during 
that administration and also during the adminis- 
tration of President Harri.son. During the long 
period of his residence in Lenape he has become 
well known among the people of Leavenworth 
County and by his uprightness of character has 
won a host of warm personal friends. 



Gl UGUST GATES, a pioneer of Leavenworth, 
Lj now deceased, was born in Darmstadt ,Ger- 
/ I many, July 2, 1826, and in 1845 came alone 
to America, where he worked at any honest oc- 
cupation he could find. At the opening of the 
war with Mexico he enlisted in the army and re- 
mained at the front until its close. At the time 
Leavenworth was being started he came here and 
at once identified himself with the young town. 
In 1856 he erected a building on the corner of 
Second and Delaware streets, which is still stand- 
ing. Investing largely in real estate, both city and 
country, with the rise in values he became well- 
to-do. In 1866 he bought the lot and erected 
the residence where his family now resides. The 
place was wholly unimproved, and he set out a 
number of shade trees that now add greatly to the 
attractiveness of the homestead. While he al- 
ways made his home in town, he continued to su- 
perintend the management of his farms. During 
the days of the Civil war he was stanch in his 
adherence to the Union cause. Politically he al- 
ways favored the Republican party in national 
affairs, but in local matters voted for the best 
man. During 1863 and 1864 he held the office 
of county clerk. Fraternally he was connected 
with the Ma.sonic order and in religion was a 
Presbyterian. After years of residence in Leav- 
enworth he died, January 21, 1894, and was 
mourned as a good citizen and upright man. 

March 19, 1865, Mr. Gates married Johanna F. 
Elbert, a lady of noble character. Of the five 
children born to their union, three are living: 



William D., a contractor; Minnie, and Olga, a 
teacher in the public schools of Leavenworth. 
Mrs. Gates was a daughter of George P. Elbert, 
who was one of the first settlers of this city. He 
was born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, and 
emigrated to America in 1843, spending .some 
time in Louisville, Ky., and St. Joseph, Mo., 
where he engaged in the mercantile business. 
In 1854 ^^ settled in Leavenworth, where he 
started the first store in the town. He erected 
the frame building on Second near Delaware, 
which is the oldest building now standing in the 
city. Much of his time was given to the devel- 
opment of his real-estate interests. His age pro- 
hibited him from being admitted into the state 
militia, but he served in the home guard. In 
disposition he was quiet and retiring. He died 
in 1S85, when seventj--five years of age. 



EHARLES C. SPENCER, who is one of the 
well-known farmers of the southern part of 
Leavenworth County, was born in Buchanan 
County, Mo., in 1847, being a son of Obadiah M. 
and Nancy (Williams) Spencer, and a brother of 
W. F. Spencer, mentioned elsewhere in this vol- 
ume. He was reared on his father's farm and re- 
ceived such educational advantages as the com- 
mon schools afforded. When his parents removed 
to Kansas he remained on the old homestead in 
Buchanan County, and carried on a general line 
of farming there for five years. In 1878 he fol- 
lowed his parents and brothers into Leavenworth 
County, Kans., where he bought property in 
Sherman Township and at once began the im- 
provement and cultivation of his new place. In 
the years that followed he transformed the farm 
into one of the best in the neighborhood. In 
1890 he purchased his present property, compris- 
ing one hundred and sixty acres, where he has 
since engaged in raising the cereals to which the 
soil is adapted, and has also conducted a stock 
business. 

In his political views Mr. Spencer is a stanch 
Democrat and always votes the partj^ ticket. He 
has taken an interest in local matters and has en- 
deavored to discharge every duty as a public- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



457 



spirited, patriotic citizen. In the office of trus- 
tee of Sherman Township, which he filled for four 
years, his service was most satisfactory to the 
people of the township. He is a believer in pub- 
lic schools and no one takes a deeper interest than 
he in every movement calculated to promote the 
welfare of our schools. For eighteen years he 
was a member of the school board of district No. 
58, and during almost that entire time he served 
as president of the board. Fraternally he is a 
member of Linwood Lodge No. 24i,A.F.& A.M., 
and Linwood Lodge No. 108, K. P. 

The first wife of Mr. Spencer was Mollie Beagle, 
of Kickapoo Township. She died leaving one 
son, Frank L. The second marriage of Mr. Spen- 
cer took place in 1887 and united him with Miss 
Lottie Moore, by whom he has one daughter, 
Nannie May. 

(lOHN C. HINDMAN. The southern part 
I of Leavenworth County, while it was settled 
(2/ somewhat later than the central and northern 
parts, is none the less fertile. Among those who 
have spent a considerable portion of their lives 
in Sherman Township and who have assisted 
in the development of its agricultural resources 
may be mentioned Mr. Hindman. In 1882 he 
purchased a tract of one hundred and sixty acres, 
and afterward, from time to time, he added to his 
property until he is now the owner of two hun- 
dred and fifty-two acres. His farm is one of the 
finest of those lying along Stranger Creek. 
While he has engaged in raising the various 
cereals, his specialty has been potatoes, and he 
has between fifty and sixty acres planted to these, 
in the raising of which he has been quite suc- 
cessful. 

William T. Hindman, father of our subject, 
was born in Brown County, Ohio, December 20, 
1825, and made his home there until 1851, when 
he settled in Galesburg, 111. Seven years later 
he came to Douglas County, Kans. , where he 
has since resided. He was a pioneer of Law- 
rence and of Douglas County, where he was for 
a time in the government employ and also car- 
ried on farm pursuits. After ten years there, in 
1868 he purchased land on the Delaware reserva- 



tion, the property having once been a favorite 
stamping ground of the Indians, and on the farm 
still stood an Indian council house. He began 
to improve the land and after a time, through his 
industry, the place became quite valuable. In 
1889 he retired from general farming and re- 
turned to Lawrence, where he has since made his 
home. He and his wife are members of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. During his resi- 
dence in Sherman Township he held a number 
of local ofiices and was an active worker in Re- 
publican ranks. He is one of the survivors of 
the Lawrence massacre, August 21, 1863. His 
father, William Hindman, Sr., was a lifelong 
resident of Ohio. The latter' s father, Samuel 
Hindman, who was a descendant of Scotch-Irish 
ancestors, emigrated from Ireland to Lancaster 
Count}', Pa., prior to the Revolutionary war. 

By the marriage of William T. Hindman, Jr., 
and Amanda Gaddis six children were born. 
The following lived to maturity: Susan, wife of 
E. W. Lucas; John C; and Lizzie, who married 
W. C. Bigger, of Lawrence. Those deceased 
were: Caroline, Emma and Daisy. The only 
son was born in Knox County, 111., January 7, 
1856, and was two years of age when his parents 
settled in Kansas, so he remembers no other 
home than this. He received his primary educa- 
tion in the Lawrence public schools and after 
removing to Leavenworth County, at twelve 
years of age, attended for some time the schools 
of Sherman Township. Upon the retirement of 
his father, in 1889, he succeeded to the manage- 
ment of the farm. A visitor to his farm will see 
that good buildings have been erected, modern 
machiner}' has been introduced, the land has been 
subdivided into pastures and fields of convenient 
size by an excellent system of fencing, and all 
the improvements of a model farm have been in- 
troduced. Farming has been Mr. Hindman' s 
life occupation, and the energetic manner in 
which he has taken hold of all ideas tending to 
enhance the value of his property has had much 
to do with his success as an agriculturist. On 
his place he has everything necessary to make a 
comfortable rural home. 

Mr. Hindman enjoys a reputation not only as 



458 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



a substantial farmer, but also n an intelligent 
citizen and a man thoroughly posted concerning 
public affairs. No matter how engrossing he 
finds his farm duties, he alwaj-s spares time to 
keep conversant with the problems confronting 
our nation, and is an intelligent reader and 
thinker. His vote is given to the Republican 
party. For three years, as township treasurer, 
he served faithfully and well, and he has also been 
a member of the school board. He is a member 
of Lin wood Lodge No. 242, A. F. & A. M. 
November 14, 1888, he married Regena Friden- 
stine, who was born in Erie Count}', Ohio, a 
daughter of John and Angeline (Curth) Friden- 
stine. They have three children, Olive May, 
Jennie Belle and Grace Faj'. The family are 
identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
in which for several years Mr. Hindman has been 
one of the stewards and he and his wife are 
teachers in the Sunday-school. 



I UTHER P. KINDRED. During the year 
It 1890 Mr. Kindred came to Leavenworth 
|_2f County and purchased a farm on the Kaw 
bottom in Sherman Township, near the village of 
Lenape. Here he has one hundred and ten acres 
planted to potatoes, in the raising of which he has 
met with success and which he makes the special 
feature of his farm work. He has found the river 
bottom to be splendidly adapted for the raising 
of potatoes and the large crops which are raised 
he ships to markets in this and other states. He 
was active in the organization of the association 
formed for the purpose of growing and shipping 
potatoes from this neighborhood, for several years 
held membership in the Farmers' Alliance, served 
as president of the Farmers' Mutual Benefit As- 
sociation and other societies formed for the ix-ne- 
fit of the citizens of this locality. 

Prior to the first war with England William 
Kindred left that countrj' and settled upon Amer- 
ican soil. When the war began he enlisted under 
General Washington and remained at the front 
until liberty was gained and the British troops 
had retreated from our country. Afterward he 
settled in Madison County, Ky. At that period 



Kentucky was considered in the remote west, 
and men who settled there were forced to endure 
all the hardships of pioneer life. Bears were 
abundant and no meat was so plentiful as this, 
the early settlers living more upon the spoils of 
their gun than upon manufactured or imported 
articles. William, Jr., son of the Revolutionary 
soldier, served in the war of 18 12, and afterward 
gave his attention to farming in Kentucky, hav- 
ing in connection with his farm a large apiary. 
By his marriage to Mary Garland he had twelve 
children, of whom five are now living, namely: 
Garland, of Madison County, Ky. ; Sarilda, of 
Estill County, that state; Fields, father of our 
subject; Sylvester, who is living in Clark Countj-, 
Mo., and Joshua, of Platte County, Mo. 

When a young man, Fields Kindred left Ken- 
tucky and moved to Clay County, Mo., but seven 
years later he came to Kansas, where he has 
since engaged in the stock business and agri- 
cultural pursuits, making his home in Wyandotte 
County. He married Margaret Prather, by whom 
he has five children: Mollie, wife of Joseph Wil- 
.son; Mildred, who married Richard Sanders; 
John W., of Johnson County, this state; Charles 
L. aud Luther P. During the residence of the 
family in Clay County, Mo., our subject was born 
May 24, 1865. Almost his entire life has been 
spent in Kansas, and his education was received 
in the public schools of Wyandotte County. His 
first experience in farming was gained in his 
home country, from which he went to Allen 
County, this state, and for four years carried on 
a potato farm. Since 1890 he has made his home 
in Leavenworth County, among whose farmers 
he aud his brother, Charles L. , hold a high po- 
sition, being respected for their worth as men 
and for their energy as farmers. For several 
years he has been a member of the school board. 
He believes in aiding any enterprise for the ben- 
efit of his community, hence he has been active 
in the movement for the erection of a bridge over 
the Kaw River here. June 25, 1887, he married 
Miss Laura Brougham, who was born near De- 
troit, Mich. , a daughter of Lawrence and Cornelia 
(Mosher) Brougham. When she was two years 
of age her parents removed to Wyandotte Coun- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



459 



ty, Kans. Mr. Brougham was a native of Ire- 
land and came to America when he was about 
twelve years old. Mr. and Mrs. Kindred have 
three living children, Herbert, Hazel and Cornelia. 



REV. LOUIS GUENTHER, pastor of St. 
Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, at No. 
306 North Broadwaj', Leavenworth, was 
born in Hoerstein, Kreis Unterfranken, Bavaria, 
July I, 1837, the youngest of the four sons of 
Sebastian and Susanna (Lutz) Guenther, the 
former a shoemaker and farmer and, for a time, a 
soldier in the Bavarian army. The older sons 
were Rudolph, of Leavenworth; John, who died 
in this city November 30, 1898; and Adam, who 
is living retired in Leavenworth. 

The boyhood days of Father Guenther were 
passed in parochial schools and a gj'mnasium, 
after which he took a six years' course in classics 
in Aschaffenburg. In December, 1855, he came 
to America on a sailing vessel that reached New 
York harbor after a voyage of forty-nine days 
from Antwerp. Going west, he joined his 
brother Rudolph in Keokuk, Iowa. March 28, 
1858, he arrived in Leavenworth. At first he 
was employed by the firm of Russell, Major & 
Waddell. In 1859, in this city, he taught the 
first German school established west of the Mis- 
souri. In September, i860, he went to St. Louis 
and entered the college conducted by the Jesuit 
Fathers at Florissant, where he studied for seven 
months. In March, 1861, he became one of the 
first students in the recently established St. 
Benedict's College at Atchison, Kans., where he 
completed his philosophical course the next year. 
Afterward he studied theology in St. Vincent's 
Abbey, Westmoreland County, Pa. 

August 25, 1864, Father Guenther was or- 
dained to the priesthood of the Roman Catholic 
Church, the ordination ceremony occurring in the 
old frame Catholic Church, under the charge of 
Bishop John B. Miege. With his headquarters 
in Lawrence he began missionary work, travel- 
ing through the counties of Shawnee, Douglas, 
Franklin, Anderson, Lyon and Pottawatomie, 
and riding on horseback from one frontier town 



to another. In 1865 he came to Leavenworth to 
prepare himself for his work in the Order of 
Carmelites. For a time he taught school in St. 
Joseph's parish. After nine months he returned 
to mission work in southern Kansas, making his 
home on Pottawatomie Creek, in what is now 
Scipio, Anderson County, and organizing con- 
gregations throughout that entire section of 
country. The parish of Garnett, Anderson 
County, was organized through his efforts, also 
those at Burlington, Coffey County, and Piqua, 
Woodson Countj'. He was the first priest who 
said mass in the city of Ottawa, and held similar 
services in different parts of Franklin County. 
He organized congregations at Mineral Point, 
Holy Cross and Westphalia, and at several places 
had charge of the building of churches. From 
Anderson County he was ordered east to Cumber- 
land, Md., and assigned to the diocese of Balti- 
more, having charge of missions in the western 
part of Maryland and establishing congregations 
that are now large and prosperous. 

After fourteen months Father Guenther re- 
turned to Anderson County and resumed his 
former work. He extended his mission work 
into other sections of the country and was most 
helpful in promoting the cause which he served. 
In September, 1871, he was made pastor of St. 
Joseph's Church at Leavenworth. The church 
had just been completed, under the supervision 
of Father Heiraann, and the work has been estab- 
lished upon a broad basis. He has since given 
his attention to its upbuilding. In 1882 the 
parochial residence was built, and when he left 
much of the church debt had been paid. In 1882 
he was transferred to Canada, to take charge of a 
German congregation, and he made his home at 
Niagara Falls for four years. His next location 
was at New Baltimore, Somerset County, Pa., 
where he organized a home for clerical students, 
and for fourteen months he had charge of the 
students until they were ordained to the priest- 
hood. Returning to Canada, he was given 
charge of junior students, but was taken ill and 
obliged to rest for a year. 

August 25, 1889, Father Guenther celebrated 
his silver jubilee as a priest in St. Joseph's Church, 



460 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Leavenworth, in the presence of the bishop and 
many prominent priests. The occasion was a 
memorable one, and the honors bestowed upon 
him showed the high esteem in which he was 
held by his associates. Returning to Pittsburgh, 
Pa., as superior of the Carmelite Mona.stery, he 
built Holy Trinity Church on Center avenue and 
Crawford street, which is one of the most beau- 
tiful edifices in Pitt.sburgh and an ornament to the 
city. November 11, 1895, he returned to Leav- 
enworth as pastor of St. Joseph's Church. At 
once he began to build a parochial school. The 
corner stone of the building was laid April 26, 
1896, and the structure was completed the same 
year, at a cost of $9,000. The school was 
opened in September. It is in charge of four 
sisters of charity and one male teacher, and is 
attended by two hundred and fifty pupils, for 
whom the best educational facilities are provided. 
The parish contains more than two hundred 
families, the oversight of whom makes the priest's 
life a busy one. He is a man of warm heart, 
kindly nature, one who sympathizes with the suf- 
fering and sorrowing of his parishioners, and 
whose sound judgment is helpful to those who 
seek his counsel. 



from his pastorate in Leavenworth, Father Hei- 
mann returned to the east and some years after- 
ward died at New Baltimore, Somerset Countj', 
Pa., at the House of Studies of the Carmelite 
Order. 



r"ATHER ALBERT HEIMANN, who came 
r3 to Kansas in 1846 and was one of the 
I earliest Roman Catholic priests in this part 
of the country, was ordained to the holy priest- 
hood in Kentucky by Bi.shop Flaget. After 
coming west he was engaged in mission work 
among the Indians. In the fall of 1864 he en- 
tered the Carmelite Order, he and Father Guen- 
ther being the first Carmelites to receive the 
costume of the order in the United States. 

St. Joseph's parish in Leavenworth was started 
in 1857 by Father Seitz. The first church build- 
ing erected was dedicated in 1859, on the first 
Sunday in July. It was a frame building, and 
was utilized as a school. Father Guenther being 
the first teacher. The first pastor was Father 
Fish. He was followed in turn by Fathers 
Anthony Kuhls, Cyril Knoll and Heimann, the 
latter being the fifth pastor. He in turn was 
succeeded by Father Guenther. Upon resigning 



nOHN HITZEMANN. Not a few of the best 
I citizens of Leavenworth County are of Ger- 
v2/ man birth. To this class belongs Mr. Hitze- 
mann, a retired farmer of Stranger Township, and 
a native of the state of Scaumburg-Lippe, Ger- 
many. He was born September 14, 1840, a son 
of Gottlieb and Mary Hitzemann. In the spring 
of 1857 ^^^ famil}' came to America, crossing the 
ocean in a sailing vessel that made the trip in 
twenty-one days. After landing in New York 
they proceeded to Illinois. During the war the 
parents removed to Iowa and settled near Wa- 
verly, where they died. 

In the spring of i860 our subject left Illinois 
and came to Kansas, where he worked in a brew- 
ery in Leavenworth. Shortly after the war be- 
gan he enlisted, May 15, 1861, in Company I, 
First Kansas Infantrj', and served for three j'ears, 
being finally discharged at Fort Leavenworth. 
He took part in a number of engagements, among 
them that at Springfield, Mo., August 10, 1861. 
Later he was transferred to a scouting regiment 
that also participated in the siege of Vicksburg. 
The last battle in which he took part was that of 
Corinth, Miss. Several times during battles shots 
passed through his clothes and canteen, but he 
was never wounded. In the fall of 1864 he took 
up a claim of one hundred and sixty acres in 
Douglas County. The land was raw and he 
fenced and improved it. A year later he sold 
the claim and went to Ottawa, Franklin County, 
where he improved land and also engaged in the 
manufacture of walnut shingles. After a little 
more than a year he returned to Leavenworth 
County. 

Eighty acres, bought in 1870, and situated on 
section 12, Stranger Township, formed the nu- 
cleus of Mr. Hitzemann's possessions. At the 
time of purchase nothing could be seen but a na- 
ked stretch of prairie, without even so much as a 
riding switch on it. The fine maples that now 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



461 



adorn his yard he raised from the seed. He turned 
the first furrows in the soil, planted the first seed 
and harvested the first grain. All the improve- 
ments on the place are the fruits of his industry. 
As he prospered he added to his land and now 
owns six hundred and forty- eight acres. Wheat 
is his specialty among grains, and Poland- China 
hogs among stock. He continued at the head of 
the farm ' until 1893, when he retired, and the 
property is now managed by his children. 

Interested in local politics, Mr. Hitzemann votes 
the Democratic ticket and works for the success of 
his party. Several times he has been chosen to 
serve on the school board, and he has also held 
the office of road overseer. In religion he is con- 
nected with the Lutheran Church. His marriage 
occurred in Leavenworth July 3, 1864, and united 
him with Mary Pappenhausen, of this county. 
They have five children, viz.: John Henry, Will- 
iam G. , Julius C. and Otto, who are farmers of 
Stranger Township; and Ida, the wife of J. C. 
Peters, also of this township. 



0AVID W. LITTELL. To read of a man 
who has won influence and honor under ad- 
verse circumstances and in the face of dis- 
couragements inspires us to greater efforts in the 
battle of life. Such a man is Mr. Littell, an hon- 
ored representative of a grand old race. He is a 
gentleman of untarnished name and character, 
■ known for his integrity, honesty and uprightness. 
Through an unfortunate accident when he was a 
young man he lost his left hand, and, having 
always used that hand for writing, he was left 
almost helpless. However, he began with a de- 
termination to learn to use his right hand and 
was so successful that to-day few can show a finer 
penmanship than his. 

The Littell family descends from William Lit- 
tell, of Dublin, Ireland, who left a vast estate to 
which his American descendants are legal heirs. 
The first in America was another William, who 
was born in Ireland, of Scotch lineage, and set- 
tled in Beaver County, Pa., where he died. It is 
probable that he served in the Revolution. His 
son, William, Jr., was born in Pennsylvania, 



served as a private in the war of 1 8 1 2 , and became 
the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and sixtj^ 
acres near Beaver, where he died in 1853. He 
was a member of the United Presbyterian Church, 
and in politics was an old-line Whig. He married 
Cynthia, daughter of John Smith, who settled 
upon a large farm in Beaver County, coming there 
from the eastern part of the state. He was of 
Scotch ancestry. Mrs. Littell died in 1852. She 
was the mother of seven sons and five daughters, 
comprising, in many respects, a very remarkable 
family. Six of her sons and four of her sons-in- 
law, also two of her grandsons, served in the Civil 
war, every one serving with conspicuous bravery 
and endurance. Of all of them, the oldest gained 
the greatest distinction. Gen. John Littell was 
commissioned colonel of the Seventy-sixth Penn- 
sylvania Infantry, and after the battle of Fort 
Fisher he was promoted to be brigadier-general 
in recognition of gallantry. He was twice wound- 
ed in the service. He is now one of the promi- 
nent men of Beaver Falls, Pa. The second son, 
William, was captain of Company D, Twenty- 
third Iowa Infantry, and is now engaged in the 
real-estate and loan business in Wayne County, 
Iowa. In 1899 President McKinley appointed 
him a member of the Dawes Commission in Indi- 
an Territory. David, the subject of this sketch, 
was the third in order of birth. Morgan died in 
childhood. G. Washington, who was chief mu- 
sician in the Sixteenth Ohio Infantry, graduated 
from the Cleveland Medical College and is now a 
practicing physician at Creston, Wayne County, 
Ohio. James enlisted in Company I, Fourth 
Iowa Infantry, and died while in winter quarters 
at Rolla, Mo. Henry, who was a private in the 
Sixteenth Ohio Infantry, died after the war from 
the results of exposure and hardships in the army. 
Mrs. Eliza Robinson died in Beaver County, Pa., 
in 1898. Mrs. Rebecca A. Calhoun lives in that 
county, as does also Mrs. Maria Ewing. Mrs. 
Nancy Ewing makes her home in Lawrence. 
Mrs. Cynthia J. McHenry died in Beaver County, 
Pa., in 1898. 

At the family homestead near Hookstown, 
Beaver County, Pa., the subject of this sketch 
was born June 29, 1838. In youth he learned 



462 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



the carpenter's trade. With a desire to see the 
west he came to Kansas in 1S59, and was so 
pleased that he began in the building business at 
Leroy, Coffey County, where he also opened a 
furniture and undertaking establishment. He 
had the first business of the kind in the town, 
where he continued until the fall of 1865. Mean- 
time, during the early part of the Civil war, the 
governor commissioned him an ensign bearer in 
the Kansas cavalry, and he engaged in fighting 
bushwhackers in southeastern Kansas and south- 
western Missouri. In 1864 he was a member of 
the Seventh Kansas Militia, that was ordered out 
from Fort Leavenworth at the time of the Price 
raid. 

Coming to Lawrence in 1865, Mr. Littell en- 
gaged in building. Soon he began to take con- 
tracts for making ties and bridge timber on the 
Union Pacific road. While he was erecting a 
sawmill at Williarastown, Jefferson County, the 
unfortunate accident occurred that caused the loss 
of his left hand. Afterward he was unable to do 
any work for a year. He then attended common 
school for a year, and later for seven years was 
market master in Lawrence, during which time 
he turned in $2,500 a year, something which had 
never been done before, nor has it been repeated 
since. In 1874 he was elected register of the 
deeds for the first time. In 1S76 and 1878 he was 
re-elected by majorities of from one thousand to 
fifteen hundred. He served from January, 1875, 
to January, 1881. Next, entering the real-estate 
business in Lawrence, he continued for three 
years, until he was elected constable, an office 
which he has since held, being elected the last 
time in the spring of 1899. For this office he 
has never had any opposition. 

The home of Mr. Littell, built by himself, is a 
beautiful residence at No. 161 7 New Hamp.shire 
street. He was married in Leroy on the 4th of 
July, 1865, to Miss Martha E. Ringle, who was 
born in Indiana February 4, 1844, a daughter of 
Simon and Nancy (Yackey) Ringle. In 1S5S 
her father settled upon a farm near Leroy, Kans., 
and there he continued to reside until his death, 
in the spring of 1898. Mr. and Mrs. Littell had 
a daughter and son. The former, born in 1S66, 



became the wife of George Dick, who graduated 
from the University of Kansas and from the Alle- 
gheny (Pa.) Theological Seminary, but died 
immediately after his return home from the sem- 
inary; his wife had died two years before, January 
29, 1892. Their only son, George L. Dick, 
makes his home with Mr. Littell. The son of 
Mr. Littell, Mortimer Clair, was born Januarj' i, 
1 87 1, and is now engaged in clerking in Law- 
rence, from the high school of which he graduated. 
In politics Mr. Littell is a Republican. For 
five years he has been adjutant of Washington 
Post No. 12, G. A. R. He is identified with the 
First Methodist Episcopal Church of Lawrence. 
Since 1867 he has been a member of Halcyon 
Lodge No. 18, I. O. O. F., of which he has been 
secretary for twentj'-five years, also has held the 
office of noble grand, is past officer in Oread En- 
campment, a member of the canton, and besides, 
holds membership with the Knights of Honor. 



(3 AMUEL REYNOLDS, who came to Kansas, 
?\ in the spring of 1855, has for many years 
\~J been secretary of the Douglas County Hor- 
ticultural Society, and is a well-known fruit- 
grower of Wakarusa Township. The record 
places the date of his birth April 12, 1823. He 
was born in the western part of England and at 
an early age gained a knowledge of horticulture 
under the instruction of his father, Samuel, a 
successful fruit-grower. When seventeen years 
of age he came to America and for a few years 
taught in Canada, after which he taught for 
seven years in Brooklyn, N. Y. During the 
last three years of his residence in the latter city, 
in addition to keeping up his school work he 
compiled and publi.shed the North Brooklyn 
directory, which contained fifty thousand names. 
Hoping that a change of climate might relieve 
him of a chronic throat trouble he came to Kan- 
sas in March, 1855, before the completion of the 
government survey. He was fortunate in secur- 
ing for $200 a claim one and one-half miles south 
of his present residence. Buying teams, he be- 
gan to haul freight from Kansas City, for which 
he was paid $1 per hundred. At the same time 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



463 



he also had the mail contracts from Lecompton to 
Osawatomie, and from Lawrence to Burlington. 
In 1858 he began to set out fruit trees and ever 
since then he has made a specialty of horticult- 
ure, now owning what is said to be one of the 
largest apple orchards in the county. The 
original orchard which he planted is still in 
bearing condition. While he has not neglected 
general farm pursuits, he has made horticulture 
his chief vocation, and has gained recognition 
for his thorough knowledge of this occupation. 

In i860 Mr. Reynolds erected a two-story stone 
residence on his farm. Three 3^ears later, when 
Quantrell came through this county, on passing 
the farm he burned the house, barn, carriage, 
etc.; Mr. Reynolds and his family saved their 
lives by hiding in the corn fields. The house which 
he now occupies, at No. 1905 Louisiana street, 
Lawrence, was then in course of construction, but 
the parties who were building it became so fright- 
ened that they left Kansas. Thereupon Mr. 
Reynolds purchased the property and completed 
the house, which he has since occupied. There 
are seven acres in the place, all of which is under 
improvement. At the time he settled here 
there was not a tree between the Kansas and 
Wakarusa Rivers. On his home place he has a 
large garden and an orchard, with apples of the 
winesap, Ben Davis, new pippin and York im- 
perial varieties. Up to 1887 he had a dairy here, 
but at that time it was removed to his farm, 
where he has about thirt)' cows; his son is 
interested with him in the dairy business. 

From the time of attaining his majority Mr. 
Reynolds voted the Republican ticket, supporting 
every presidential candidate of that party until 
the campaign of President Harrison in 1888, when, 
owing to the change of party principles, he left 
the party, which he considered had deserted the 
people in favor of the capitalists. He is now 
chairman of the county central committee of the 
people's party and is very active in local affairs. 
In religion an Episcopalian, he was instrumental 
in starting the parish in his neighborhood in 
1858. From the organization of the congregation 
he has served as warden or as vestryman. Hav- 
ing had excellent musical advantages while in 



Brooklyn, he has given his chvirch the benefit of 
these and for years has had charge of the music 
and for many years was a member of the quar- 
tette choir. In earlier life he was also connected 
with the Sunday-school. 

The year before he came to Kansas Mr. Rey- 
nolds was married, in Brooklyn, to Mary S. 
Heasler, by whom he had three children: Ed- 
ward, who operates his father's farm; Elizabeth, 
wife of Homer Whitney, who lives near Topeka; 
and George, of Lawrence. The wife and mother 
died in 187 1, and three years later Mr. Reynolds 
married Elizabeth Wheeler, who was born in 
Maine, but at the time of her marriage was liv- 
ing in Douglas County. The children born of 
their union are Grace, Mabel, Frederick, Cora, 
Rov Samuel and Clarence. 



ULLIAM M. SHIRAS is a member of the 
firm of Crane & Shiras, proprietors of the 
Excelsior Mill, in Ottawa. He is an en- 
ergetic business man, possessing not only a great 
deal of enterprise, but also a sound judgment and 
quick discrimination. Since coming to Ottawa 
in 1875 he has been identified with this flour- 
ishing city and has done much to promote its 
interests. Identified with the board of trustees 
of Ottawa University, as a member of the ex- 
ecutive committee of the board he has done much 
to aid this worthy institution of learning, which 
enables the young men and women of Ottawa 
and vicinity to obtain classical advantages at a 
minimum cost. While his life is a busy one 
and necessarily is devoted closelj' to business 
matters, he takes time for recreation, and is very 
fond of his guns and dogs. He owns Ben Bo or 
Tycho, one of the finest-bred English setters in 
America, and also owns Beauty, of the same 
strand. In the organization of the Ottawa Gun 
Club he took an active part and now serves as a 
director of the same. He is a member of the 
Kansas State Tournament Association, which 
met in Ottawa in 1898. In other ways he has 
shown his interest in sporting and athletics. 

The first members of the Shiras family in 
America came from Scotland to New Jersey, 



464 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



thence to Pittsburgh, Pa. WilHam M. Shiras, Sr., 
was a native of Pittsburgh, where he engaged in 
the manufacture of iron, later removing to Iron- 
ton, Ohio, and thence to Cincinnati, where he 
carried on a real-estate and brokerage business 
until his death in 1863. He married Ellen Ennis, 
who was born in Cincinnati, and died there in 
1890. She was a daughter of William Ennis, who 
died in Manchester, Ohio. Of her four children, 
Peter, who served through the entire Civil war, 
is now a banker in Ottawa; James O. is in New 
York City; Charles E. died in Cedar Rapids; 
William M., the youngest of the sons, was born 
in Cincinnati, Ohio, May 21, 1859. When eleven 
years of age he accompanied the family to Racine, 
Wis., and there attended Racine College. In the 
spring of 1875 he came to Ottawa and entered the 
People's National Bank as assistant cashier, in 
time becoming a stockholder and director in the 
institution. He continued with the bank until 
1 88 1, when he bought an interest in the Excel- 
sior mill, of which he is one of the proprietors 
and which is the largest mill in the city. He is 
also interested in a gas company which is pros- 
pecting for gas. Politically he is a Republican, 
and fraternally is connected with the Knights of 
Honor. 

In Cleveland, Ohio, Mr. Shiras married Cor- 
nelia B., daughter of Seymour A. and Elizabeth 
(Hoyt) Adams. Her father, a native of New 
York, was for twenty-five years pastor of the 
First Baptist Cliurch in Cleveland, and she was 
born during the family's residence in that city. 
During the Civil war he spent some time in New 
Orleans in the service of the Union and while 
there fell a victim to the disease from which he 
later died in Cleveland. He was one of the mo.st 
influential ministers of Cleveland and for upright- 
ness of life and power as a preacher stood verj' 
high among his fellow-citizens. His wife, who 
was born in Connecticut, is now living in Cleve- 
land. Mrs. Shiras was reared in the faith of the 
Baptist Church, with which .she became identified 
in girlhood and to which she has since belonged. 
Mr. and Mrs. Shiras have four children, namely: 
William M., Jr., a graduate of the Ottawa high 
Scljool, and now employed as bookkeeper in this 



city; Ralph A., also a graduate of the high 
.school, and now a student in the Ottawa Univer- 
sity; Howard Hoyt, a member of the high school 
class of 1903; and Eleanor. 



(p\ NDREW P. NELSON, who is engaged in 
LA general farm pursuits in Sherman Township, 
I I Leavenworth County, was born in Sweden 
in 1841 and grew to manhood in his native coun- 
try. In 1868 he crossed the ocean to seek a 
home in the United States. Believing that the 
west afforded the best opportunities for a young 
man without capital, he settled in the then new 
town of Kansas City, and there for eleven years 
he was employed in packing houses. With the 
money saved during that period, in 1879 he 
bought a farm of eighty acres near Eudora, Kans. , 
and there for five years he engaged in tilling the 
soil. In 1884 he purchased two hundred and 
forty acres in the soiitheni part of Leavenworth 
County, and here he has since followed general 
farm pursuits. Besides the raising of corn and 
wheat he has made a specialty of raising fruit, in 
which he is meeting with success; and is also en- 
gaged in the stock business, raising horses and 
hogs. The farm is improved with a neat resi- 
dence and the various buildings necessary for 
the .storage of grain and shelter of stock. The 
neat appearance of the buildings and land indi- 
cates the thrifty character of the owner. He has 
every reason to be glad that he came to America, 
for he has gained a success here that would not 
have been possible in his native land. 

Since becoming a naturalized citizen of the 
United States Mr. NeLson has always voted 
the Republican ticket. He takes an interest in 
local elections, but has never sought office for 
himself. While living in Kansas City he was 
chosen a member of the first city council, upon 
the incorporation of the city, and assisted in 
inaugurating many movements for the benefit of 
the place during its early history. The year be- 
fore he left Sweden he was married to Miss Ellen 
Peterson. They became the parents of six sons 
and two daughters, named as follows: Bernard, a 
grocer in Kansas City; Alma, wife of John She^- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



465 



han; Albert, at home; Charles, who is engaged 
in the grocery business in Kansas City; Hattie, 
Andrew P., Jr., Otto and Walter. The family 
attend the Methodist Episcopal Church, but Mr. 
Nelson still clings to the Lutheran faith, in which 
he was reared. 



(John W. ROBERTSON, proprietor of a fur- 
I niture and undertaking establishment in 
(2/ Lawrence, was born in Dojdesburg, Frank- 
lin County, Pa., August 7, 1847, and was the 
oldest son and second child among a family of 
nine, all but one of whom are still living, five 
being in Pennsylvania, one in Iowa, and two in 
Kansas. His parents, John and Eliza (Mont- 
gomery) Robertson, were natives of Franklin 
County, and the latter is still living on the old 
homestead where the former died. The paternal 
grandfather, William Robertson, was born in 
England, and emigrated to Pennsylvania, settling 
on a farm in Franklin County, where he died, an 
aged man. The maternal grandfather, John 
Montgomery, was born in eastern Penn.sylvania 
and became an early settler of Franklin County, 
where he manufactured furniture of all kind and 
also carried on an undertaking business. 

At sixteen years of age our subject was ap- 
prenticed to the trades of cabinet-maker, finisher 
and undertaker in Mifflintown, Juniata County, 
Pa. In 1866 he went to Decatur, 111., where he 
followed his trade as a journeyman. In April, 
1868, he arrived in Lawrence, where he secured 
employment at his trade, and in 1869 was made 
foreman of the business occupying the building 
which he now occupies. For fourteen years he 
continued with Bailey & Smith, meantime spend- 
ing a short time in California. In 1889 he bought 
out T. O. Irvin & Co., and engaged in the under- 
taking business. Two years later he took his 
brother, E. M., into partnership, under the title 
of Robertson Brothers. Their accommodations 
being inadequate, and his old location, Nos. 
808-810 Massachusetts street, being vacant, he 
removed here, where he has three floors, 50x100 
feet. He is a graduate of different schools of 
embalming, and acts as funeral director and man- 
ager. He enjoys the reputation of having the 



finest furniture store in Kansas; certainly it is 
true that one seldom sees in anj' city a stock 
more complete or more elegant. His accurate 
and honorable method of conducting business has 
brought him the confidence of the people and has 
brought him a large and growing trade. 

The marriage of Mr. Robertson took place in 
Lawrence in 1872 and united him with Miss Tin- 
nie I. Bowker, who was born near West Brook- 
field, Mass. They have two sons, Frank H. and 
John W. , Jr. The older, who is a young man of 
splendid education and fine musical talent, is a 
teacher in the Chicago Conservatory of Music. 

Fraternally Mr. Robertson is a member of 
Lawrence Lodge No. 6, A. F. & A. M.; Law- 
rence Chapter No. 4, R. A. M.; and DeMolay 
Commandery No. 4, K. T. ; also Lodge No. 4, 
I. O. O. F.; Lodge No. 7, A. O. U. W., Degree 
of Honor No. 8; Knights and Ladies of Security; 
Ancient Order of Pyramids No. 188, in which he 
is noble prophet; and No. 3, Fraternal Aid, in 
which he is a charter member and of which he 
has been president for three terms. He is a charter 
member of the Merchants' Athletic Club and is 
also identified with the Commercial Club. Polit- 
ically he votes for Republican men and measures. 
In 1875 he became a member of Plymouth Con- 
gregational Church and has since been an attend- 
ant upon its services and a contributor to its 
movements. 



\A AJ. CHARLES L. EDWARDS. As one 
y of the pioneer and prominent educators of 
{3 Kansas, and as the principal of the first 
public schools in Lawrence and the founder of the 
first academy in this city, Major Edwards is de- 
serving of rank among the citizens whose energy 
and intelligence built up what is now one of the 
leading cities of the state. March 30, 1857, he 
opened the Quincy high school in the Emigrant 
Aid building, but on the 2d of April removed to 
the basement of the Unitarian Church then being 
completed. In the winter of 1857-58 he was prin- 
cipal of a public school, with Misses Lucy M. 
Wilder, Sarah A. Brown, Mary Boughton and 
Isabella G. Oakley as assistants. He continued 
at the head of the schools until February 7, 1859, 



466 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



when, having been elected countj- superintendent 
of schools the preceding November, he resigned 
the principalship. When he first began to teach, 
the management of Lawrence University proposed 
to make his institute the preparatory department 
of the university, and this plan was carried out, 
the fees remaining the same: the institute was 
opened September 19, 1859, and continued about 
three months, when it closed. Since the war he 
has not engaged in educational work, but his in- 
terest in it never ceased, and many men afterward 
prominent in the state f among them ex-Congress- 
man Haskell) attributed not a little of their suc- 
cess to the painstaking care of their early in- 
structor. 

The Edwards family settled in Ma.ssachusetts 
from Wales. Samuel Edwards, a native of North- 
ampton, Mass., settled upon a farm near South- 
ampton, where he also taught school for fort}' 
winter terras. During the Revolution he served 
in the American army. His son, Elisha, was a 
soldier in the war of 18 12, and followed in his 
father's footsteps as farmer and teacher. Elisha, Jr. , 
who was born at Southampton, and also taught 
there as well as engaged in farm pursuits, took 
part in the war of 1 8 1 2 , and died in Massachusetts 
at seventy-four years. He married Julia King, 
who was born in Suffield, Conn., w-as orphaned 
at an early age, and died when forty years old. 
Her oldest child, Horace L., died in 1846, at 
twenty-four years. The second-born, Elisha A., 
who was a captain in the Thirty-first Massachu- 
setts Infantry, died at the old homestead in Feb- 
ruary, 1898. The youngest of the family, George 
K., who was a sergeant in the Thirty-first Mas.sa- 
chusetts, was accidentally injured on Butler's 
expedition and was discharged for disability, but 
later became second lieutenant in the Second 
District of Columbia Regiment. The oldest 
daughter, Mrs. Julia Taylor, died in Alton, 111. 
Those of the family now living are: Charles L. ; 
Elizabeth, the wife of M. L. Gaylord, of East- 
hampton, Mass.; Caroline, of Southampton: and 
Eunice, who married Louis Gaylord, of Colorado, 
though an early .settler of Kansas. 

In Southampton, where he was born October 
19, 1828, the subject of this sketch attended pub- 



lic school and Southampton Academy. He also 
studied in Westfield Academy, Williston Semina- 
ry and Phillips Academj- at Andover, and at the 
age of eighteen began to teach near home. In 
1852 he graduated from We.stfield Normal School. 
Later he taught at West Springfield, Gloucester, 
North Hadlej- and Wenham, having a private 
school in the latter tovi'n. In November, 1855, 
he started for Kansas, landing at Kansas City on 
the 26th, and remaining in the west during the 
winter as "clerk for the New England Immigrant 
Aid Society. The office of the society was 
moved to Lawrence and he was the second 
clerk of the bureau here. He first visited 
Lawrence in January, 1856, and came again 
on the 2ist of May, at the time of the burn- 
ing of the Eldredge House and printing office 
by Sheriff Jones and his men. He remained as 
clerk here until October, 1856, when he turned 
his attention to teaching. When he became 
county superintendent he organized the county 
into school districts, these increasing from five to 
thirt3'-five in three months, and he had thirty 
schools in operation. In the spring of i860 he 
was deputy postmaster under Dr. Samuel Huson. 
With the intention of returning west in a short 
time, Mr. Edwards went back to Massachusetts 
in the summer of i860. He taught the village 
academy at Southampton in 1860-61 and 1861-62. 
At the outbreak of the war a company of home 
guard was formed, of which his brother was cap- 
tain and he sergeant for a time, but later captain. 
In August, 1862, he was commissioned first lieu- 
tenant of Company D, Thirty-seventh Ma.ssachu 
setts Infantry, and was sent south, joining the 
main army after Antietara. He took part in the 
following engagements: Fredericksburg, Decem- 
ber II, 1S62; Marye Heights, Maj- 3, 1863; Salem 
Church, May 4, 1863; Franklin's Crossing, June, 
1863: Gettysburg, July 2-3, 1863; Mine Run, No- 
vember 30, 1863: Wilderness, May 5-6, 1864: Lau- 
rel Hill, May 8-9, 1864; the "Angle," May 12, 
1864; Spottsylvania Court House, May, 1864; 
North Anna, May 24, 1864; Cold Harbor, June i- 
12, 1864; Petersburg, June 18, 1864; Fort Stevens, 
July 12, 1864: Charleston, August 21, 1864; 
Opequan, September 19, 1864; Hatcher's Run, 




WIIJJAM KAHN. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



469 



February 5, 1865; Fort Steadman, March 25, 
1865; fall of Petersburg, April 2, 1865; Sailor's 
Creek, April 6, 1865. He was commissioned 
captain Aprils, 1864, and major June 26, 1865, 
and was mustered out July 3, 1865. 

In May, 1866, Major Edwards returned to 
Lawrence. Here he was local editor of the Law- 
rence Republican, and continued with the paper 
after it was consolidated with \.\\e Journal. On 
the opening of the Carbondale road he embarked 
in the coal business, which he has since conducted. 
About 1890 he started in the insurance business 
and has since represented several old-line compa- 
nies. He was married in Massachusetts in i860 
to Miss Susan Powers, who was born in Hadley, 
Mass., and by whom he has a daughter, Virginia 
Sedgewick. For some years Major Edwards has 
held the office of township clerk. He is a mem- 
ber of Washington Post No. 12, G. A. R., and 
the Thirty-seventh Massachusetts Veterans' As- 
sociation. In politics he has always been a firm 
Republican. Fraternally he is connected with 
the Odd Fellows and Ancient Order of United 
Workmen. He holds membership with the Sons 
of the Revolution. For a number of years he has 
been treasurer of the Plymouth Congregational 
Church, of which he was the twenty-sixth person 
to become a member and is now fifth oldest of the 
surviving early workers in the church. His ac- 
quaintance extends among the best men of his 
county and state, and he holds a position high in 
the respect of all who know him. 



P QlLLIAM KAHN. Nocountry has afibrded 
\ A/ g''^^'^^'' opportunities to the poor man than 
V Y our own. Here an industrious man has 
an opportunity to gain a competence. The sub- 
ject of this sketch had every reason to be grateful 
that he left his German home and emigrated to 
the United States, for, though without means 
when he landed here, in time he acquired ample 
means. During the last years of his life he was 
one of the prosperous businessmen and farmers 
of Leavenworth County. By his own determina- 
tion and energy be rose from poverty to prosper^ 

19 



ity. His industry was great and he was regarded 
as one of the most active men of Reno Township, 
where he resided. 

Mr. Kahn was born in Osnabriick, Germany, 
March 12, 1841, a son of August Kahn, who was 
a lifelong resident of that country. When he was 
nineteen years of age he came to the United 
States, landing in New York, where he followed 
the baker's trade for a short time. Next he went 
to St. Louis. Upon the breaking out of the Civil 
war he enlisted in the Third Missouri Infantry 
and soon afterward was detailed as regimental 
baker, but when he had been in the service for 
three months he was honorably discharged on 
account of disability caused by an accident. He 
then returned to New York City, where he worked 
at his trade for a few months. After his marriage 
to Helena Smith, a native of Germany, he moved 
to Jersey City, N. J., and engaged in the grocery 
and baker}' business for a year, later removing to 
Hackensack, where he was foreman on a large 
farm. His next location was in Pittsburgh, Pa., 
where he carried on a bakery for one year, then 
for a year he had a grocery and bakery at Hunt- 
ington, Long Island, N. Y. At the expiration of 
that time he went to Cleveland, Ohio, and became 
interested in the real-estate business, which he 
followed until 1881, meantime being connected 
with important property transactions not only in 
that city, but also in Chicago. 

On selling out his interests in the east, in 1881, 
Mr. Kahn came to Kansas. Shortly afterward he 
bought a farm in Leavenworth County, and upon 
this place the remainder of his life was passed. 
At the time of purchase the farm comprised one 
hundred and seventy acres. From time to time 
he bought additional property, and at the time of 
his death was the owner of four hundred and 
twenty acres. The land was placed under excel- 
lent cultivation and improved with good farm 
buildings, substantial fencing, and modern ma- 
chinery of all kinds aided in the work of plowing, 
reaping, threshing and harvesting. In 1893 ^^ 
became interested in the dairy business, begin- 
ning on a small scale, and gradually building up 
a large business. His dairy plant was equipped 
with modern machinery. In the fall of 1898 he 



470 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



purchased a creamerj' at Bonner Springs, Kans., 
which his family still own. He was unable, 
however, to carry out the improvements that he 
had planned, for very soon after he had purchased 
the creamery his death occurred. 

Fraternally Mr. Kahn was connected with the 
Order of Foresters. He was reared in the faith 
of the German Lutheran Church, and always re- 
mained true to its teachings. During the early 
part of his residence in the United States he affil- 
iated with the Democrats, but after 1884 he voted 
the Republican ticket. For four terms he served 
as justice of the peace at Reno. Actively inter- 
ested in local matters, he aided in enterprises 
calculated to promote the welfare of his fellow- 
citizens; and while his private business interests 
were large and important, he never allowed them 
to absorb his entire time. His death, the result 
of a runaway, took place November 21, 1898, 
when he was fifty-seven years of age. He left, 
besides his wife, six children, namely: Anna, who 
is the wife of Otto Luckan; Anton, who is mar- 
ried and has three children, Frederick, Alfred and 
Anna; William, who is manager of the creamerj' 
and farm, and superintends the estate; Minnie, 
wife of Paul Luckan; Henrj- and Frederick, who 
reside with their mother. 



GlRTHUR WILLIS. From an early period 
U in the history of Ottawa Mr. Willis has 
/ I been identified with the nursery interests of 
this city. Of those who engaged in the business 
at the time he came none was left five j'ears later, 
and he is now the oldest man following the occu- 
pation here. Not only is he the oldest, but one 
of the most successful as well. When be came 
to Ottawa, in the spring of 1871, the Ottawa 
University nunsery, started by H. T. Kelsey 
about 1S66, was the leading nursery of the county, 
besides which there were a few gardens of .smaller 
size and minor importance. Sliortlj' after his 
arrival he planted two hundred thousand apple 
trees and grafts, as well as other fruits, but the 
experiment proved a failure. In the .spring of 
1873 he planted considerable nursery stock, 
which he sold at retail two years later. In 1876 



he leased a tract of university land and started a 
nursery, which, to accommodate the college in- 
terests, he called the Ottawa University nursery. 
His present nursery was started in the spring of 
1877, with seventy-seven hundred apple grafts 
and three bushels of hedge seeds. Afterward he 
made larger plantings and constantly increased 
the business. Competition increased with en- 
suing years. In 1879 Brewer & Stannard began 
on a small scale; in 1885 T. P. Way started a 
nursery, and in 1890 Mr. Taylor became inter- 
ested in the nursery business. 

From 1877 to the present time Mr. Willis has 
set out over two hundred and fifty thousand 
apple grafts each year. In 1883 he sold his 
university lease and started on land of his own, 
again taking the name of the Willis Nursery 
Company. His office and sale ground are at the 
east end of Fifth street on Cherry street. He has 
fifty acres in uurserj-, of which four and three- 
quarters acres are in town. Besides his stock 
here he has nurserj' stock growing in Vinland 
and New York state, and is interested in 
orchards in Kansas and Missouri. In 1882 he 
purchased his present residence and subsequently 
he built the office and packing house that now 
form valuable features of his property. There 
are few nurserymen in the state who are as 
familiar with the business as he, and certainly 
few have met with greater success. 

Mr. Willis was born three miles from Geneva 
Lake, in Walworth County, Wis., March 17, 
1843. His paternal great-grandfather settled in 
York state, going there from Nova Scotia, and 
the grandfather was reared in the east, but in 
1843 established his home in Rock County, Wis., 
near the Walworth line. There he lived on a 
farm until his death, in 1845. The father, L. H. 
Willis, who was born near Danville, Livingston 
County, N. Y., in 1817, removed to Walworth 
County, Wis., in 1840 and bought eighty acres, 
after which he returned to New York and married 
Mary Bowers. In 1842 he settled upon his farm, 
which he improved, and to which he added until 
he owned two hundred and twenty acres. He 
continued to reside on the same farm until he 
died, in 1896. For twenty years he served as 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



471 



justice of the peace, and he also served as school 
director and in other local offices. In religion he 
was a Baptist. His wife was born in western 
New York and was reared in Pennsylvania, 
whence she accompanied her parents to Wis- 
consin. She died in 1871. Of their five sons 
and two daughters all but one son attained ma- 
ture years, and three sons are now living. Our 
subject was the oldest of all. He attended school 
in the country and at Delavan, and remained at 
home until twenty years of age. In the spring 
of 1864 he went to Rockford, 111., and worked in 
a nursery owned by J. S. Sherman, where he 
cared for trees and gained a thorough knowledge 
of the business. After two j^ears and three 
months with the same employer he went to Mis- 
souri, where he spent most of his time until com- 
ing to Kansas. He was married in Ottawa to 
Amelia Esterly, who was born in Ohio, and by 
whom he has four children: Ola, who graduated 
from Ottawa University and is now her father's 
stenographer; Blanche, a graduate of the Ottawa 
University and for a time was a teacher in the In- 
dian Territory; Arthur E. and Fern. 

In 1885 Mr. Willis was chosen a trustee of 
Ottawa University and since 1890 he has been 
secretary of the board of trustees and a member 
of the executive committee. Both by his means 
and his influence he has proved himself a true 
friend of the institution, one who desires to pro- 
mote its success. From early manhood he has 
been connected with the Baptist Church. For 
some years he was a member of the board of 
trustees, and is now deacon. At the time of the 
erection of the house of worship he served as 
a member of the building committee. In Sunday- 
school work he has always been interested and 
has taken an active part. Politically he is a 
Republican. For two terms he represented the 
second ward in the city council and during three 
years of that time officiated as president of the 
board. 

His thorough knowledge of the nurserj' busi- 
ness and his long identification therewith has 
made Mr. Willis a conspicuous figure among the 
men following this occupation. He has been 
honored with election as state vice-president for 



Kansas of the American Association of Nursery- 
men. He is also chairman of the executive com- 
mittee of the Western Nurserymen's Association. 
Whenever possible he attends the meetings of 
these associations, and his influence has been felt 
in the extension of their interests. However, his 
attention is necessarily given to his business, 
primarily, and its demands are such that he has 
little leisure either for vacations or for outside 
matters. He superintends his fifty salesmen, 
who represent his nursery in difierent parts of the 
west, and in addition he also manages his large 
mail orders, which come to him from every part 
of the Union. 

While leading a quiet life, and one that is de- 
voted to business aff'airs, Mr. Willis has never- 
theless exerted an influence for the betterment of 
the moral, educational and religious welfare of 
his city. It has been his aim to make the world 
better for his having lived in it. His influence 
has been directed toward and felt for good. In 
spite of a limited education and lack of early ad- 
vantages, he has become well informed and has 
been enabled to take his place among the capable 
and worthy citizens of Ottawa. His has been a 
busy, useful, happy life, and as he looks back 
gratefully over the past, there is nothing in it 
that he would change if he could. To such as 
he the commonwealth of Kansas owes the progress 
it has made during the past quarter of a century. 



I OUIS C. MEHL, who is engaged in con- 
I C tracting and building in Leavenworth, was 
|j2f born in this city February 22, 1863, a son 
of Henry and Elizabeth (Kunzig) Mehl. His 
paternal grandfather, Peter Mehl, a native of 
Germany, and member of an old family of that 
country, served in the German army and after- 
ward engaged as a contractor and builder. The 
maternal grandfather, Peter Kunzig, who was 
also a contractor and builder by occupation, came 
to America in 1854 and settled in Philadelphia, 
where he engaged in business as an undertaker. 
During the year that he crossed the ocean Henry 
Mehl also sought a home in the United States and 
he, too, settled in Philadelphia, where he was 



472 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



employed as a cabinet-maker. In 1859 he set- 
tled in Leavenworth, where he engaged in car- 
pentering and erected many of the early build- 
ings in the town. In 1863 he enlisted as captain 
of an artillerj' company in the militia and as 
such .served until the close of the war. In this 
citj' be married Miss Kunzig, by whom he has 
four children, viz. : Henry \V., who is engaged in 
the drug business in this city; Louis; Albert, a 
druggist of Kan.sas Cit)^; and Ida, who resides 
with her parents at No. 511 Miami street. 

Under his father's instructions Mr. Mehl 
learned the carpenter's trade, and in time he be- 
came a partner in the contracting business. 
About 1 891 his father retired, since which time 
he has continued the contracting and building 
business. Among his contracts were those 
for Turner Hall and numerous dwellings and 
business houses in Leavenworth, as well as resi- 
dences in other towns in Kansas. He gives his 
attention quite closely to his business interests, 
and devotes little time to politics, although he 
is a stanch Democrat. Fraternally he is con- 
nected with the Modern Woodmen of America, 
the Knights of Pythias, and the Turn Verein, in 
which latter he has been a trustee. He was mar- 
ried in Leavenworth January 16, 1894, to Miss 
Gretchen Titel, who was born in this city and by 
whom he has two children, Hilda and Louis, Jr. 



gHARLES W. INGLE. Through the ener- 
getic manner in which he has conducted ag- 
ricultural pursuits Mr. Ingle has amassed a 
competency which places him among the most 
prosperous farmers of Douglas County. He is 
the owner of three hundred and ten acres of valu- 
able land lying in Willow Springs Town.sliip, 
where he carries on general farming and stock- 
raising. On his farm may be seen a fine grade of 
Hereford and Durham cattle, and he also owns a 
draft Clyde stallion which is quite valuable. 

The ancestors of Mr. Ingle were Virginians. 
His grandfather, John Ingle, removed from Vir- 
ginia to Ohio about 1825 and there resided until 
his death at sixty -two years of age. He married 
a Miss Kaiser, who was born in Virginia, of Ger- 



man descent, and died in Ohio at the age of sixty. 
Their son, John, Jr., was born in Hampshire 
County, Va., and was fourteen j'ears of age 
when the family settled in Seneca County, Ohio, 
at the time that the Seneca purchase was opened 
to settlement. In that county he took up a forty- 
acre claim, which he pre-empted, paying for the 
pre-emption by working at twenty-five cents a 
day. In 1838 he removed from there to Vermil- 
ion County, Ind., and bought a farm, where he 
remained until 1857. He then accompanied our 
subject to Kansas and pre-empted the claim now 
occupied by the latter, paying $750 for the prop- 
erty. Only about seven acres had been fenced 
and there was no building except a log house, 
but the property was considered valuable on ac- 
count of its proximity to Middle Tawy Creek 
and also because it contained considerable tim- 
ber. Here he continued to reside until his death, 
which occurred when he was seventy' -six years of 
age. In politics he was a Whig until the disin- 
tegration of that party, after which he voted 
with the Republicans. Though active in public 
affairs he never sought office for himself. For 
years he was a local preacher in the United 
Brethren Church and a.ssisted in the singing, being 
both a good speaker and a fine singer. He was 
a man whose genial nature won many warm 
friends among his associates. He married Nancy 
Dennis, who was born on the eastern shore of 
Maryland and was orphaned at an early age, after 
which she was taken to the home of a wealthy 
planter. Her father served during the entire 
period of the Revolutionary war, and was in the 
army at the time of her birth. In religion she 
was connected with the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. At the time of her death, in Indiana, 
.she was sixty-three years of age. In her family 
there were two sons, one of whom, Isaac K., 
died at the age of fifteen. 

At the age of twenty-one our subject started 
out in life for himself. His boyhood years had 
been passed in Seneca County, Ohio, where he 
was born September 11,1831. There, Novem- 
ber 3, 1852, he was united in marriage with 
Miss Margaret Hamill, by whom he had seven 
children, viz.; Fannie E., who died at twenty- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



473 



five years; John, who was born in Willow Springs 
Township in 1859 and is still living in this part 
of the county; Emory B., a prosperous farmer in 
Osage County, Kans. ; Rose, wife of Malcolm 
Swinley, of Franklin County; Edward and Grant, 
who assist in the cultivation of the home farm; 
and Helen, also at home. 

After his marriage, in 1852, Mr. Ingle settled 
in Vermilion County, Ind. From there, late in 
the fall of 1857, ^^ moved to Kansas by team and 
pre-empted a claim in Douglas County, two miles 
from his present home. He improved the land, 
building needed structures, placing the soil under 
cultivation and planting a large orchard. There 
he made his home for twenty-five years, after 
which he traded the land for one hundred and 
fifty acres adjoining his present property, the lat- 
ter being his father's estate, which he acquired 
by inheritance and purchase. In politics he was 
a Republican for years, but finally left the party 
on account of the money question, he being a be- 
liever in the greenback theory. In i87ihewas 
elected to the legislature, where his services were 
most helpful to his constituents. He also served 
as justice of the peace for some time, township 
trustee for five years, and held other offices. 
When twenty-eight years of age he became a 
local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church 
and continued as such for several years, but, not 
believing in infant baptism, for this reason his 
license was revoked, upon which he withdrew 
from the church. But, though not identified with 
any congregation, he is a sincere Christian and in 
his life upholds the teachings of Christianity. 



V/lARCEIyMUS B. RAY, who is engaged in 
y farming in Kanwaka Township, Douglas 
(9 County, was born in Jefferson City, Mo., 
April 8, 1852, a son of Luke E. and Marietta 
(Drown) Ray, natives of Cabell County, W. Va. 
His father, who was born in 181 7, of Scotch par- 
entage, learned the carpenter's trade in youth. 
He engaged in the mercantile business at Jeffer- 
son City and at Carthage, Mo. , and built the vil- 
lage of Preston, eight miles from Carthage, where 
he remained until the time of the Civil war. Be- 



ing in sympathy with the Union and living in 
Confederate territory, his surroundings became 
unpleasant and, indeed, dangerous. The bush- 
whackers stole all of the cattle and horses on his 
farm, and later burned the dwellings and othtr 
properties. Thereupon he took his family to 
Marysville, Kans., and in 1862 settled in Doug- 
las County, where he purchased eighty acres in 
Kanwaka Township, later adding another tract 
of similar size. During the first years of his res- 
idence here he was a member of the home guard. 
He employed agents to manage the farms in Mis- 
souri, but never realized anything from the prop- 
erty. He became one of the well-known farmers 
of this township, and was a leader in local ranks 
of the Republican part3^ Since his death, in -1894, 
his widow has resided on the old homestead, 
which is managed by the subject of this sketch. 
The family comprised the following-named chil- 
dren: Eliza A., wife of Dr. G. W. Williams; Para 
Lee, who married John Maloy; Sarah, Mrs. Le- 
roy J. Bean; Henry B., George W., Henry S. G., 
Marcelmus B., Luke E., deceased; Romaine F., 
wife of Joseph Howell; Brunie, deceased; and 
Grant, who died in infancy. 

In infancy our subject was taken by his parents 
from Jefferson City, Mo., to Carthage, where the 
family remained a year, thence going to Preston. 
He accompanied his parents to Kansas, mak- 
ing the trip in a wagon which was drawn by a 
team of oxen and in which were placed all of the 
household effects. After settling in Douglas 
County he assisted his father in clearing a farm. 
At the time of his marriage he bought eighty- 
five acres, and there he resided until his father's 
death, since which time he has lived on the old 
homestead, and conducts both farms. While he 
is not a member of any denomination, he is in 
sympathy with the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
Active in politics as a Republican, he has served 
as delegate to various conventions and has kept 
posted concerning all public issues; had he so de- 
sired he might have held almost any local ofiice, 
but his inclinations are not toward positions of 
prominence. He is interested in educational mat- 
ters and has rendered excellent service as a mem- 
ber of the school board. 



474 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



November 25, 1872, Mr. Ray married Anna 
McDonald, %vho was born and reared in La Porte, 
Ind., and was of Scotch descent. In the '70s 
she accompanied her parents to Kansas, and was 
married in Independence, this state. Later her 
parents removed to Florida. The oldest son of 
Mr. and Mrs. Ray was George, who died at four 
years of age. Their other children are Ernest D., 
Nellie G. and Luke Elmer. 



(TJAMUEL A. STONEBRAKER owns eighty 
Ny acres comprising a valuable farm in Pal- 
Q) myra Township, Douglas County, and fifty- 
two acres on which the village of Black Jack was 
built. Of this town, lying on the old Santa Fe 
stage route, he was the founder, and for years 
carried on a general store and hotel there, but the 
building of the Santa Fe Railroad through the 
county caused the village to be abandoned. In 
early days he was one of the prominent Republi- 
cans in his locality and still retains a deep inter- 
est in politics. For forty years he has not been 
absent from any conventions of Douglas County. 
In 1866-67 he served as clerk of the district 
court, and for twenty years he was justice of the 
peace and notary public. 

At Warrior's Mark, Huntingdon County, Pa., 
Mr. Stonebraker was born July 17, 1832. His 
father, Samuel Washington Stonebraker, was a 
native of Hagerstown, Md., and in youth learned 
the tailor's trade in Baltimore, after which he re- 
moved to Huntingdon County, Pa., and secured 
employment at his trade. Later he became pro- 
prietor of a furnishing store. In 1846 he removed 
to Williamsburg, Blair County, Pa., where he en- 
gaged in the grocery business until his death, 
February 23, 1873, at the age of seventy-three 
years, one month and twenty-three days. For 
many years he was a class-leader in the Method- 
ist Episcopal Church. For fourteen years he 
served as postmaster, to which office he was ap- 
pointed in recognition of his services to the Re- 
publican party. 

The grandfather of our subject, John Stone- 
braker, was born, reared and married in Hagers- 
town, Md., and was a potter by trade. About 



18 1 8 he removed to Huntingdon County, Pa., 
and purchased a farm near Colerain Forges. On 
his place was the dam that held the water to run 
the forges. He remained on that farm until his 
death, at ninety years of age. During the Revo- 
lution he served in the colonial army. He was a 
man of upright character and a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. He married Eliza- 
bath Hutchinson, who was born in Hagerstown, 
of German extraction, and who died at eighty- 
four years of age. 

Our subject's mother, who bore the maiden 
name of Elizabeth Robinson, was born near Al- 
toona, Blair County, Pa., and died in June, 1842, 
at thirty-five years of age. She left four sons 
and one daughter. The eldest, John A., died in 
Missouri at the age of sixty-six, and David T. 
died in Osage County, Kans., at sixty years of 
age. Samuel A. was third in order of birth. 
Austin F., who participated in the early strug- 
gles in Kansas, served through the Civil war and 
later was chief of police in Memphis, Tenn. 
While filling that office he was shot by a man 
whom he was attempting to arrest, but recovered, 
and is now living in Iowa. The only daughter, 
Cordelia Jane, is the widow of William Moore 
and resides in Harrisburg, Pa. 

When only seven years of age our subject was 
made a cripple by hip disease. Three years later 
'his mother died. He continued at home for five 
more years, after which he became a traveling 
salesman for a Philadelphia firm, whom he repre- 
sented in Huntingdon, Blair and Clinton Coun- 
ties for four years. On his return home he 
clerked in the store for his father. In 1854 he be- 
gan to clerk for a Mr. Allison. After a year he 
was chosen clerk of the election board. Later he 
taught one term of school. When he arrived in 
Kansas, May 23, 1856, he had only $3.65 iu his 
possession. The next day he went to a land sale 
and took a claim one mile north of Black Jack, 
but after holding this property until 1858 he 
gave it away. In January, 1858, he opened a 
small store at Black Jack. Doubtless few men 
have ever begun in business with less capital than 
he then had, for his cash in hand consisted of only 
forty cents. However, in spite of this small be- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



475 



ginning, he graduall}' built up a good trade. The 
building of the railroad through the county 
turned the trade into another direction, but he 
continued to conduct the store until 1897. In 
1857 he was taken prisoner b}' pro-slavery men 
and carried to L,ecompton, but was soon released. 
Twice during the Rebellion his store was robbed. 
He has always been a friend to the government 
and a patriotic citizen. He is interested in edu- 
cational matters and served on the school board 
for several years. 

In 1854 Mr. Stonebraker married Susan D. 
Strunk, of Center County, Pa. They are the par- 
ents of eight children now living, namely: Will- 
iam Anderson, a farmer in Lyon County, Kans.; 
Dora, wife of John Lathen; Olive B., Mrs. Ben- 
jamin Oglesby, of Montana; David O. , who is 
engaged in the livery business; Julia Pearl, wife 
of Newton Snyder; Ira O., a farmer of Lyon 
County; Linne, wife of Oliver P. Shannon; and 
Harry Clay, at home. 



GlUGUSTUS M. JARDON, vice-president of 
LA the State Bank of Baldwin, is one of the rep- 
/ I resentative residents of Douglas County. 
He is the owner of four hundred and sixty-five 
acres of valuable land lying in Willow Springs 
Township, where he carries on agricultural pur- 
suits. For some years he has made a specialty 
of breeding thoroughbred Hereford cattle, and 
usually feeds from one to two hundred head of 
cattle each year. The success that has met his 
efiforts places him among the most prosperous 
men of his township and gives him a position as 
a leading stockman and farmer in his locality. 

In Pittsfield, Mass., our subject was born Au- 
gust 17, 1854. His father, Xavier Jardon, was 
born and reared on a farm in France, and at an 
early age (his father being the owner of a pack- 
ing house) he learned the manufacture of char- 
coal. When about twenty-eight years of age he 
came to America and settled in Massachusetts, 
where he married Eliza Beuchat, a native of 
Switzerland, but a resident of America from the 
age of twenty years. In 1858 he came to Kansas 
and bought one hundred and sixty acres of raw 



land in Palmyra Township, Douglas County, 
where he passed the remaining }'ears of his life. 
At the time of the Quantrell raid in 1863, after 
the city of Lawrence had been burned, Quantrell 
and his men left for more congenial quarters. 
They passed through the Jardon farm and ordered 
Mr. Jardon to open the gate for them. Not un- 
derstanding the English language, he did not do 
as they requested, which so angered them that 
they threatened to shoot him. Mrs. Jardon drew 
the water for their horses, using the entire sup- 
ply in their well, and was paid $5 by the men for 
her trouble. In the work of pumping she was 
assisted by her nine-year-old son, who distinctly 
remembers the whole occurrence. 

At the time of his death Xavier Jardon was 
sixtj'-five years of age. He had been very suc- 
cessful, and not only owned three hundred acres 
of land in his own name, but had aided his chil- 
dren in the purchase of farms. In religion he 
was a Roman Catholic, and in politics voted with 
the Democrats. His wife is now seventj' j-ears 
of age and still occupies the old farm. Of their 
twelve children three died in childhood, Augus- 
tus being the oldest of the survivors. Of the oth- 
ers, Alfred is a farmer in Colorado; Xavier is en- 
gaged in farming and is also connected with a 
cattle commission firm in Kansas City, Mo. ; So- 
phia is the wife of Horace T. Butell, of Osage 
County, Kans.; Martin is a farmer and stock- 
raiser in Willow Springs Township, Douglas 
County; Julia married Walter Ford, of Oklahoma; 
Victoria is the wife of A. D. Butell, whose sketch 
appears on another page; Adolphus D. resides 
with his mother on the homestead; and Edmund 
is a farmer in Palmyra Township, this county. 

At the time of coming to Kansas our subject 
was a small child and his entire life, with the ex- 
ception of the few first years, has been passed in 
this locality. He remained at home until twenty- 
three years of age, and then, with his father's 
assistance, purchased one hundred and sixt)' acres 
of land comprising a part of his present property. 
Here he has since made his home, actively en- 
gaging in stock-raising and farming. By his mar- 
riage, January 9, 1883, to Rosalie Gormont, who 
was born in Pennsylvania, he has one daughter, 



476 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Lola, who is still at home. While he is astauch 
Democrat, he has never cared for political offices, 
nor has he been prominent in public affairs. Like 
his parents, he is of the Roman Catholic faith. 



pCJILLIAM A. PARDEE, who is a well- 

\ A / known farmer of Willow Springs Town- 
YY ship, Douglas County, was born in Ulster 
County, N. Y., October 22, 1835, a son of Levi 
and Nellie (Trumper) Pardee. The first of the 
Pardee family in America was his grandfather, 
Levi, who came from France during the Revolu- 
tionary war, to .serve as a soldier under Lafayette 
and assist the colonies in establishing their inde- 
pendence. Born and reared in Maine, Levi Par- 
dee at an early age became captain of a sailing 
vessel on the Hudson River. He made his home 
in Westcamp, Ulster County, and besides his prop- 
erty there owned a farm in Orange County. He 
died when forty-five years of age, of hemorrhage 
of the lungs, and was buried at Westcamp. His 
wife, who was born in Ulster County, in 1798, 
was the daughter of James Valentine Trumper, 
a German, who came to this country and held offi- 
cial rank as a colonel in Washington's army dur- 
ing the Revolution. 

Of a family of four children, the subject of this 
sketch is the sole survivor. His boyhood days 
were spent in Ulster and Greene Counties. After 
his father's death his mother became the wife of 
William Richardson. The latter, in 1849, started 
for California, but was taken ill en route and his 
familj- joined him in Mi.ssouri, where they arrived 
July 5, 1850. Afterward he settled on a farm of six 
hundred and eighty acres, occupying what is now 
Morristown, Ca.ss County, Mo., and there he died 
in 1857. On account of the danger incident to 
border warfare that locality became unpleasant, 
and the familj- in 1861 crossed the state line into 
Kansas. Four years later the mother died, at 
the age of sixty-seven years. She was a devoted 
wife and mother, and a faithful member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 

During the Civil war our subject took part in 
the battle of the Blue at the time of the Price raid. 
February 25, 1864, he married Miss Agnes D. 



Jameson, who was born in Pennsylvania. Her 
father, John Jameson, came to Kansas in 1858 
and entered the land now owned by our subject. 
He was an active Republican and served on de- 
tached duty during Price's raid. He was not 
spared to witness the triumph of the Union and 
the extinction of slavery, but died December 4, 
1864, at fifty-four years of age. Nine children 
were born to the union of our subject and his 
wife, but two of these died in infancy. Those 
now living are: James V., a plumber in Kansas 
City , Mo. ; Edward E. , a farmer in Willow Springs 
Township; Harry E., who is engaged in the 
plumbing business in Kansas City; Robert and 
Rosie (twins), William H. and Bessie D., who are 
with their parents. The family are identified 
with the Presbyterian Church. In politics Mr. 
Pardee was formerly a Republican, but now affil- 
iates with the Populists. Fraternall}- he is con- 
nected with Baldwin City Lodge No. 31, I.O.O.F. 
He has had no reason to regret his settlement in 
Kansas, for, although he had only $2 when he 
came to the state, he has been prospered and is 
now the owner of two hundred and sixty acres, 
representing his own earnings. 



0AVID HERRIES. Since coming to Kan- 
sas Mr. Herries has been engaged in agri- 
cultural pursuits in Leavenworth County. 
Coming here a young man, without means, he 
was so pleased with the opportunities offered that 
he decided to remain, and for two j-ears he 
worked with his brother. At the expiration of 
that time he bought his present farm of one hun- 
dred and sixty acres in the northern limits of 
Tonganoxie Township. Settlers were few in 
this part of the county, and .scarcely any attempt 
had been made at improvement. Between his 
brother's place and Lawrence nothing but an 
occasional fence could be seen to show that 
the land had ever been visited by white men. 
His own property, at the time of purchase, was 
new and entirely destitute of improvements; he 
has done all of the work necessary to bring the 
place to its present state of cultivation. He gives 
considerable attention to .stock-raising, and while 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



477 



he has not a large herd, those that he owns are 
in the best condition and are mostly graded 
Shorthorn cattle. 

A native of Scotland, born in November, 1837, 
Mr. Herries is a member of a family to which 
reference is made in his brother's sketch. When 
he was ten years of age the family emigrated to 
Canada, and there his education was obtained. 
At the age of fourteen he began to clerk for a 
brother, with whom he remained for three years, 
and later followed carpentering and farming. 
During his last three years in Canada he worked 
the home place for his father on shares. When 
he was twenty-eight he joined his brother 
in Kansas, expecting to return to Canada, but 
was so pleased with the west that he established 
his home here. In religion he is of the Scotch 
Presbyterian faith, but there being no church of 
that denomination in his locality he has allied 
himself with the Methodists. In national mat- 
ters he is a Republican. He is a member of the 
Grange at McLouth. 

In 1870 Mr. Herries married Margaret Gat- 
chell, who was born in Wyandot County, Ohio. 
They became the parents of seven children, six 
of whom are living, viz.: Sarah Myrtle, who 
married Herman Eggett and lives on the home 
farm; Mrs. Isabelle Eggleston, William G., 
Emma, James and Hiram. 



0AVID EVANS, who dates his residence in 
Lawrence from March 23, 1857, experienced 
all the hardships and dangers incident to 
life in Kansas during the slavery conflict. At 
the opening of the Civil war he was engaged in 
teaming with a span of mules worth $400, which 
had taken premiums at fairs and were the finest 
in the state. The work, however, necessitated 
constant sleeping out of doors, which resulted in 
ague, and he was therefore advised to seek an- 
other occupation. Selling out, he engaged in 
farming, but was not successful and returned to 
Lawrence. In the spring of 1S63 he bought a 
dray and began hauling. At the time the Quan- 
trell raiders came into the town he had a shot- 
gun but no ammujiition. Some of the raiders 



came to his place, took his horse, burned the 
barn with all the feed, tools, etc., leaving him 
nothing. He undertook to stealthily crawl to a 
neighbor's house for ammunition. The neighbor 
ran to a cowshed and Mr. Evans also went in 
there, but the raiders surrounded the building 
and shot repeatedly at him. To save his neigh- 
bor's life he came out and talked to the men. 
They demanded his money and when he declared 
he had none, they replied that they knew better 
and shot at him again. He gave them one of his 
pocketbooks and they then wheeled away. Re- 
terning home, his wife urged him to flee at once 
for his life, and so he hastened to the banks of 
the river. When the raid was over he found 
himself with nothing excepting one pocketbook 
containing $90. With this money he bought a 
horse, fixed up his dray and continued in the 
drayage business for many years, finally building 
up the largest transfer business in the city. He 
now has eight teams, with a transfer line to the 
Santa Fe, and has large barns, etc. He built his 
residence at No. 715 New York street, also owns 
a block on Massachusetts street, is a stockholder 
and director in the Lawrence Gas and Electric 
Light Company and a stockholder in the Watkins 
National Bank. 

A native of Pembrokeshire, Wales, Mr. Evans 
was born October 6, 1833. His father, John 
Evans, was a cabinet-maker by trade, but died in 
middle life, when his son, David, was only two 
years of age. The mother, who bore the maiden 
name of Margaret Harris, was born in Pembroke- 
shire, a daughter of David Harris, a farmer. She 
had only one child by her first husband, John 
Evans, but after his death she was again married, 
and became the mother of six sons and one daugh- 
ter, all of whom attained mature years, and three 
of the sons came to the United States. She died 
in Wales when seventy -three years of age. 

When our subject was fourteen years of age 
his mother and step-father moved from town to a 
farm near Haverford West. When he was nine- 
teen years of age he left there, to try his fortune 
in America. It had been his original intention to 
settle in Australia, but changing his plans he de- 
cided to sail for America. May 10, 1853, he left 



478 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Liverpool on the sailer "Kossuth," Capt. J. J. 
Bell, and landed in New York on the loth of June. 
Going to Centerville, Allegany County, N. Y., 
he was engaged in farming until 1857, when he 
came to Kansas. Here he took a claim of one 
hundred and sixty acres in Franklin County, 
but made Lawrence his headquarters. He proved 
up on the place, but afterward sold it. In the 
summer of 1859 he was married in Lawrence to 
Miss Mary Edwards, a native of Wales. About 
the same time he began to work for a man, but 
his employer failed and he received his pay in a 
span of mules, with which he started teaming. 
During the Price raid he was a member of the 
Third Kansas Militia, which was called out to- 
ward Kansas City to assist in driving the Confed- 
erate general out of the state. He is a member 
of Washington Post No. 12, G. A. R., in politics 
is a Republican, and fraternally belongs to the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen. In the Bap- 
tist Church he has served as a trustee for twenty- 
five years. He lost his wife and four of their 
children by death, and has seven children now 
living. The names of his children are as follows: 
Mrs. Laura Quick, of Lawrence; John, who died 
at eighteen months; Emily E., of Denver, Colo.; 
William, who died at twenty months; Mrs. Agnes 
Leach, who died in Kansas City; Mrs. Alice Ro- 
ber, of Lawrence; Frank, who assists his father in 
business; Mrs. Carrie Stanford, of this city, and 
Nellie and Elsie, who are with their father. 



EAPT. JULIUS FISCHER, a pioneer of '57 
at Eudora, Douglas County, and ever since 
1868 a resident of Lawrence, was born in 
Flatow, Marein Verder, West Prussia, May 23, 
1827. His father, Johan, a native of Saxony and 
a brewer by occupation, married in Berlin, and 
there also worked at his trade. Later he built a 
brewery at Flatow, but through misfortune lost 
tlifi entire property. He died in Prussia in June, 
1857. His wife was Caroline Winkelmann, a 
native of Berlin and daughter of a prosperous 
government official; she died in 1852. Their 
family consisted of twelve children, but only 
three sons and one daughter attained mature 



years. Of these Carl is living in Lawrence; 
Heinrich, who was in the pontoon corps during 
the Civil war, is in St. Louis; and Julius forms 
the subject of this .sketch. 

At the age of fourteen our subject was ap- 
prenticed to the trade of a cabinet-maker in hi.s 
native town. After his three years' apprentice- 
ship he was employed as a journeyman. In 
1 848 he enlisted in the Prussian army as a pri- 
vate in the Twelfth Company, Twenty-first Regi- 
ment of Sharpshooters, and served for two years 
and ten months, at the expiration of which he 
was discharged. After working at his trade for 
some years he started for the new world. He 
left Hamburg on the sailing vessel "Oder" and 
after a voj-age of six weeks landed in New York, 
August 24, 1856. He .spent two weeks in New 
York, then bought a ticket to Chicago, and after 
paying for the ticket had only seventy-five cents 
left. Ten days were spent on the emigrant train 
and when he arrived in Chicago he had only a 
nickel. Fortunately, his clothes were good, but, 
unfortunately, he had no tools. He secured 
lodgings in a State street boarding house, and 
began a long and wearj- effort to secure emploj'- 
ment. After two weeks, through the influence 
of a Russian, he was given work in a lounge- 
frame factory at $9 a week. Later he worked at 
the carpenter's trade, and then was in Wright's 
mower and reaper works. 

In the spring of 1857 Mr. Fischer became a 
member of the Kansas Town Company. In 
April twenty-one men started for Kansas and ar- 
riving in Douglas County laid out Eudora, 
which was so named in accordance with the re- 
quest of the Indian, Pascal Fish, who wished it 
named for his daughter. Mr. Fischer a.ssisted 
in starting a sawmill, and in it he worked, re- 
ceiving $2.50 per day. These wages seemed 
very large to him then, as he had been through 
so many trying experiences in Chicago that he 
had learned to value money. However, his 
prosperity was soon terminated. Hard times 
came on; he lost his position. Every one was 
financially distressed, and work was exceedingly 
difficult to secure. He manufactured stirrups 
for saddles and, with these fastened on his back. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



479 



he walked to Lawrence, where he sold them. 
Later, with a partner, he started a sawmill and 
manufactured native lumber at Eudora for four 
years. During this time they cut two hundred 
acres of timber, besides what they bought from 
loggers. 

During the Civil war our subject raised Com- 
pany M, Twenty-first Kansas Militia, and was 
commissioned its captain by Governer Carney. 
His was the only infantry company in the regi- 
ment. He participated in the battles during the 
Price raid in Missouri. On the expiration of the 
term of service he returned to Eudora. In 1868 
he settled in Lawrence, where he built an ice 
house and engaged in a retail ice business, con- 
tinuing in this until his retirement in 1893. In 
January, 1894, he became interested in a shoe 
business which his son had started five years be- 
fore. January 14, 1894, the Menger Shoe Com- 
pany was incorporated, with Mr. Fischer as 
president. Otto Fischer as secretary, treassurer 
and manager. The following year the firm title 
was changed to Fischer & Son. The location of 
the firm is No. 742 Massachusetts street. By 
his connection with business affairs and by his 
improvement of business and residence property, 
Captain Fischer has done much to develop the 
interests and enlarge the resources of Lawrence. 
He is a stanch Democrat, an admirer of Bryan, a 
believer in the silver standard and the income 
tax, and an enemy to the trusts and monopolies 
that have gained such power in our country. 
While in Eudora he served for a term in the 
town council and after coming to Lawrence he 
served two years in the city council, representing 
the fourth ward. He is a member of Washing- 
ton Post No. 12, G. A. R. 

In Lawrence Captain Fischer married Miss 
Tekla Menger, who was born in Rudolphstadt, 
Saxony, Germany, a daughter of Frederick Men- 
ger, who coming to America, spent a short time 
in Philadelphia, and in 1857 settled in Douglas 
County, Kans. His son, Adolph, who was in 
the regular army for five years and took part in 
the Civil war, later engaged in the real-estate 
business in Lawrence. Another son, Ottomar, 
lives in Philadelphia; a third son, A. G. Men- 



ger, began hi the shoe business in Lawrence in 
1865 after the Quantrell raid and with his 
brother, Herman, became the proprietor of a 
large store. The children of Captain and Mrs. 
FLscher are as follows: Otto, his father's partner, 
and councilman from the fourth ward, also a 
prominent Knight Templar Mason, married Miss 
Agnes Jadiecke, of Lawrence, and they have 
two children, Erna and Elfreda; Eda is married 
and lives in Tonganoxie, Kans.; Carl a.ssists his 
father in the store; and Anna, the youngest of 
the family, is at home. 



HORATIO TAWNEY. A stage coach from 
Douglas to Franklin County had among its 
passengers in December, 1864, the subject 
of this sketch. At that time Ottawa was a small 
hamlet and settlers were few throughout the sur- 
rounding country; but foreseeing possibilities for 
good in the region, he bought a farm in Ohio 
Township, and here he has since made his home, 
cultivating the one hundred and four acres that 
comprise the place. As a Republican he has 
been a local leader of political affairs. For five 
years he served as township assessor, and for 
twenty years he was a member of the school 
board, besides which he served as township 
clerk. With his family he is identified with the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, while fraternally 
he is a member of Princeton Post No. iii, 
G. A. R. 

A son of Frederick and Anna (Myers) Taw- 
ney, our subject was born in Richland County, 
Ohio, June 7, 1834. His father, who was born 
near Gettysburg, Pa., removed with his parents 
to Ohio in boyhood and there he learned the 
wagon-maker's trade, at which he was employed 
for several years. Later he bought a farm, which 
he carried on, at the same time operating a saw 
mill. In 1875 he sold the place and came to Kan- 
sas, buying a farm near Ottawa and residing 
there until the death of his wife in i886. After- 
ward he made his home with his son Horatio. 
During the lifetime of the Whig party he sup- 
ported its principles, and when the Republican 
party was organized became an adherent of its 



48o 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



platform. In religion he was a Methodist. He 
was born March lo, 1808, and died January 7, 
1899. His father, Henry Tawney, who, it is 
thought, was a native of Maryland, spent his life 
principally in Pennsylvania and Ohio, following 
the blacksmith's trade and dying at an advanced 
age. 

The mother of our subject was born in Adams 
County, Pa., and died in Franklin County, 
Kans., in 1886. Her father, Henry Myers, who 
was of German extraction, moved from Pennsyl- 
vania to Richland County, Ohio, and died there 
at an advanced age. In religion she was of the 
Lutheran faith. Of her seven sons and two 
daughters the following survive: Henry, a resi- 
dent of Franklin County; Horatio; Caroline, who 
is in Texas; Francis James; David, a farmer in 
Cutler Township, Franklin County; Harriet Ma- 
ria, wife of William K. Easterly, of Williams 
County, Ohio; and Hiram W., of this county. 
Cornelius was killed by a horse when thirty- 
five years of age. Until he was of age our sub- 
ject remained on the home farm. He then bought 
forty acres of timber land, .some of which he 
cleared before entering the armj'. July 29, 1862, 
he enlisted in Company C, One Hundredth Ohio 
Infantry, and was assigned to the Twenty-third 
Army Corps. In 1864 he was promoted from 
the ranks to be corporal, in which capacity he 
continued until he was honorably discharged. 
For some months during the war he was held a 
prisoner by the Confederates. September 3,1863, 
while in Texas, he was captured by General Jack- 
son's men, and from that time until March 13, 

1864, he was held at Libby prison and Belle Isle. 
Finally he was exchanged and returned to his 
command. Among the battles in which he took 
part were those at Franklin, Nashville, Atlanta, 
Columbia, Limestone Station, Town Creek and 
the various engagements of the Atlanta cam- 
paign. He was honorably discharged July 2, 

1865. His brother Francis James served in 
Company E, Thirty-eighth Ohio Infantry, and 
their uncle, Abraham, who served in an Indiana 
regiment, died of wounds received in battle. 

After the war Mr. Tawney returned to his 
Ohio home, but soon sold his place and moved to 



Kansas, where for a time he worked at the car- 
penter's trade, in addition to clearing his land. 
He was married October 16, 1856, to Miss Eliza- 
beth A. Stinebaugh, who was born near Galion, 
Ohio, September 23, 1838, a daughter of Jacob 
and Ellen (Hershier) Stinebaugh. During the 
Civil war she had four brothers, George D., 
Henry, Jacob B. and John, who served in the 
Union army, Henry and Jacob being members of 
Company E, Thirty-eighth Ohio Infantry, and 
John, of Company C, One Hundredth Ohio In- 
fantry. Three of the children of Mr. and Mrs. 
Tawney died in childhood. Those living are: 
William A., who is station agent for the Union 
Pacific Railway at Lincoln Centre, Kans. ; Fran- 
cis G., a farmer in Ohio Township; Sylvia A., 
wife of E.J. Murphy; Horatio H., a farmer and 
cattle-dealer in Ohio Township; Annie E., who 
married Frederick Smith; Charles S., a farmer of 
Franklin County; Hattie B., a stenographer in 
Kansas City, Mo.; Oliver, who is station agent 
for the Union Pacific Railroad at Palco, Rooks 
County, Kans.; Minnie M. and James A. G., at 
home. 



(lUDGE JOHN FERRIS. There is no citi- 
I zen of Lecompton who has been more active 
Q) in its educational interests than Judge Ferris. 
Having had few advantages when he was a boj', 
and being obliged to acquire his education wholly 
by self-culture, he realizes more than many the 
advantages of a good education, and has done all 
within his power to promote the welfare of the 
schools of his town. For ten years he acted as a 
member of the board of trustees of Lane Universi- 
ty, and during the greater part of this time served 
upon its executive committee. Since 1882 he has 
been a member of the school board of Lecompton, 
and has been instrumental in promoting the in- 
terests of the schools and advancing the standard 
of education. 

In County Down, Ireland, our subject was 
born July 13, 1830, a son of John and Nancy 
(Campbell) Ferris. He and his sister, Sarah J., 
who resides on the homestead in Ohio, are the 
only survivors of seven children comprising the 
family. His father, who followed the weaver's 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



481 



trade in his native land, emigrated to America in 
1831. After two years in New York City, the 
prevalence of that dread disease, cholera, deter- 
mined him to leave there. With his family he 
removed to Ohio and .settled in Tuscarawas Coun- 
ty. After a short time on a farm he went to the 
county seat, where he made his home until his 
death. His wife, who was a native of Scotland, 
accompanied her parents to Ireland when she was 
a girl. Twenty years after Mr. and Mrs. Ferris 
settled in America they induced her father, Mr. 
Campbell, to seek his home in this country, and 
our subject remembers that after he had crossed 
the ocean and joined the family in Ohio he said 
that he had never been ill in bed a whole day in 
his life, although he was then ninety-five years 
of age. He died three years later. 

His parents being poor, our subject was early 
thrown upon his own resources, and was also 
largely responsible for the maintenance of the 
family. At sixteen years of age he ran a boat on 
the Ohio canal, and during the two following 
years he was an intimate acquaintance of James 
A. Garfield, who was employed at the same work. 
After two years he apprenticed himself to the 
blacksmith's trade in Akron, Ohio, and upon the 
completion of his time he went to New Philadel- 
phia, Ohio, where he worked as a journeyman for 
nine years. During this time, in 1853, he was 
united in marriage with Miss Ellen Cunning- 
ham, a native of Tuscarawas County, Ohio. In 
1857, having lost his health through overappli- 
cation to his trade, he was advised by physicians 
to give up blacksmithing and devote himself to 
outdoor work. With this object in view he mi- 
grated to Indiana and settled on a farm in Or- 
ange County. During the summer months he 
cultivated his land and in winter taught school. 
In this way he continued for twelve years, with 
the exception of the time spent in the service of 
his country. In Februarj^, 1864, he enlisted in 
Company M, Thirteenth Indiana Cavalry, and 
engaged in fighting the guerillas, taking part in 
many skirmishes. His original enlistment had 
been in Company F, composed of friends and 
those who had been his pupils in school. But 
owing to sickness he was uuable to be mustered 



into the service with the others, and when he 
joined them he found his company full, so he was 
assigned to Company M, composed of strangers. 
He took part in the battles of Nashville and 
Franklin, the Davis raid and the capture of Mo- 
bile. He was mustered out of the service at 
Vicksburg in November, 1865, and was honora- 
bly discharged at Indianapolis, Ind. On his re- 
turn to Indiana he resumed farming and teach- 
ing. 

In 1869 he came to Kansas and settled one 
mile southeast of Leconipton, where he leased 
land from Col. William M. Nace, residing there 
for two years. He then removed to the home in 
Lecompton where he has since resided. Shortly 
after settling here he was elected justice of the 
peace and served in the office for six j'ears. For 
four years after coming to town he continued 
farming, but the grasshopper scourge of 1874 and 
1875 destroyed his crops and discouraged him 
completely with farming. After losing his sec- 
ond crop in 1875 he was left with a debt on his 
home and no means. For two years he engaged 
in railroading, working as a section hand, after 
which he was made foreman of the section, and 
worked in this capacity for five years. He re- 
signed when he was offered a position in the 
water service at Lecompton, a position which he 
filled one year, but being crippled through an 
accident, was obliged to resign. Since then he 
has not been able to actively engage in any busi- 
ness. After the expiration of his term as justice 
of the peace he was elected police magistrate of 
L,ecompton and served in this office for nine 
years. Upon refusing to serve longer he was 
elected city attorney, which position he still 
holds. 

Politically Judge Ferris has always been an 
ardent supporter of the Republican party. He 
is a man of earnest Christian character, and has 
from youth been interested in church and Sun- 
day-school work, being an active member of the 
United Brethren Church. He has often acted as 
arbiter in disputes between his neighbors, and in 
frequent instances has been the confidant of both 
parties involved. His known integrity and jus- 
tice of character have made him respected among 



482 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



his associates. He and his wife became the par- 
ents of nine children, but only four are now liv- 
ing, namely: Marj' E., wife of Dr. E. B. Packer, 
of Osage City, Kans.; Ellen, who married Dr. 
R. O. Loggan, of Philomath, Ore.; William L., 
who is connected with the Santa Fe Railroad; 
and Joseph H., who is engaged in railroading in 
Colorado. 



0EORGE P. WASHBURN, of Ottawa, is a 
I— member of a family that made a record for 
^JJ valor and devotion to the Union during the 
Civil war. At the opening of that conflict his 
father, P. S. Washburn, raised a company of 
volunteers and was commissioned first lieutenant 
of Company H, Twenty-first Missouri Infantry, 
after which he served with recognized bravery 
until he was wounded at the battle of Shiloh, 
Aprils, 1862. The effects of the wound were so 
serious that he was disabled for further sendee 
and obliged to resign. He never recovered from 
the injury, but after twenty years of suffering, 
died in 1882. The oldest son, A. M. Washburn, 
with a patriotic loyalty that belonged to him by 
inheritance and training, enlisted in Company H, 
Twenty-first Missouri Infantrj-, of which his fa- 
ther was a commissioned officer. During Price's 
raid, in the fall of 1864, he was killed by the 
Confederates near Lexington, Mo., and now rests 
in an unknown grave. The .second son, who 
forms the subject of this sketch, accompanied his 
father, whom he assisted in the management of 
his affairs and outfit while at the front. When 
his father was wounded at Shiloh he brought him 
to St. Louis, where, in August, he was honor- 
ably discharged. In the fall of 1863 the j-oung 
man had his first experience as an enlisted soldier. 
At that time he volunteered in the company of 
which his father had been an officer, and joined 
his regiment at Vicksburg, later taking part in 
the expedition up the Red River under General 
Banks, and participating in the battle of Sabine 
Cross Roads and other engagements on the home- 
ward route. His next expedition was into Mis- 
sissippi, for there-inforcement of General Sturgis 
against General Forrest in the battle of Guntowu. 



After his return to Memphis he again accom- 
panied an expedition to Missis-sippi and took part 
in the battle of Tupelo. In September he was 
ordered to St. Louis, and from there went to de- 
fend the west against Price. He took part in the 
battle of the Big Blue and various skirmishes. 
It was during this raid that his brother was killed 
from ambush. After Price retreated he was 
ordered to St. Louis and thence to Nashville, 
where he arrived about the same time with Gen- 
eral Thomas. He was present at the battle of 
Nashville and the siege of Mobile, Ala., also 
witnessed the taking of Spanish Fort and Fort 
Blakely, together with other fortifications. After 
the fall of Mobile his command under Gen. A. J. 
Smith started for Montgomery, Ala., but when 
halfway to that city received word of Lee's sur- 
render, and on that account were ordered back 
to Mobile, thence detailed to go to Fort Morgan 
for the winter. He was mustered out of service 
at St. Louis, in April, 1866. Nor were he, his 
brother and father the only members of the fam- 
ily in this company. His uncle, Wilbur Davis, 
was a sergeant and served actively until he was 
killed at Nashville. 

George Washburn removed from Brown Coun- 
ty, Ohio, to Ripley County, Ind., in an early 
day. He was of German parentage and spoke 
no language but German. His son, Cornelius 
Washburn, died on the farm on White Oak Creek, 
twenty miles northea.st of Ripley, Brown County, 
in 1821, at thirty-six years; his wife died at Cov- 
ington, Ky.,in 1856, aged sixty -seven, her death 
resulting from an accidental fall down the stairs 
of her home. P. S., son of Cornelius Washburn, 
was a leading architect and contractor in Coving- 
ton, Ky., and Cincinnati, Ohio. October 20, 
1840, he married Hannah C. Boyce, who died at 
Fairmont, Clark County, Mo., May 5, 1858. 
Becoming the owner of large tracts of land in 
Clark County, Mo., he removed there in 1857, 
and continued to reside there until his death. 
He had six children, viz.: Ellen, who died in 
i860; A.M.; George P. ; Charles C. , a contractor, 
of Mount Pulaski, 111.; Belle, who died in 1870; 
and Mrs. Tillie Thompson, of Ottawa, Kans. 

The subject of this sketch was born in Brown 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



4? 3 



County, Ohio, March 21, 1846, and was reared 
in Covington, K3'., until 1857, after which he 
li%'ed on a farm in Missouri. After his return 
from the war he attended school in Fairmont one 
year, and then spent two years in Quincj', 111., 
learning the carpenter's trade. Meantime he 
studied mathematics, drawing and architecture 
in the evening school at Bryant & Stratton's 
Commercial College, from which he graduated. 
He was employed as journeyman in central Illi- 
nois and finally settled at Mount Pulaski, where 
he engaged in contracting and building. In 1878 
he removed to Kansas City, where he was em- 
ployed as architect and superintendent for Cross 
& Taylor. He had charge of the building of 
the Atchison Union depot, the Denver Union de- 
pot, the union depot at Peoria, 111., and other im- 
portant railroad buildings. On the death of Mr. 
Taylor he returned to the main office of the firm 
in Kansas City, and continued there until the 
spring of 1882, when he came to Ottawa. Under 
Governors Martin and Humphrey he was for six 
years architect for the state board of charities, and 
built several state institutions, among them the 
industrial school for girls, additions to the reform 
school at Topeka and blind institution at Kansas 
City. Meantime he continued his business at 
Ottawa. He was architect and had charge of 
the building of the court house at Ottawa, which 
is one of the finest in the state. He was architect 
of the court house at Atchison, which cost $100,- 
000; the court house, county infirmary and jail 
in Johnson County; the court house in Miami 
County, Kans. ; and the court house and jail in 
Woodson County. Besides these Kansas build- 
ings he built the court house in Pittsfield, 111., 
and a $40,ooojail at Logansport, Ind. Many of 
the finest business blocks and residences in the 
state have been erected under his superintend- 
ence. He was architect for the Baptist Church, 
First National Bank and all the school buildings 
in Ottawa, also the Baker University buildings in 
Baldwin. His contracts have always been carried 
out in a business-like and trustworthy manner, 
and no architect in the state stands higher than 
he. Since 1885 he has been a fellow of the 
American Institute of Architects, and has at- 



tended all of their annual conventions since that 
time. He has his office at No. 413 South Main 
street, Ottawa. 

In February, 1870, at Niantic, 111., Mr. Wash- 
burn married Alice, daughter of C. A. Sponsler, 
who removed from her native cit}% Springfield, 
111., to Ottawa, Kans., where he followed the 
architectural business. They are the parents of 
four children. The oldest. Pearl, is a fine musi- 
cian and well-educated lady; she is now the wife 
of Rev. J. C. Coggins, pastor of the Christian 
Church at Independence, Kans., and a fine scholar 
and excellent speaker. The older son, C. A., 
is studying architecture under his father. The 
youngest children are named Hazel and George 
Thomas. 

Fraternally Mr. Washburn is connected with 
the Masons and the lodge and encampment of 
Odd Fellows. He is active in the work of the 
George H. Thomas Post No. 18, G. A. R., in 
Ottawa, and has represented it in the state en- 
campment, also in the national encampment at 
Milwaukee. He is also connected with the Kan- 
sas Commandery of L,oyal Legion. In religion 
be is a member of the Christian Church. Politi- 
cally he has always supported Republican prin- 
ciples, and has represented his party in local 
committees and state conventions. He stands 
high among the citizens of Ottawa, where he has 
a reputation for liberality and enterprise, as well 
as for success in his chosen business. 



EHARLES F. GREEVER, of Leavenworth, 
city engineer, was born four miles north of 
Savannah, Andrew County, Mo., August 
10, 1864, a son of George W. and Sarah (Porter- 
field) Greever, natives of Virginia. His mater- 
nal grandfather, John Porterfield, was the son of 
a Revolutionary soldier, of English descent, and 
was a planter in Virginia. The paternal grand- 
father, Leonidas Greever, also a planter in the 
Old Dominion, was the son of Hiram Greever, a 
native of Scotland, who was a colonial settler of 
Virginia, a planter by occupation, and in religion 
a Presbyterian. During the Revolution he served 
in the American army. 



484 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



The boyhood days of George W. Greever were 
spent in the home of his uncle, Hon. Hiram 
Greever, who was for eighteen years a member 
of the state senate of Virginia and was strong in 
opposing the secession of the southern states. 
When he was twenty-two years of age he re- 
moved to Ohio and was employed as a book- 
keeper in Dayton. He returned to Virginia to 
marry Miss Porterfield. In 1854 he settled upon 
a farm in Andrew County, Mo., and afterward 
became a member of the firm of Greever & Beaty, 
who were the first to establish a pork-packing 
business in Savannah. He was opposed to slavery 
and stanch in his adherence to the Union. His 
younger brother, Addison, was lieutenant-colonel 
on General Lee's staff, but he cast his fortunes 
in with the Union army, raising a company for 
the Eleventh Missouri Infantry. He served for 
four years in the west and southwest as captain 
of his company. When his brother, Lieutenant- 
Colonel Greever, was imprisoued at Columbus 
he went there, secured his release and brought 
him to Missouri, where he kept him until the 
war was over. Being thoroughly opposed to 
slavery, he had set his slaves free at the opening 
of the war and employed help whom he paid by 
the day. 

At the close of the war Captain Greever bought 
a farm near Newmarket, Mo., which he operated 
until 1868, and then removed to Wyandotte 
County, Kans., twelve miles south of Leaven- 
worth, where he cultivated a farm. In 1882 he 
moved to Tonganoxie Township, Leavenworth 
County, and there he died July 3, 1891, at sixty- 
three years of age. For eight years he had been 
a member of the lower house of the Kansas legis- 
lature, elected on the Democratic ticket. He 
organized and was president of the Kansas Trot- 
ting Horse Breeders' Association. He brought 
from Lexington, Ky., the first standard-bred 
horses that were ever in Wyandotte County, and 
these he continued to raise on his farm as long as 
he lived. Some of them acquired a wide reputa- 
tion in racing circles. In 188S he brought out 
three head of the best breed from Kentucky. 
One of these he was driving when he met his 
death. The horse turned a corner so rapidly 



that he was thrown into a wire fence and received 
injuries from which he died two hours later. 

Mrs. Sarah Greever died in Wyandotte County 
in 1875. She was the mother of five children, 
viz. : William S. , a farmer of Cowley County, 
Kans.; James P., who died in Wyandotte Coun- 
t}-; John B., a farmer in Leavenworth County; 
Charles F.; and Mrs. Sarah E. Allan, of Reno, 
Leavenworth County. The subject of this sketch 
grew to manhood in Kansas. In 18S2 he at- 
tended the Palmer Academy, and a year later 
became a student in the Friends' Academy in 
Tonganoxie. During 1884-89 he attended Camp- 
bell University at Holton, where he completed 
the regular university course. Meantime he had 
spent a year with an engineering corps of Kansas 
City. In April, 1889, he went to Oklahoma with 
the engineering department of the Denison & 
Washetaw Valle}^ Railroad Company, with whom 
he remained until the surveying had been com- 
pleted. Returning home in July, 1889, he spent 
four months there, and then went to Denison, 
Tex., where he was first assistant engineer iu 
charge of construction of sewer work of twelve 
miles in Denison. He also completed the rapid 
transit railway of Denison, later had charge of 
the construction of a wagon bridge across the 
Red River at Denison. Returning home in April, 
1 89 1, he took charge of his father's affairs from 
that time until January, 1892, when he was ap- 
pointed county engineer of Leavenworth County 
by the board of commissioners. He contiimed 
to hold the position constantly until August i, 
1897, when his resignation was accepted, but on 
the I St of January, 1898, he was again appointed 
to the office. From 1893 to 1895 he served as 
county surveyor, to which office he was elected 
on the Democratic ticket. April 21, 1897, the 
mayor appointed him city engineer, and since 
that year he has al.so been chief engineer of the 
Leavenworth & Lansing Electric Railway Com- 
pany, in the laying out of which road he was in- 
terested from the start. With his brother he is 
interested in farming and the breeding of fine 
horses, and at the head of his stable has Owray, 
by Onward. 

Fraternally Mr. Greever is a member of the 




JACOB H. ROTHEN'BKRGER. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



487 



Masonic lodge in Leavenworth. He was made a 
Mason in Henry Lodge No. 190, A. F. & A. M., 
at Tonganoxie, and had the distinction of being 
the youngest master of that lodge. He is also 
connected with the chapter Masons. In politics 
he has always been firm in his allegiance to the 
Democratic party. He has frequently been a 
member of the county central committee. In 
1896 he served as a member of the state central 
committee, and he has been a delegate to state, 
congressional and county conventions. He is a 
warm admirer of Senator W. A. Harris, of Leav- 
enworth County, whose candidacy for the senate 
he actively promoted in 1S97. 



(Jacob H. ROTHENBERGER, proprietor 
I of the Pioneer Cooper Works, is one of the 
G/ oldest business men of Leavenworth. July 
I, 1859, he opened a shop on the corner of Main 
and Choctaw streets, where he remained for 
eighteen months, later removing to Choctaw 
street, between Fourth and Fifth. In 1864 he 
bought property on Sixth street and built the 
works which now extend from Short to Oak 
street, a depth of two hundred and twenty-five 
feet, and a frontage of one hundred and thirty- 
five feet. Not only is this the oldest, but also one 
of the largest cooper shops in Kansas. During 
early days he manufactured barrels out of rough 
lumber, but now uses the machinery process. 
Besides his shop he owns other property, includ- 
ing farm land in Alexandria Township, Leaven- 
worth County, and is also interested in other en- 
terprises. 

• A Republican in politics, Mr. Rothenberger 
was for three terms councilman from the third 
ward, and for one term served as president of the 
council, being acting mayor during the absence 
of the mayor. During 1891 and 1892 he served 
for nineteen months as chief of police of Leaven- 
worth. In 1893 he was elected county sheriff on 
the Republican ticket, and at the expiration of 
his term was re-elected by a large majority, serv- 
ing from January, 1894, to January, 1898. Dur- 
ing his service he quelled a mob of striking min- 
ers who had come from Rich Hill, Mo., intending 
20 



to force the Leavenworth mines to stop work. 
Through his wise management trouble was 
averted and the miners were sent home to their 
side of the river. During the Civil war he was 
a member of a militia company that was called 
out during the Price raid. In 1861, when Leav- 
enworth was threatened, he took thirteen men 
from the Turner's Society to Fort Leavenworth 
for enlistment; the first company raised here for 
service was composed of Germans, but by mistake 
it was made Company I in the First Kansas In- 
fantry. 

Mr. Rothenberger was born in Rheinpfalz, Ba- 
varia, Germany, August 8, 1833, a son of Henry 
Lawrence and Elizabeth (Schumacher) Rothen- 
berger, also natives of Bavaria. His father, who 
was a guide in the French army, had been cap- 
tured by the French and forced to serve in that 
capacity. By trade he was a cooper and brewer. 
In 1857 he came to America and settled in Des 
Moines County, Iowa, thence came to Leaven- 
worth, whete he died. His wife also died here. 
Of their three children, two sons, Jacob H. and 
John, are living. The latter, who was a soldier 
in the First Iowa Infantry, is now a farmer in 
Delaware Township. 

When a boy our subject learned the cooper's 
trade under his father. In 1851 he left Havre in 
the sailer "Bavaria," which anchored in New 
York after a voyage of thirty-five days. For 
three years he was employed at the cooper's trade 
in New York. In 1854 he settled in Burlington, 
Iowa. At the time of the Pike's Peak excitement, 
in 1859, he started west with a party, traveling 
via ox-team to Kearney, but they met so many 
people returning and the reports were so discour- 
aging, that he became discouraged and went to 
Nebraska City. Thence became to Leavenworth, 
where he worked at his trade for a short time, 
and then opened a shop of his own. In this city 
he married Catherine, daughter of Theodore 
Herboldsheimer, and a native of Bavaria; she 
came to America with her father, who settled at 
Junction City, Kans., but later removed to To- 
peka. Mr. and Mrs. Rothenberger became the 
parents of eleven children, of whom the following 
survive; Ida, wife of George W. Kaufmann, of 



488 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Leavenworth; Agnes, Catherine, Elizabeth, Ed- 
ward and Otto; Mary died in 1895; Charles in 
1892; and three died in infancy. 

For many years Mr. Rothenberger was presi- 
dent of the German-English school board; about 
twelve years he was president of the Turners' 
Society of this city, and for four years he was 
president of the German-American Publishing 
Company, which published the Leavenworth 
Frcie Pressc. Fraternally he is a past officer in 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; was for 
fourteen years master of exchequer in the 
Knights of Pythias and a member of the Uniform 
Rank; is past president of the Order of Foresters 
and the Sons of Herman; and is financier in the 
lodge of United Workmen, which he has repre- 
sented in the grand lodge at different times. 



IILLIAM H. GILL, who was one of the 
early .settlers of Kansas, owns three hun- 
dred acres of farming land 'in Douglas 
County and resides in Palmyra Township. He 
was born in Cornwall, England, July i, 1832, 
and was ten years of age when, in 1842, his 
father, Richard Gill, crossed the ocean to estab- 
lish his home in America. The family settled in 
Missouri, but in two years removed to Galena, 
111., and there the father was interested in lead 
mines until 1867. During the latter year he 
brought the family to Kansas, and bought a 
house and lot in Baldwin, where he settled and 
spent the remainder of his life in retirement from 
business cares. In religion he was identified 
with the Methodist Episcopal Church and in poli- 
tics voted with the Republican party, but, being 
a man of quiet, retiring disposition, never took 
an active part either in religious or political af- 
fairs. His death occurred when he was eighty 
years of age. In early manhood he married 
Mary Glanville, who was born in England and 
traced her ancestry back to the early days of that 
country. She died in Baldwin when seventy- 
eight years of age. 

The family of which our subject was the 
third consisted of eight children. The eldest, 
Sophia, is the widow of Richard Stephens, of 



Palmyra Township. Mary G. is the widow of 
Stephen R. Elwell, also of this township. Eliza- 
beth Ann married Brazilla Dunn and lives in 
Oregon. Richard G., who came to Kansas in 
1856 to ascertain the whereabouts of our subject, 
then a prisoner, took up a pre-emption claim in 
Douglas Count}- and resided here for several 
years. During the war he was pressed into the 
Confederate army, but deserted at the first oppor- 
tunity, not being in sympathy with that cause. 
His last years were spent in Arkansas, where he 
died at fifty-two years. John G. is engaged in 
farming in Franklin County, Kans. Emma was 
first married to Charles Chetlan, and after his 
death became the wife of Col. Charles Adams. 
Katie married Lorenzo Graves and died at forty 
years of age. 

When seventeen years of age our subject left 
the home of his parents and went to St. Louis, 
Mo. He attended the Desperes Academy twelve 
miles from that city for a time and also taught a 
school near there. Later he taught in Iowa 
County, Wis. , for three years, after which he was 
a student in the Lawrence University at Apple- 
ton, Wis. However, on account of trouble with 
his eyes, he was obliged to discontinue his studies. 
During the border ruffian excitement he came to 
Kansas, in July, 1856, via Nebraska City, where 
he met a company of emigrants under Colonel 
Eldridge, and with them he proceeded as far as 
Topeka. While he was there he responded to a 
call for volunteers and on the same day started 
to hunt a gang of ruffians, overtook and fought 
them, then went to Lecompton. Next he pro- 
ceeded to Lawrence, where he was stationed for 
some time. He took part in the Hickory Point 
fight with the border ruffians, and the next day, 
while returning to Lawrence, he and the other 
members of his company were captured by a com- 
pany of United States troops and held prisoners 
for about three months. On being released he 
returned to Lawrence, where he was employed in 
putting up ice and in operating a shingle 
machine. 

In February, 1857, Mr. Gill pre-empted a claim 
and began the improvement of the land. He re- 
tained the property for several years, not dispos- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



489 



ing of it until after his marriage. In 1858 he re- 
turned to Illinois, where he taught two terras of 
school. Later he taught again in Wisconsin. 
In 1862 he enlisted as a private in Company B, 
Thirtieth Wisconsin Infantry, and was mustered 
in as first lieutenant. The captain of the com- 
pany being always on detached duty, our sub- 
ject had command of the company the greater 
part of the time. At Frankfort, Ky., he served 
as post commandant. Quantrell was captured 
by his regiment and died while held a prisoner 
by it in Louisville, Ky. After a service of three 
years and three months our subject was honor- 
ably discharged, the war having closed. Upon 
being discharged he returned to Kansas and has 
since made his home in Douglas Count3^ Po- 
litically he always supports Republican prin- 
ciples. He is a member of the Grange and also 
belongs to Seth Kelley Post No. 410, G. A. R., 
of Vinland. 

The marriage of Mr. Gill united him with Mrs. 
Mattie V. (Cutter) Kelley, widow of Seth Kelley. 
She was born in Massachusetts and came to Kan- 
sas in an early day. By her first marriage she 
has one son, George Kelley. The two daughters 
of Mr. and Mrs. Gill are Helen Gertrude and 
Mary Glanville. Mrs. Gill is a lady of culture 
and took an active part in the establishment of a 
public library at Vinland. In religious connec- 
tions she and her son and the two daughters are 
Presbyterians, while Mr. Gill is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 



J LBERT BALES. The character of the soil 
^ of Leavenworth County is such that various 
^ branches of agriculture may be followed 
with a reasonable hope of success. Accordingly, 
some men have interested themselves in the 
stock business, for which the fine pasture lands 
afford an excellent opening; some have engaged 
in raising corn and wheat; some have made a 
specialty of the apple business, and others have 
given attention to the raising of small fruits. 
Mr. Bales has made the potato business his spe- 
cialty, and the remarkable success with which he 
has met proves that he did not err in judg- 



ment in taking up this line of work. In 
1890 he purchased a farm in the Kaw bottom in 
Sherman Township. The place consisted of one 
hundred and seventy acres, which he at once 
planted to potatoes. Since then he has made 
many improvements on the farm, among them 
being the erection of a substantial country home. 
He has also added to his property and now owns 
two hundred and twenty acres, of which about 
one hundred acres are planted in potatoes. Dur- 
ing the season he makes large shipments to the 
markets. His success has encouraged others to 
engage in the business. Realizing the value of 
concerted action, he has labored to secure an or- 
ganization of potato growers in this locality. 
Largely through his influence the Kansas Produce 
Growers' and Dealers' Association was organ- 
ized, the object of which is to encourage the 
growing of better crops and the securing of more 
satisfactory arrangements for marketing; and he 
has served as president of the society. 

Mr. Bales was born in Greene County, Tenn., 
in 1856, a son of Abner and Cerena (Pierce) 
Bales. His grandfather, Jacob Bales, was a na- 
tive of Sullivan County, Tenn., and a life-long 
resident and farmer in that county, where he was 
a man of considerable prominence. In religion 
he was of the Quaker faith. He died in 1875, 
when eighty-seven years of age. He was a de- 
scendant of one of three brothers who came to- 
gether from England and settled in Virginia. 
Abner Bales was a farmer of Greene County and 
also, prior to the Civil war, engaged in the man- 
ufacture of linseed oil and of boots and shoes. 
Reared in the Quaker religion, and a firm be- 
liever in the doctrines of that society, he believed 
wars to be wicked and Godless; hence he refused 
to take any part in the Civil war. However, his 
sympathies were with the Union. He died at his 
home in Greene County in 1863, when fifty years 
of age. His wife died at the age of sixty-two. 
They were the parents of eleven children, all but 
two of whom are still living. They are: Mary, 
widow of Frank Patterson; Louisa, the wife of 
Robert Corder; Newton; Jacob; George; Caro- 
line, who married Jacob Grimm; Thomas, Elbert 
and Nathan. 



490 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



In 1873 the subject of this sketch left his home 
ill Tennessee and moved to Grant County, lud. 
In the fall of 1877 he settled in Kansas City, 
Kans., where he was etuployed for four years. 
In the spring of 1882 he began growing potatoes 
in Wilder, Kans., where he remained for two 
years, and afterward he spent seven years in the 
same business at Edwardsville. In 1890 he pur- 
chased the property which, with its subsequent 
additions of land, comprises his present home. 
Politically he is a Democrat, and keeps well 
posted concerning public questions. For several 
years he has been a member of the school board 
and one of the active workers in promoting the 
interests of his district .school. He is identified 
with the Methodist Episcopal Church and a con- 
tributor to its support. His first wife, whom he 
married in 1884, bore the maiden name of Laura 
Wilson; she died in January, 1886. Afterward 
he was united in marriage with Letha Olive 
Pipes, by whom he has four children: Lennie, 
Beulah, Florence and Helen. 



ISAAC F. HUGHES, chairman of the board 
of county commissioners and a successful 
merchant of Lawrence, was born in Glou- 
cester County, N. J., July 29, i86i, a son of Will- 
iam M. and Sarah S. (Abraham) Hughes, 
natives of New Jersey. His father, who was a 
member of an old family of that state, engaged in 
farming there until 1868, when he settled upon a 
farm in Reno Township, Leavenworth County, 
Kans., and there he made his home during the 
remainder of his life. While on a visit to the 
Centennial Exposition he died at the Hughes 
home in Philadelphia. He was then sixty-eight 
years of age. His wife died at North Lawrence, 
April I, 1898, at the age of seventy-nine years. 
They were the parents of eight children, viz.: 
Robert W. , who was a member of a New Jersey 
regiment during the Civil war, and is now con- 
nected with the Santa Fe road in Newton, Kans. ; 
Mrs. Mary K. Southern, of Manchester, Eng- 
land; William A., who was an engineer on a 
ferry running between Philadelphia and Camden, 
and died in the latter city in 1895; Mrs. Emma 



Hogbin, of Hamilton County, Kans.; G. C, who 
is in his brother's store in Lawrence; James J., 
of Tehama County, Cal.; Charles W., who re- 
sides in Portland, Ore.; and Isaac F. 

The last-named was seven years of age at the 
time the family settled in Kansas. He attended 
a school in Reno Township, also spent four win- 
ters in the Lawrence school and in the business 
college. In 1879 he entered the employ of S. B. 
Pierson in order to learn the milling business, 
and remained in the same place for more than 
six years, meantime thoroughly learning the 
trade. He then became manager and head miller 
in Babcock's mill in North Lawrence, and con- 
tinued in the same place after it become the prop- 
erty of another gentleman and was transformed 
into a flour mill. In February, 1893, he em- 
barked in the grocery business, beginning on a 
small scale on Locust street. In June of the 
same 3'ear he took in Edward B. Pine as a part- 
ner and enlarged the business. Since June, 1894, 
he has occupied the building at No. 187 Bridge 
street, to which, in 1896, he built an addition at 
the north end, and began to deal also in meats 
and provisions. In Januaiy, 1899, he invested 
$1,600 in groceries, flour and feed, and also added 
fresh and salt meats and market produce to his 
stock. His success has been remarkable, espec- 
ially' when it is considered that at eighteen he 
began to work at $4 a week, and had not a dollar 
besides what he earned. His industry and in- 
telligence, however, soon made him a valuable 
workman, and at the time he began in business 
for himself he had been able to save a nice little 
capital to invest in business. He is popular 
among his customers and by energy and accu- 
racy has built up a large trade. 

Mr. Hughes was married in Trenton, Mo., 
October 17, 1891, to Miss Lizzie Griffitts, who 
was born in Jefferson Countj-, Kans., the daugh- 
ter of an old settler of that county. They have 
four children: Herbert; Earl, who is the young- 
est boy in the Lawrence high school; Ray and 
Fay (twins), four years of age. The family are 
connected with the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
in which Mr. Hughes is a member of the board 
of trustees. In politics he is a Republican. In 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



491 



the fall of 1893 he was elected to the board of 
county commissioners of Douglas County and 
was re-elected in 1896, to serve until January, 
1900. He is now serving his second term as 
chairman of the board. Fraternally he is a mem- 
ber of Lawrence Lodge No. 6, A. F. & A.M.; 
charter member and past officer in the local 
lodge, A. O. U. W., in which he has been finan- 
cier for years; a charter member of the Fraternal 
Aid, Modern Woodmen and Order of Pyramids, 
and is also identified with the Degree of Honor. 



[cJEORGE WASHINGTON SEYMOUR. 
I— Throughout a long and active life, much 
VJ of which was passed in Leavenworth Coun- 
ty, Mr. Seymour maintained a reputation for in- 
tegrity and manly worth, as well as for energy 
in his chosen occupation of farming. In 1861 he 
settled permanently in Kansas, establishing his 
home on land in Kickapoo Township, which he 
had purchased in 1857. In 1866 he sold that 
place and bought eighty acres where his family 
still reside. Here he engaged in raising grain and 
stock, adding to his land until his possessions ag- 
gregated one hundred and twenty acres. He 
erected the first store building at Boling Station 
and put in a stock of merchandise. The old 
house that stood on his farm he replaced with a 
commodious residence, containing all the modern 
improvements. Always interested in local affairs 
he did his part toward the advancement of his 
township and county. For eighteen years he 
served as justice of the peace, to which ofiice he 
was first appointed to fill a vacancy and which he 
continued to fill by election. His decisions as 
justice were thoughtfully and wisely rendered 
and very few of them were ever reversed in the 
higher courts. For years he was identified with 
the Masonic order. In religion he was a member 
of the Christian Church and a contributor to its 
maintenance. 

Mr. Seymour was born in Granger County, 
Tenn., February 25, 1S13, and died in Leaven- 
worth County, Kans., August 17, 1895, at the 
age of eighty-two years. He engaged in farming 
there until 1838, when he removed to Missouri 



and took up a claim near St. Joseph. During 
that year he visited Kansas, stopping at Fort 
Leavenworth for a short time. In 1853 he sold 
his Missouri claim and went to Williamson Coun- 
ty, Tex., where he gave his attention to the stock 
business. In 1857 he brought a drove of mules 
to Kansas and at that time he bought land in 
Kickapoo Township. Returning to Texas the 
next year he remained there until 1861, when, on 
account of his sympathies with the Union, that 
section of country became undesirable for a resi- 
dence. He then came to Kansas and established 
his home permanently in Leavenworth County. 
In politics he was a Democrat, but he favored 
the Civil war and the abolition of slavery. 

By his first marriage Mr. Seymour had six 
children, all but two of whom are still living. 
June 28, 1845, he married Mrs. Susan M. Rus- 
sell, daughter of Isaac Gann, and a native of 
Washington County, Tenn. Of the nine chil- 
dren born to them, seven are living, viz. : Mar- 
garet, who is married and lives in St. Louis; 
Samuel A., who is a farmer in High Prairie 
Township; Ann Eliza, who is married and lives 
in Wyandotte County, Kans.; George W., a cat- 
tleman in the Indian Territory; William A., a 
farmer of Leavenworth County; Albert J., of 
Kansas City, Mo. ; and Robert L. , who has charge 
of the home farm and the store at Boling. 



(TOHN GILMORE first came to Kansas in 
I 1855, traveling through the territory with 
(2/ Governor Robinson and Messrs. Hill and 
Whitman on a tour of inspection. The following 
year he spent a short time in Duluth, Minn., 
with a view to locating there, but decided that 
Kansas offered greater inducements. In 1857 he 
came to Lawrence for the second time, and here 
he engaged in the hardware and tinware business 
with a partner under the firm name of Allen & 
Gilmore, their connection continuing until i860. 
On dissolving the partnership he went to Colo- 
rado, and from there in the fall of i860 returned 
east, spending the winter in Indiana. In the 
spring of 1861 he returned to Douglas County, 
Kans., and purchased one hundred and sixty 



492 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



acres on the Kaw bottom, five miles east of Law- 
rence, where he has since engaged in the stock 
and farming business. He is one of the promi- 
nent agriculturists of Eudora Township, and is 
making a specialty of raising fine cattle and 
horses. Since he first came here he has added to 
his property until he is now the owner of one 
thousand acres of rich bottom land, on which he 
raises various cereals and potatoes. In 1874 he 
was one of the incorporators of the Lawrence 
packing hou.se, in which he continued to be a 
stockholder for some time. 

In Genesee County, N. Y., our subject was 
born November 27, 1832, asonof James Gilraore, 
who was a native of Washington County, N. Y., 
and spent his entire active life as a farmer in the 
Empire state. He made a specialty of stock- 
raising, in which he was extensively engaged for 
that day. In politics he was an old-line Whig 
and took an active part in local affairs. His death 
occurred in Livingston County, N. Y., in 1882, 
when he was eighty-six years old. He was a 
son of James Gilmore, St., who was born in 
Washington County and for years successfully 
carried on farm pursuits there. The family de- 
.scended from Colonel Gilmore, an officer under 
General Washington. The first of the name in 
this country came from England or Scotland and 
settled in New York prior to the Revolutionary 
war. 

B3' the marriage of James Gilmore, Jr. , to Marj' 
Green, who was born in New York and died there 
in 1853, at the age of fifty-three, there were born 
five children, three of whom survive, viz. : Thom- 
as, of Livingston Countj', N. Y.; Sarah Mary, 
widow of Judge S. O. Thatcher, of Lawrence; 
and John. The last-named was reared on a farm 
in Livingston County and was educated in com- 
mon schools and Alfred College at Baker's Bridge, 
N. Y. In 1847-48 he spent some time with his 
grandfather in Indiana. From there he came to 
Kansas. During the long period of his residence 
in the .same locality he has witnessed manj- 
changes and has been a contributor to enterprises 
for the benefit of the people of his township and 
county. While he has never cared for political 
prominence, he has always kept po-Sted concern- 



ing national problems and has been a stanch sup- 
porter of Republican principles. In 1856 he 
married Miss Susannah C. Odell, of Indiana. 
They have five children, namely: Annie O., who 
is with her parents; Solon T., an attornej' in 
Kansas City; Mary G., a teacher in the Colorado 
Springs .schools; Josephine, a teacher in Eudora; 
and Nydia, wife of Thomas J. Hughes, of Okla- 
homa. 



HOMAS DYER. The farming interests of 
Mr. Dyer are mainly connected with the 
county of Douglas. He is the owner of a 
valuable farm of three hundred and twenty acres 
in Willow Springs Township, one hundred and 
sixtj' acres of which was the homestead of his 
father. Besides this he has three hundred and 
sixty acres in Franklin County, across the line 
from Douglas, all of which is improved; and he 
also owns an eighty-acre tract of valuable land 
near Baldwin. His attention is divided between 
stock-raising and cereals, in both of which lines 
he has had good success. 

Near Milwaukee, Wis., Mr. Dyer was born 
March 23, 1849. His father, John Dyer, a na- 
tive of County Sligo, Ireland, was reared upon a 
farm and married Bridget Doyle, a native of the 
same county as himself. After having devoted 
some years to farming in Ireland he decided that 
the new world offered him greater advantages 
than his own land, and therefore determined to 
seek a home across the ocean. In 1834 he came 
to America, first settling in New York, and in 
1840 removing to Wisconsin, where betook up a 
tract of wild land. The country was new and 
the city of Milwaukee was as yet unknown. In 
the spring of 1857 h^ removed from thereto Kan- 
sas, settling in Douglas County and entering a 
claim to land in Willow Springs Township. 
From that time he continued to reside here and 
met with fair success as a farmer. In early days 
he was active in the Democratic party and held 
numerous local offices. In religion he was a Ro- 
man Catholic. His death occurred January 6, 
1884, at the age of eighty-three years. He was 
survived for some years by his wife, who passed 
away October 11, 1S98, at eighty-nine years. Of 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



493 



their eleven children, seven are still living, 
namely: Mrs. Margaret Gormal)', a widow liv- 
ing in Kansas City; John, a farmer of Willow 
'Springs Township; Michael, who is also engaged 
in farming here; Lizzie, who married George W. 
Hayslett, of Lawrence; Martin, a farmer of 
Franklin County; Thomas, and James, of Willow 
Springs Township. 

At the time the family settled in Kansas our 
subject was seven years of age. He continued 
with his parents until their death, caring for them 
in their old age and helplessness, and in return 
was given the old homestead when they died. 
January 9, i877,he married Miss Ernestine Butell, 
of Douglas County. They are the parents of four 
children, William P., Joseph H., Charles H. and 
Rosie, all at home. In election matters Mr. Dyer 
is more for the man than the party, and always 
endeavors to support only such men as will faith- 
fully and intelligently conserve the interests of 
the people. In national elections his sympathies 
are toward Democratic candidates. He and his 
wife were reared in the Roman Catholic faith. An 
efficient farmer and accommodating friend, he has 
won a high place in the esteem of his business 
and social acquaintances. 



0R. JOSEPH STAYMAN, the pioneer fruit 
grower of Leavenworth County, has resided 
on his present homestead, within the limits 
of the city of Leavenworth, since i860. At once 
after settling here he began to plant fruit trees 
and made many experiments in order to learn 
what varieties are best adapted to the soil and 
climate. Horticulture has been his life study 
and there is no detail of the business with which 
he is not familiar. He introduced the leading 
varieties of apples now grown in the state of 
Kansas, and is now engaged in producing what 
is known as the Stay man apple to take the place 
of the common apples, also raises Ben Davis and 
Missouri pippin varieties. The two orchards that 
he owns comprise a large tract of land, with 
about three thousand trees. 

The Stayman family are of German descent and 
were among the early settlers of Lancaster and 



Cumberland Counties, Pa., where they identified 
themselves with the Mennonites. Joseph Stay- 
man, Sr. , a native of Cumberland County, moved 
to Ohio in 1839 ^^^ there died in 1848. By oc- 
cupation he was a farmer and fruit grower. In 
politics he was an old-line Whig and one of the 
earliest Abolitionists in the United States. It 
was characteristic of the family that its members 
were patriotic, loyal citizens, who always took a 
stand on the side of the right because it was 
right, whether or not it might be policy to do so. 
He married Barbara Myers, who was born in 
Pennsylvania, daughter of John Myers, a preach- 
er in the United Brethren Church, and a de- 
scendant of German ancestry. Nine children 
were born of their union, but only two are now 
living: Joseph; and John W., of Springfield, 
Ohio. The mother died in Ohio at seventy-three 
years of age. 

In Cumberland County, Pa. , the subject of this 
sketch was born October 7, 1817. He was reared 
on the home farm and under the instruction of 
his father, who was a fine mathematician, and in 
the schools held in log buildings he obtained his 
education. In youth he assisted his father in 
the milling business. In 1839 he accompanied 
his parents to Ohio, where for five j'ears he was 
interested in the milling business with his father. 
During this time he was a student of phrenology, 
psychology and medicine. In 1846 he began to 
deliver lectures on these subjects throughout the 
country, and also dwelt much upon scientific 
topics, notably electricity. For nine years much 
of his time was spent in the lecture field. Mean- 
time, in 1849, he married and established his 
home in Carlisle, Pa. In 185 1 he removed to 
Abingdon, 111., where for several years he prac- 
ticed medicine, but in 1858 purchased a nursery 
business, which was the beginning of his connec- 
tion with the fruit business. From Illinois he 
removed to Kansas, where he has since been a 
prominent horticulturist. 

In 1876 Dr. Stayman sent fruit to the Centen- 
nial Exposition at Philadelphia and received a 
premium for excellence of display. It is a fact 
worthy of mention that there were over two hun- 
dred varieties of fruit exhibited from Leaven- 



494 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



worth County at this exposition. He was one of 
the county's delegates to Philadelphia. In addi- 
tion to the part he took in sending fruit from his 
home town and county he enlisted the interest 
of people in different parts of the state and 
through his influence they sent fruit to the Cen- 
tennial Exposition, where he took a premium. 

Dr. Staynian is the originator of the Clyde 
strawberry, also of different varieties of grapes 
and raspberries. He has made a study of draw- 
ing and designing cuts of varieties of fruits, and 
these are con.sidered very accurate. Through 
his influence in 1866 the Kansas State Horticult- 
ural Society was organized. The papers of or- 
ganization were drawn up in his house by him- 
self and William Tanner. He was one of the 
founders of the Leavenworth County Horticult- 
ural Society, of which he served as secretarj^ for 
twenty years. At one time he was connected 
with the Grange and he has also been active in 
the Leavenworth County Agricultural Society. 

Always interested in questions of public im- 
portance, Dr. Stayman is a Republican in his po- 
litical belief. While he takes a part in local 
matters he has never sought oflSce and his con- 
nection with municipal affairs has been of a gen- 
eral, rather than a personal, nature. He possesses 
inventive ability and has devised a number of ar- 
ticles of undoubted utility. In 1856 he invented 
an electrical magnetic engine, which has since 
been adopted by street car companies in all parts 
of the United States; but, not having sufficient 
funds to advertise and manufacture the engines 
himself, he failed to realize any personal gain 
from his invention. He and his wife, who was 
Susan M. Black, of Cumberland County, Pa., 
are held in the highest esteem by their acquaint- 
ances and have made many warm personal 
friends during the long period of their residence 
in Leavenworth. 

He is one of the most noted checker players 
in the United States, and he corrected the 
"Black Doctor" game, which had been before 
the public for over one hundred and fiftj- years. 
He played the game with the champion checker 
player of the "Black Doctor," J. D. Janvier, to 
prove the correctness of the position taken, beat- 



ing him eleven out of twelve games, the twelfth 
being a draw game. The series of games occu- 
pied a year and was done by correspondence. 
The doctor accepted his challenge and sustained 
his ground. 

Gl NTON GETKER, who came to Kansas in a 
Ll very early day and has since made his home 
I I in Douglas Count}', settled in Eudora Town- 
ship in 1857 and assisted in laying out the village 
of Eudora. He was a member of the original 
town company', in which he owned two shares. 
At once after settling here he began to follow the 
cabinetmaker's trade, in which, by reliable work 
and fair dealings, he soon won a reputation 
throughout this part of the county. In i860 he 
purchased one hundred acres on the Shawnee 
reservation, which he improved and still owns, 
but he has never resided on the farm, preferring, 
in the interests of his business, to make his home 
in the village. He owns several buildings in 
Eudora and has built up a good trade in cabinet- 
making, besides which he carries on an under- 
taking business. 

Born in Hanover, Germany, in 1824, Mr. Get- 
ker was reared and educated in his native prov- 
ince, where he gained a thorough knowledge of 
the trade which he has since followed. Believ- 
ing that better opportunities awaited him in the 
new world, in 1856 he came to America, arriving 
in New York after a voyage of seven weeks in a 
sailing vessel. He spent three weeks in New 
York and then proceeded toward the great west. 
For a time he followed his trade in Indianapolis, 
Ind. Thence he went to Chicago, where he se- 
cured employment. Very soon, however, he 
decided to cast in his lot with the people in Kan- 
sas, which was then attracting wide attention by 
the opportunities it offered settlers. During the 
latter part of 1857 he found his way to Douglas 
County and here he has since made his home, 
working industriously and patiently in the accu- 
mulation of his valuable property. During the 
Civil war he was a member of the state militia 
and went out with his company against General 
Price at Westport. 

The marriage of Mr. Getker, in 1882, united 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



495 



him with Miss Rebecca Baker, of Chicago. They 
have three children, namel}': William, whoisnow 
in Leavenworth; Albert and Alice, at home. The 
family are identified with the Catholic Church. 



I LOYD DUFFEE, surveyor of Douglas 
It County, and a resident of Lawrence, was 
l_2f born five miles west of this city, in Kan- 
waka Township, October 30, 1869, the only child 
of Lewis and Margaret (Sowash) Duffee. His 
paternal grandfather, John Duffee, a native of 
Pennsylvania, was descended from a pioneer farmer 
of that state who came to this country either from 
England or Scotland. Lewis Duffee was born in 
old Chester, Chester County, Pa., in 1834, and 
was nine years of age when his parents removed 
to Wayne County, Ind. There his youthful 
years were passed upon a farm. When sixteen 
he began to learn the carpenter's trade, at which 
he worked for five years. In 1855 he came to 
Douglas County, Kans., and took up the claim 
where he now resides, section 6, township 13, 
range 19. From the wild land he evolved a finely 
improved farm. At first he made his home in a 
log cabin, 10x12 feet; and, in order to support 
himself until his farm became productive, he en- 
gaged in carpentering. During the pro-slavery 
and free-state troubles of the ' 50s he was a mem- 
ber of the old artillery company, and at the time 
Price made his raid into Kansas he joined the 
militia and aided in driving the southern general 
back. Politically he has always been an advo- 
cate of Republican principles and has voted that 
ticket both in general and local elections. He 
is now the owner of a fine farm of two hundred 
and forty acres, which owes its productive condi- 
tion entirely to his intelligent oversight. His 
wife was born in Westmoreland Count}', Pa. , a 
daughter of Joseph Sowash, who was born in 
Pennsylvania and engaged in boring salt wells in 
that state, but after his removal to Henry County, 
Ind., devoted himself principally to farming. He 
was a mechanic and possessed inventive genius. 

Having completed the studies of the schools of 
Kanwaka Township, in 1887 the subject of this 
sketch entered the preparatory department of the 



University of Kansas, where he gave his atten- 
tion to the study of engineering and surveying. 
In 1894 he graduated with the degree of B. S. 
Returning home, he engaged in farming until 
1897, when he was elected county surveyor by a 
fair majority. He took the oath of office in Jan- 
uary, 1898, to serve for two years. In the dis- 
charge of his duties he has proved himself to be 
a competent and efiicient surveyor and engineer, 
and has won the confidence of the people whom 
he represents. In politics he has always sup- 
ported Republican candidates, having been reared 
in the faith of that party and being in sympathy 
with its platform regarding protection, currency 
and expansion. 



pGJiLLIAM SHEPHERD was a resident of 
\ A / Kansas for forty years. Long a public 
Y Y official and business man, he is remem- 
bered for his spotless integrity and accuracy of 
his accounts. Coming to Kansas in 1857 ^^ d" 
gaged in the hardware business in Wyandotte 
and built up a large trade among the people here. 
At the same time he interested himself in public 
affairs. In politics he was always an adherent of 
the Democratic party. He served as county 
treasurer for one term and as city clerk for four- 
teen years, also held the office of clerk of the 
district court. Frequently he represented his 
party in county and .state conventions and upon 
various committees. 

The Shepherd family is of English descent, but 
has resided in America for some generations. Mr. 
Shepherd was born in New York City March 6, 
1830, but spent his boyhood in Albany, to which 
city his father, Alexander Shepherd, removed in 
1830, engaging in the furniture and undertaking 
business there. Upon completing his education 
he became private secretary to Erastus Corning. 
For a time he also carried on a hardware busi- 
ness in the east. In 1857 he established his 
home in Kansas, during the days of the free-state 
excitement. During the following years, as Leav- 
enworth grew in population, he became more 
prosperous and his influence increased. In the 
citizenship of his town he held a high rank, and 



496 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



his death, which occurred March 17, 1897, was 
deeply mourned. Fraternally he was connected 
with the Knights of Pythias and Masons. 

In August, 1856, Mr. Shepherd married Mar- 
garet Gardiner, of Albany, N. Y. She was a 
daughter of John Gardiner, who was a native of 
Perth, Scotland, but came to America at thirteen 
years of age and for some years engaged in farm- 
ing, but afterward was employed as maltster in 
Albany. He married Mary Topping, a native 
of England. In religion he was of the Scotch 
Presbyterian faith. Eight children were born to 
Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd, and of these six are 
still living. All were reared to lives of useful- 
ness and from an early age were accustomed to 
responsibilities. They are as follows: Carrie; 
Henry; Frank; Jennie, wife of John Gable; 
Charles Edward; and William. 



0AVID H. ANDERSON, who is engaged in 
.stock-raising and farming on section 26, 
Kanwaka Township, Douglas County, was 
born in Sangamon County, 111., August 16, 
1845, and is a son of Thomas Anderson (see sketch 
elsewhere in this volume). When eight years of 
age he was brought by his parents to Douglas 
County and settled with them on a farm four 
miles south of Lecompton. He attended school 
in that village and many a day rode to and from 
the schoolhou.se with "Jim" Lane, who always 
carried several old pistols in his buggy. Being 
the oldest of the children, he early began to assist 
in the cultivation of the farm and attended school 
only at such times as he was not needed at home. 
During the war he was an employe of the quar- 
terma.ster's department and engaged in teaming 
from Fort Scott south. After the close of the war 
he freighted from Leavenworth across the plains. 
Afterward he engaged in farming in Jefferson 
County for a number of years, and then settled 
just west of his present home. For a year or 
more he farmed in Butler and Osage Counties, 
and for fifteen years cultivated farms in Jasper 
and Platte Counties, Mo., and Jefferson County, 
Kans. , where he was quite successful. 

In April, 1899, Mr. Anderson settled on his 



present homestead of one hundred and sixty 
acres, and here he has since engaged in raising 
cattle and general farm products. The farm has 
running water, which adapts it excellently for 
the stock business. He is a persevering, indus- 
trious man, and is familiar with the occupation 
which he has followed from his earliest recollec- 
tions. While he is somewhat in sympathy with 
Democratic principles, he has never identified 
himself with the party, but has remained indepen- 
dent in his views. At this writing he is a member 
of the school board. 

The marriage of Mr. Anderson, August 24, 
1867, united him with Marj-, daughter of Rev. 
Joseph Doughty. They are the parents of six 
children, viz.: Thomas, who is mining in south- 
western Missouri; Ada, wife of William Narra- 
more, also of southwestern Missouri; Ora, who 
married Oscar Palmer, and lives in Granby, New- 
ton County, Mo.; John, a farmer of Kanwaka 
Township, Douglas County, Kans.; Eben and 
William, at home. 

STANLEY WILLIAMS, proprietor of 
the Pacific elevator in Ottawa, is one of 
the successful business men of this city. 
In 1893 he bought the elevator and plant and has 
since engaged in the buying and shipping of 
grain, also has carried on a wholesale and retail 
business in feed and hay, having built a plant for 
the grinding of feed. Under his supervision the 
elevator has been enlarged to a capacity of twenty 
thousand bushels. It is connected with the tracks 
of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, which renders 
the transportation facilities excellent. The plant 
is operated by steam power, and has a boiler and 
engine of thirty-five horse power. He has also 
added a store to the warehouse in which the flax 
seed is cleaned, 'and has made a specialty of ship- 
ping this seed to Chicago and St. Louis. Branch 
stations have been established at Richter, Po- 
mona, Homewood, Michigan Valley, Lyndon, 
Quenemo, Bushong, Allen and Imes. The re- 
markable success of the enterprise is due to the 
ability and shrewd judgment of its owner, who is 
a man of determination, perseverance and wise 
discrimination. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



497 



Benjamin F. Williams, our subject's father, 
was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, his father 
having removed there from Pennsylvania. Dur- 
ing the Civil war he served in an Ohio regiment. 
In 1866 he settled near Mexico, Audrain County, 
Mo. , where he engaged in farming. From there, 
in 1877, he removed to Lacygne, Linn County, 
Kans., where he carried on a lumber business. 
In 1880 he sold out and came to Ottawa, where 
he engaged in the stock business and farming. 
He died in 1882, when fifty-one years of age. His 
wife, who bore the maiden name of Hannah 
Rheem, was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, and 
died in Ottawa in 1892. She was a daughter of 
Daniel Rheem, who moved from Ohio to Missouri, 
settling at Pleasant Hill, Cass County, and there 
carrying on a farm until he died. Of three chil- 
dren (two of whom attained maturity) our sub- 
ject was the oldest and is now the sole survivor, 
his brother, Frank R. , who was teller in the First 
National Bank of Ottawa for ten years, being de- 
ceased. He was born near Lancaster, Fairfield 
County, Ohio, August 25, 1862, and was three 
years of age when the family settled in Missouri. 
His education was completed in the high school 
at Ottawa and Kansas State University in Law- 
rence, while he also had the advantage of a com- 
mercial course in Spaulding's Business College in 
Kansas City, from which he graduated in 1884. 
For one year he was employed as bookkeeper for 
Fuller & Cobb's mill in Ottawa, after which he 
carried on a grocery for three years on Main 
street, and then became agent for S. A. Brown & 
Co., owners of the Pacific elevator. He contin- 
ued the management of the business until he pur- 
chased it, since which time he has been sole pro- 
prietor. 

At No. 411 South Hickory street, Ottawa, 
stands a handsome residence, built of buff-colored 
brick, and modern in architecture and improve- 
ments. Here reside Mr. Williams and his wife, 
who was formerly Nora Haley, and was born in 
Ohio, but accompanied her father, Richard Haley, 
to Kansas in her girlhood. In politics Mr. Will- 
iams is a Republican and on this ticket he was 
elected to represent the second ward in the city 
council. He is connected with Franklin Lodge 



No. 18, A. F. & A. M., the Modern Woodmen, 
and is also a member of the State Grain Dealers' 
Association. In the work of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church he has been deeply interested, and 
served as recorder of the board of stewards and 
was also the first president of the Epworth 
League. 

fi>6|lLLIAM NEELY TODD. The family 
\ A I represented by this enterprising business 
Y V man of Leavenworth is of southern lineage 
and Scotch-Irish extraction. His father, Thomas 
Todd,was born inWestVirginia,whitherthe family 
had come from the north of Ireland in his father's 
youthful years. He was reared in his native 
place and early became familiar with life upon a 
plantation. Though all of his surroundings were 
those of slavery and the sympathies of the people 
were with this institution, he always believed it 
to be a crime against the negro race. When 
there arose agitation concerning the admission of 
Kansas as a free state, he, desiring to remove 
from a locality distasteful to him, and wishing to 
cast his lot in with the free-state adherents in the 
west, came to Leavenworth in 1855, making the 
trip by boat from Wheeling to St. Louis, and 
thence by another boat to Leavenworth. Open- 
ing a private school in this city he gave his at- 
tention to educational work. In 1857 his family 
joined him here, and at that time he settled upon 
a farm on Pilot Knob, where he engaged in rais- 
ing grain and fruit. From the first of his con- 
nection with the history of Leavenworth County 
he was active in local affairs, and was stanch in 
his adherence to the free-state movement. When 
the war clouds began to darken the sky he sup- 
ported the Union and was loyal to its interests. 
When he was very ill the memorable election of 
i860 occurred, and, determined to cast a ballot 
for Abraham Lincoln, he rose from bed and was 
hauled in a wagon to the polls. It was the last 
act of his life. The next day he died. He was 
then forty-one years of age. His wife, Susan, 
was a daughter of John Smith, both natives of 
West Virginia, while his mother, Mary (Neely) 
Smith, was born in the north of Ireland. The 
Smiths were prominent in Revolutionary times, 



498 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



and during the Civil war were stanch support- 
ers of the Union. In religion they were Presby- 
terians. 

In the family of Thomas Todd there were • 
three sons. Of these, John L., who was associ- 
ated with our subject, died at thirty-one years of 
age; and Thomas J. has for more than twenty 
years been engaged in the mercantile business at 
Fort Benton, Mont. The oldest of the three 
sons, our subject, was born in West Virginia 
December I, 1850. He arrived in Leavenworth 
July 8, 1857. After the death of his father the 
family left the farm and came to town, where his 
mother gave her time and thought to the careful 
training of the boys. In March, 1867, he en- 
tered the employ of Cochran, Bittman & Taylor, 
beginning with a small salarj'. About 1871 he 
became a traveling salesman for the house, his 
territory extending from northwestern Missouri 
to southwestern Kansas. Quitting the road in 
1879 he became a member of the firm, the name 
of which was char.ged to Bittman, Taylor & Co., 
and he has since been connected with this busi- ' 
ness. In 1891 the Bittraan-Todd Grocer Com- 
pany was incorporated, with Mr. Bittman as 
president, Mr. Todd vice-president and manager, 
and J. M. Gable secretary and treasurer. For a 
time the firm was on Delaware street, but since 
1867 the location has been at Nos. 117-119 
Shawnee street, where the company now occcu- 
pies three floors, 52x125 feet. They also have a 
large warehouse on Main street, Leavenworth, 
and warehouses in Salina and Hutchinson, Kans. 
Ten men are employed to represent them on the 
road, traveling in this state, and in Missouri and 
Nebraska. 

Besides his intimate connection with the Bitt- 
man-Todd Grocer Company, the success of which 
is to no small degree due to his ability, Mr. Todd 
is connected with other important enterprises of 
his home town. He is a director in the Globe 
Canning Company. During the existence of the 
board of trade he was for a time its president. 
He a.ssisted in the incorporation of the Leaven- 
worth Bridge Terminal Company, was a member 
of its first board of directors, and is still a director 
and stockholder. In politics he is a Republican, 



and upon that ticket was elected to the city coun- 
cil from the second ward, a position that he filled 
efficiently. However, his tastes are not in the 
line of office-holding, and it is his preference to 
devote himself closely to his important business 
intere.sts. Fraternally he is associated with 
Leavenworth Lodge No. 2, A. F. & A. M.; 
Leavenworth Chapter No. 2, R. A. M.; Leaven- 
worth Commandery No. I, K. T., and Abdallah 
Temple, N. M. S. Like his father he has al- 
ways been stanch in his adherence to whatever 
he believes will conduce to the prosperity of the 
nation. While he was too young at the time of 
the free-state agitation to fully enter into its im- 
portance, yet he took an enthusiastic part in all 
the exciting discussions of tho.se days, and when 
the war came on he vi'as a stanch Union patriot, 
though only a child of eleven years. His father 
had a brother. Rev. Joseph Todd, who was strong 
in his adherence to the Confederacy, and who 
settled in Missouri in an early day, later being 
interested in the location and founding of Leaven- 
worth. He now resides in Shelby ville. Mo. 

The marriage of Mr. Todd, in Leavenworth, 
united him with Miss Hattie Aller, who was born 
in New York state, and during war days accom- 
panied her father, H. M. Aller, to Missouri. She 
is a lady of estimable character, and an earnest 
member of the Congregational Church. The 
children of Mr. and Mrs. Todd are: Thomas L. , 
Henry Aller, Sue Aller, Josephine H. and 
William N. , Jr. 

ROBERT SWISHER. In the li.st of success- 
ful farmers of Leavenworth County, who 
through their unaided exertions and the 
exercise of perseverance and sound judgment, 
without capital to aid them in starting, have 
nevertherless risen to positions of influence and 
prosperity, mention belongs to Mr. Swisher. 
While he has for some time made his home in 
the city of Leavenworth, and is now to some ex- 
tent retired from farming, he still superintends 
his estate of one hundred and sixty acres three 
miles from the city. As an agriculturist he has 
made a specialty of raising fine horses, hogs and 
mules, which business he has found profitable. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



499 



He has also cut and sold several hundred cords 
of wood. At this writing he not only owns his 
farm, but also his city home on Ottawa street, 
and a number of building lots in the cit}\ 

The Swisher family was founded in America 
in colonial days by a native of Germany, who 
settled in Virginia. Jacob, a son of the original 
emigrant, had a son, John Swisher, who was a 
native of Rockbridge County, Va., and there 
spent his entire life. He and his wife, Mary, 
had six children, all of whom but Robert reside 
in either Ohio or Virginia. Robert was born in 
Rockbridge County July 15, 1824, and was reared 
on the home farm, receiving but limited educa- 
tional advantages. In 1845 he left home and 
went to Gallia County, Ohio, where he secured 
work on a farm. As soon as practicable he began 
farming for himself, and for six years he success- 
fully operated a leased farm. At the time of the 
free-state agitation in Kansas he sold his inter- 
ests in Ohio and came west, cros.sing the Missouri 
River with his two teams and landing on the 
Kansas side in November, 1856. Settling in 
Leavenworth County, he purchased, for $450, a 
claim to a quarter-section of land five miles west 
of Leavenworth. Upon that place he established 
his home. In the spring of 1857 he entered his 
land, and began the work of cultivating the soil. 
At the close of the Civil war he bought one hun- 
dred and sixty acres three miles from the city, 
and later sold his first farm. 

Mr. Swisher has always been interested in 
local affairs, and keeps posted concerning im- 
portant measures brought before the people. In 
politics he votes the Democratic ticket. His 
time has been so closely given to farming that he 
has had no leisure to participate in political af- 
fairs, nor has he had any desire to hold ofBce. 
When he began as a farmer he had but little 
means. His success shows that he is a man of 
good business ability. He has had two mottoes 
which he has always aimed to live up to, and they 
are: "Never put off until to-morrow what can be 
done to-day," and "Always pay as you go," 
mottoes which might be adopted by everyone to 
their advantage. In 1845 he married Miss Mary 
Trout, and they have six children: Givins B., 



who is in California; Melzo A.,who is engaged in 
farming in Missouri; Mrs. Sophia V. Finski, in 
Leavenworth; Mrs. Jane Sanders, in Kansas 
City; Mrs. Augusta Hunter, in Kansas City; and 
Alonzo, who has charge of the old homestead. 



^EORGE WELLS. One of the attractive 
l_ places in Leavenworth County is the farm 
y^ owned and occupied by Mr. Wells. It 
comprises one hundred and forty acres, situated 
in the southern part of the city of Leavenworth, 
and within easy means of access via electric cars. 
Since he purchased the property in 1881 he has 
made many improvements, chief among which is 
the laying out of forty acres in what he calls 
Mound Park (better known as Wells Park). 
This park is a favorite resort of city people in the 
summer, and contains a lake, with boats, and 
also other improvements that make it a desirable 
place for recreation and pleasure. 

Mr. Wells was born in Syracuse, N. Y., Octo- 
ber 8, 1832, a son of Benjamin and Zilpha (Sal- 
mon) Wells, also natives of that city. His 
grandfather, James Wells, was a millwright of 
Syracuse and an exceptionally fine machinist. 
Benjamin, the eldest son of the family, was a 
builder and millwright. In politics he was first 
a Whig and later a Republican. In religion he 
was a Methodist. He and his wife had five chil- 
dren: Caroline, who is married and lives in South 
Bend, Ind. ; Alva, a builder and manufacturer in 
South Bend; Mrs. Emeline Webb, of Naples, 
N. Y. ; Nancy, deceased; and George. The last- 
named was educated in the Syracuse schools, 
and during vacations worked with his father. 
When sixteen he was able to take contracts for 
building, and his ability won ready recognition. 
During his father's absences in millwright work 
he took charge of the building of some large 
houses, and when he was twenty-two he built 
one of the finest residences in that section. At 
thirty -five years of age he settled on a farm near 
Lawrence, Kans. , and, while managing his 
place, also built many residences and business 
houses in Lawrence. His ability becoming 
known, he was given contracts for the building 



500 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



of residences and public buildings in Kansas City, 
as well as in smaller cities in this section. In 
1882 he established his home in Leavenworth, 
where he has had the contract for the Federal 
building, Goddard Sanitarium and many busi- 
ness blocks, the aggregate value of his contracts 
reaching a large sum. 

For many years Mr. Wells voted with the 
Republicans, but some ten years ago he trans- 
ferred his allegiance to the Democratic party. 
In local elections he is independent, voting for 
the man rather than the party. He has always 
refused to accept offices other than membership 
on the .school board. Formerly he was active in 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and now 
belongs to the blue lodge of Masonry. His mar- 
riage, January 18, 1866, united him with Miss 
Amanda Ellen Dawson, daughter of Mathias 
Dawson, a pioneer and wealthy citizen of In- 
dianapolis. They have two children, Annie Lou 
and Frank H. 

I E ROY TRACKWELL, one of the represen- 
I C tative farmers and stock-raisers in Tonga- 
l~) noxie Township, Leavenworth County, was 
born in Shelby County, Ind., March 18, 1845. 
His father, William, was born in Cabell County, 
W. Va., in 1801, a descendant of an Englishman 
who .settled in Maryland, and a son of Joshua 
Trackwell, a slave-owner and planter of West 
Virginia, and a soldier in the war of 1812. After 
completing his education, William Trackwell for 
many years engaged in teaching school. Later 
he was a pilot on the Ohio River, running flat- 
boats to New Orleans long before there were 
any steamers on the river. In 1825 he settled 
in Shelby County, Ind., where he was afterward 
joined by his family. Clearing a tract of three 
hundred and twenty acres, he improved a fine 
farm. In 1857 he sold that place and came to 
Kansas, which he had visited during the previous 
year. He bought two hundred and forty acres 
where Benjamin F. Trackwell now lives, also 
three hundred and twenty acres in Franklin 
County, and afterward improved the property. 
Politically he was an ardent Democrat. A man 
of strong convictions, he took no back seat in 



political matters, but stood out squarely on the 
side which he believed to be right. About three 
years after coming here he was killed by a boiler 
explosion in a mill. 

By his first wife William Trackwell had five 
children, Venila, Rhoda, Joshua, Lavinia and 
Buel. His second wife was Margaret Randall, 
who bore him three daughters and three sons, 
viz.: Mary E., who is married and lives in the 
.state of Washington; Miranda, deceased; Le Roy, 
of this sketch; Benjamin F.; James, who is in 
California; and Alice, wife of James Warren, of 
Butte, Mont. The early years of our subject's 
life were spent in Shelby County, Ind. He was 
twelve years of age when brought to Leaven- 
worth County, Kans. , and for some years after- 
ward his home w^as in Alexandria Township, 
where he attended subscription schools. In 1863 
he was employed by the government in herding 
mules and driving teams between Fort Leaven- 
worth and New Mexico and Texas. During the 
seven years he continued in the government 
employ he had no serious trouble with the 
Indians, although the latter were exceedingly 
ho.stile at the time. In 1870 he purchased an 
eighty-acre farm in Tonganoxie Township, 
where he has since made his home. In addition 
to this place he has entire supervision of a farm 
of one hundred and sixty acres owned by his 
father-in-law. He makes a specialty of raising 
Shorthorn cattle, and much of the grain rai-sed 
on his farm is used for winter feed for his stock. 

In his marriage Mr. Trackwell was very fortu- 
nate, as his wife was a woman of great capability 
and amiable disposition. She was Sarah Rose, 
daughter of Remus McArdle, who is now living 
retired at Jarbalo, I,eavenworth County. She 
was born in Vermilion County, 111., and died in 
Leavenworth County, May 20, 1895. In religion, 
as was her husband, she was a member of the 
Adventist Church and a faithful follower of its 
tenets. She left seven children, named as 
follows: William and Charles, who are farmers 
of Tonganoxie Township; Josie, who married 
William A. Wilkes, a farmer of this township; 
James, Maude and Remus, who are at home; and 
Gladys, who resides with her grand-parents, 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



501 



McArdle. Fraternally Mr. Trackwell has been 
actively connected with the Fraternal Aid Asso- 
ciation. In politics he is interested in the welfare 
of the Democratic party and votes its tickets both 
in national and local elections. 



HON. MATT W. EDMONDS, not only as a 
farmer, but also as the incumbent of a posi- 
tion of trust and responsibility, has been 
successful in life. In i8g8 he was elected to 
represent the eighth district in the state legis- 
lature, and entered upon his duties as legislator 
January 9, 1899. In his office he has given es- 
pecial attention to local legislation. He was the 
author of the bill, the passage of which he se- 
cured, authorizing the county to organize and 
disband any school district, subject to the ap- 
proval of the county commissioners; also the bill 
that gave to the Lansing school district a $15,000 
schoolhouse and an appropriation of $600 a year 
for partial pay for teachers' hire. Mainly through 
his instrumentality an appropriation was made, 
providing for the payment of back salaries of 
employes of the state institutions, twenty per cent 
of whose salaries had been withheld for two years, 
owing to insufficient appropriation. Among the 
committees upon which he has served are those 
on federal relations, mines and mining, state 
library and cities of the second and third class. 

Mr. Edmonds was born in Brooklyn, N. Y. , 
November g, 1864, a son of Robert and Susan 
(Walker) Edmonds. His father came from Coun- 
ty Cork, Ireland to America in 1847 ^'^'^ settled 
in Brooklyn, N. Y., where he lived for twenty- 
seven years. On coming west he spent two years 
in Leavenworth, after which he purchased the 
farm in High Prairie Township now occupied by 
our subject. Throughout life he engaged in the 
pork-packing business. After coming to Kansas, 
there being no railroad to southern Kansas, 
where he made his sales, he shipped the products 
of his packing house by wagon. In politics he 
was a Democrat. He died on his farm December 
23, 1881. Of his ten children only two are liv- 
ing, Robert C. and Matt W. 
The education of our subject was begun in pub- 



lic schools and completed in a college at Pied- 
mont, Mo., and in Campbell University, Holton, 
Kans. For two years he taught school in Mis- 
souri, but owing to the death of his father re- 
turned home, and with his brother, succeeded to 
the management of the farm of two hundred 
acres. The old homestead has never been 
divided, but is owned jointly by his mother, his 
brother and himself. In 1888 they erected the 
residence in which they have since made their 
home. 

Mr. Edmonds is a local leader of the People's 
party. In 1892 he was chosen chairman of the 
county committee and chairman of the first judi- 
cial district committee which elected Hon. L. A. 
Meyers judge. Of the latter committee he is 
still chairman. Under Governor Lewelling he 
served as deputy coal oil inspector. On receiv- 
ing the nomination as representative he resigned 
the chairmanship of the county committee. He 
stands high among the members of his party in 
Leavenworth County, and in the halls of legis- 
lature has also gained a reputation for intel- 
ligence and integrity. During the existence of 
the Farmers' Alliance he was one of its members, 
and during much of the time served as its secre- 
tary. 

Q EATTY ARMSTRONG. During the year 
|C\ 188 1 Mr. Armstrong came to Lecompton 
d/ Township, Douglas County, and purchased 
a farm eight miles northwest of Lawrence. Here 
he has since resided, prosperously engaging in 
farm pursuits. He is one of the enterprising cit- 
izens of the community and favors all progressive 
plans whereby the people will be benefited. He 
is a friend of the public school system and for six 
years has served as school treasurer, also for two 
years as director of the school board . The Grange 
and the Farmers' Alliance number him among 
their members. Fraternally he is connected with 
Lawrence Lodge No. 9, A. F. & A. M., and Le- 
compton Council No. 155, Fraternal Aid Asso- 
ciation. 

In Jefferson County, Ohio, Mr. Armstrong was 
born August i, 1849, a son of Robert and Ann 
(Ekey) Armstrong. He was one of seven chil- 



502 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



dren, of whom two besides himself are now liv- 
ing, namel}^: John G., who lives in Wood Coun- 
ty, Ohio; and Mary J. The grandfather, Charles 
Armstrong, was one of the early settlers of Jef- 
ferson County, Ohio, having settled there when 
his township contained only three houses. He 
was a native of Ireland and in early life was em- 
ployed as a shoemaker, but after settling in 
America became a farmer. He married a Miss 
Jackmond, who was born in Ireland, and who, 
three j'ears after Mr. Armstrong had crossed the 
ocean, came to America in the same ship in which 
he had sailed to the new world. 

Robert Armstrong was born in Jefferson Coun- 
ty, Ohio, in 1799, and at an early age assumed 
the management of the home farm, which he con- 
tinued to cultivate until 1866. He then removed 
to Seneca County, where he purchased land and 
resided until his death. He was one of the lead- 
ers in the capture of General Morgan at the time 
of the latter's celebrated raid through Ohio. 
Some three days prior to the capture of the gen- 
eral, Mr. Armstrong was chosen bj' Colonel 
Shackelford to assist him in locating the Confed- 
erate leader, and he finally located the camp, 
crept cautiously up, seized the gun of one of the 
men on picket dutj-, captured the man, and suc- 
ceeded in taking him away a prisoner without 
arousing the camp. For thirty years he was a 
faithful member of the Methodist Church. He 
was a public-spirited man, liberal to a fault, and 
a contributor to all charities and churches in his 
home neighborhood. His death occurred April 

7. 1876. 

On reaching manhood our subject apprenticed 
himself to the trade of a stone mason and brick 
mason, and from that time until 1878 he gave 
his time largely to his trade in Ohio. In 1878 
he determined to come west. In March of that 
year he arrived in Kansas. Choosing Douglas 
County as his home, he settled in Kanwaka 
Township. For three years he farmed as a renter 
there. In i88i he came to Lecompton Town- 
ship, where he has since made his home. In 1873 
he married Miss Marj' A. McClung, daughter of 
John McClung, whose ancestors were earlj' set- 
tlers of Ohio, They are the parents of four chil- 



dren namely: Ethelyn I. , wife of George Banks, 
a farmer near Garden Grove, Iowa; Harley C, 
who is also engaged in farming near Garden 
Grove; Edith C, wife of Frank Miller, who as- 
sists his father-in-law in farming; and A. I. Del- 
bert, a farmer in Kanwaka Township. 



EALVIN F. EATON, deceased, one of the 
first settlers on the Kaw bottom, near Law- 
rence, was born in Lowell, Ohio, in 1833, 
the son of William and Jane (Barclay) Eaton, 
natives respectively of Vermont and Ohio. He 
descended, on the paternal side, from English 
ancestors who settled in Vermont early in the 
history' of that state. His father migrated from 
that state, settling in Ohio, where he married 
and made his home for some 3'ears. About i860 
he removed west to Kansas, but soon afterward 
returned to Ohio and enlisted in the Union army. 
When a young man he engaged in teaching i 
school and the money thus earned was used for ' 
defraying his expenses while he studied law. 
Much of his active life was devoted to the practice 
of law, in which he was successful. His mental 
gifts were such as to place him in the front ranks 
of the citizenship of his communitj\ He died 
when seventy years of age. Of his children 
Samantha and Calvin F. are deceased, and Frank 
makes his home in Kansas. 

The early years of the life of our subject were 
spent in Lowell, Ohio. In 1852 he started over- 
land for California to seek his fortune in the gold 
fields of the far west. After remaining there for 
several years, in 1859 he returned to his native 
place. In the spring of i860 he came to Kansas 
and purchased one hundred and sixty acres on 
the Kaw bottom, in Eudora Township, Douglas 
County, where he afterward made his home. 
However, he did not cultivate the farm himself, 
but rented it to other parties, and went again to 
California to engage in mining there. Meeting 
with little success he returned and took up the 
management of his farm in 1864. On the place 
he made a number of improvements. Just as he 
was getting the land in condition for cultivation, 
death closed his earthly career, in 1868, when he 




WILLIAM GARDNER. 




WINSLOW DAVIS. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



507 



was thirty-five years of age. He was a man of 
quiet, retiring disposition, and was best loved by 
those to whom he was best known, having those 
qualities of heart and mind which win affection 
and esteem. During the Civil war he was a 
member of the state militia, in which he rendered 
service at the battle of Westport and during 
Price's campaign. 

January 29, 1864, Mr. Eaton married Miss 
Rebecca Blond, a native of Quebec, Canada, but 
a resident of the States from early childhood, 
having accompanied her parents, Isaac and Mary 
(Sanderson) Blond, first to Pittsburgh, Pa., and 
thence to Ohio. She is a ladj' of executive ability, 
and since the death of Mr. Eaton has superin- 
tended the home farm, showing judgment in its 
management. In 1894 her residence was de- 
stroyed by fire, but during the same year she 
built another house with modern appointments. 
She is the mother of two children by her first 
husband, Ella, and Harry C, who assists in tak- 
ing charge of the old homestead. In May, 1876, 
Mrs. Eaton married Sino Stanley and they had 
one daughter, Florence May Stanley. 



pQlLLIAM GARDNER, deceased, who was 
I A/ °"^ °^ ^^^ pioneers of Hesper, Douglas 
V Y County, was born in Guilford County, N.C., 
January 19, 1807, a son of Thaddeus and Eunice 
(Starbuck] Gardner, both of whom were natives 
of Nantucket I.sland. Growing to manhood in his 
native place, he early learned lessons of self-reli- 
ance, industry and perseverance, which stood him 
in good stead during the vicissitudes of an active 
life. It was difiicult for him to gain a substantial 
footing in the south, where the surroundings and 
conditions were such as to prevent prosperity. 
At the opening of the Civil war, in 1S61, he re- 
moved to Kansas and purchased one hundred 
and sixty acres of land near the present village 
of Hesper, in Eudora Township, Douglas County. 
Here, busily engaged in agricultural pursuits, he 
passed the remaining years of his life, and here 
death came to him, in 1881, at the age of seventy- 
three years. 

By birth and training Mr, Gardner was a 

21 



member of the Friends' Church. In character 
he possessed those attributes usually noticeable in 
members of that sect, being modest, unassuming, 
strictly honest and peace-loving. When Quan- 
trell made his famous raid to Lawrence he passed 
Mr. Gardner's home and killed a man one mile 
west, but he said that, while he would like to 
have another man he did not wish to disturb a 
people so peaceful as that of the Quakers. The 
fact that his religious views prevented him from 
taking part in the Civil war did not prevent Mr. 
Gardner from supporting the cause of the Union 
in such other ways as were possible. Believing 
that slavery should not exist he removed from 
the south, although by doing so he sacrificed 
almost all of his property and the mercantile 
business which he conducted at Florence, N. C. 
While living in the south. May 6, 1841, he mar- 
ried Miss Penelope Hill, a native of North Caro- 
lina, and who is still living. She is a lady of 
gentle demeanor, with a heart full of kindness 
toward the suffering and distressed and a ready 
sympathy that wins friends among her acquaint- 
ances. 



pCJlNSLOW DAVIS. During the period of 
\A/ his residence in Eudora Township, which 
V V covered twenty-three years, Mr. Davis won 
and retained a high position among his fellow- 
citizens, and became known as one of the honor- 
able, industrious farmers of Douglas County. 
He was born in Randolph County, N. C, in 
1813, a son of James and Caroline (Winslow) 
Davis, both natives of North Carolina. When 
a boy he received fair advantages and for a time, 
in early manhood, he engaged in teaching school. 
However, agriculture was his occupation through- 
out the greater period of his life. 

At the opening of the Civil war Mr. Davis, 
finding surroundings unpleasant in the south, de- 
termined to settle in Kansas. Accompanied by 
his wife and two children they had adopted he 
made the trip, overland, from Guilford County, 
N. C, to Douglas County, Kans. After a long 
and weary journey, which was made in a covered 
wagon, he finally arrived at his destination, and 
settled near what is now Hesper, on an eighty-acre 



5o8 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



tract. At the same time he entered a quarter-sec- 
tion in Chase County- and another quarter in Lj'on 
County, but made his home in Douglas County, 
where he followed general farming. 

For many years Mr. Davis was a prominent 
worker in the Society of Friends, in which he 
long officiated as an elder. At the time of the 
building of Hcsper Academy he was one of the 
most liberal contributors to the movement. His 
life was unmarked by great changes or adventur- 
ous incidents. He pursued the quiet, even tenor 
of his way as a peace-loving Quaker, striving in 
word and deed to exemplify the teachings of that 
sect, and in its faith he passed away, in 1884, at 
the age of seventy- one j-ears. He had been mar- 
ried in 1837 to Margaret Hill, wlio, since his 
death, has resided in the home that she built at 
Hesper, with her sister, Mrs. Gardner. 



^5 FORGE F. GODDING, member of the firm 
— of Beal & Godding, at No. 812 Vermont 
^ street, Lawrence, was born in Worcester 
County, Mass., February 21, 1855, a son of 
George G. and Masylvia (Wetherbee) Godding, 
natives respectively of New Ipswich and Rindge, 
N. H. His maternal ancestors were pioneers of 
New England and served with honor in the In- 
dian and Revolutionary wars. His paternal 
grandfather, Ariel Godding (the son of a Scotch- 
man who took part in the Revolution) , followed 
agricultural pursuits in New Hampshire, where 
he owned three hundred acres stocked with cattle 
and sheep. lie was a captain in the New Hamp- 
shire militia and was a man of much influence 
among his associates. 

When twenty years of age our subject's father 
began to learn thetradesof ma.son and carpenter. 
Later he took up millwright work and built both 
mills and flumes. Afterward he engaged in 
farming at Ashby, Middlesex Count}', Mass. In 
politics he was for some time a Republican. He 
was one of the men who originated the Know 
Nothing party, in the councils of which he was 
afterward prominent. Of his six children five 
reside at A.shby, where his widow still makes her 
h nne and where his closing years were spent. 



The oldest son and third child in the family was 
George F. He was onlj' twelve years of age 
when he began to work in a mill and, his father 
being helpless from an injury at that time, his 
earnings were the support of a family of eight. 
For eight years he continued in the mill, after 
which he engaged in lumbering, hewing timber, 
which he hauled to the sawmill and then sold to 
the manufacturing plants. His wages were 
steadily increased, so that he was able to give his 
sisters academic educations. At theageof twen- 
tj'-three he came west and joined a surveying 
party which laid out the Santa Fe road from 
La Junta into New Mexico. After working at 
the grading of the tracks he engaged in building 
irrigation ditches. Returning to Massachusetts 
in 1880 he carried on a commission and shipping 
business in Boston for a year, and then worked 
for three 5'ears in the city's employ. 

In the spring of 1885 Mr. Godding came to 
Kansas and settled in Lawrence, where he en- 
gaged in the hay business and in buying and 
selling Jersej' cattle. In March, 1891, he became 
interested in the livery business, having as a 
partner William Beal, who came to this city 
from London in 1874. The two purchased Mr. 
Taylor's barn and have since engaged in busi- 
ness, giving their time to the building up of a 
large trade. They have about twenty-five head 
of horses, besides boarding about thirty head for 
others. In 1890 Mr. Godding purchased eighty 
acres in Kanwaka Township, this tract being 
one-half of the old Cleland farm, patented from 
the government. As his attention is consumed by 
his business he rents the land to other parties. 
In politics he is a Republican. He is connected 
with the Modern Woodmen of America, the Fra- 
ternal Aid Association and the Order of Pyra- 
mids. Since nineteen years of age he has been a 
member of the Congregational Church, and 
formerly was active in Sunday-school work. 

May 15, 1885, Mr. Godding married Susie F. 
Platts, daughter of Aaron E. Platts, and they 
have three sons, Roy, Arthur and Frank. Mr. 
Platts, who is living retired in Lawrence, was 
born in Rindge, N. H., a son of John V. Platts, 
who was born in the same place, engaged in 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAIj RECORD. 



509 



farming there and was a captain in the militia. 
His ancestors came from England prior to the 
Revolutionary war, in which both of Mr. Platts' 
grandfathers served, and one of his great-grand- 
fathers was a noted Indian fighter. Aaron E. 
Platts was educated in public schools and the 
academy at New Ipswich and grew to manhood 
on a farm. Afterward he made agriculture his 
principal occupation. In 1855 he came to Kan- 
sas and took up one hundred and sixty acres in 
Kanwaka Township, where he improved a good 
farm and engaged in stock-raising and dairying. 
A Republican in politics, he served as township 
trustee for several years, and as county commis- 
sioner, 1869-70. While living in New Hamp- 
shire he was married, October 13, 1853, to 
Susan R. Wetherbee, by whom he had only one 
child, Susie F. , who attained years of maturity. 



(i OHN ROBSON AITCHISON. Among the 
I early settlers of Kansas, who experienced 
(2/ all the hardships of pioneer times and proved 
to be useful citizens during the days of border 
warfare, mention should be made of the subject 
of this sketch. He was born near Madrid, St. 
Lawrence County, N. Y., July 14, 1834, a son of 
James and Ellen (Robson) Aitchison, natives 
respectively of Edinburgh and Glasgow, Scot- 
land. His parents came to America shortly 
after their marriage and settled in St. lyawrence 
County, N. Y., where they made their home on a 
farm. They had six sons and two daughters, of 
whom two sous survive, Robert and John Robson. 
The father died when his children were small, 
but the mother lived to be eighty-four years of 
age. 

Since he was a child of eight years our subject 
has made his own way in the world. His educa- 
tion was very limited, for his attention had to be 
given closely to self-support. In the fall of 1856 
he went to Hudson, Wis. , where he was employed 
until he started for Kansas, in July, 1857. He 
arrived in Lawrence on the 21st of August, and 
here he secured work in a brickyard. Later, 
going to Topeka, he put up a kiln of brick and 
remained about two months. His employer was 



unable to pay for the job, and he then returned 
to Lawrence, but it was difficult to secure em- 
ployment of any kind. Finally he secured work 
with Lyman Allen, a farmer and hardware mer- 
chant, and a man of fine character. For him he 
worked four years, receiving $300 a year. 

During the war Mr. Aitchison aided in protect- 
ing the interests of the state. At the time of 
Price's raid he was in a battery attached to the 
Third Kansas Infantry, and was detailed as a 
scout and dispatch carrier at Blue Mound. At 
one time he was detailed with a company of 
twenty-five to go to the Sac and Fox agenc)', and 
afterward he was sent to the border with Colonel 
Blood, having a number of skirmishes with 
Missouri ruffians. He took up surveying and 
assisted in surveying for railroads and towns, 
helping to lay out the towns of Vinland, Lin- 
wood, Norwood, Williamstown, a part of Wyan- 
dotte, and Babcock's and Lane additions to Law- 
rence. For five years he was with Thomas Stern- 
bergh, the city engineer. During early days he 
did considerable freighting and slept outdoors 
both winter and summer, but the life, though a 
hard one, was congenial to him. In 1865 he 
built a store on the corner of Massachusetts and 
Warren streets, and this he still owns. 

September 5, 1865, Mr. Aitchison was mar- 
ried, in Lawrence, to Miss Amanda Waters, who 
was born in Kalamazoo County, Mich., and in 
1863 came to Kansas with George Sweilzer, a 
resident of Lawrence from territorial days. She 
is a member of the Presbyterian Church of this 
city, to which her husband has been a contributor. 
They have two children. Bertha and Ralph. Mrs. 
Aitchison is a daughter of Freeman Waters, a 
native of New York and a cooper by trade, who 
removed to Michigan and during the war enlisted 
in a regiment from that state. While at the front 
he was wounded and his death occurred soon 
afterward in Detroit. He married Susan Birdsell, 
who was born in New York, and died in Michi- 
gan in i860; she was a daughter of John Bird- 
sell, a farmer and pioneer of Kalamazoo County, 
Mich. In the family of Freeman and Susan 
Waters there were four daughters and one son, 
of whom three are now living. 



5IO 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Under Mayors Ludington and Woodward Mr. 
Aitchison served as street commissioner. He 
was ijffered, l)ut refused, the position of deputy 
United States marshal. He is a member of 
Washington Post No. 12, G. A. R. In national 
politics he is a Democrat, but is not radical in his 
views, and concedes to others the same liberty of 
thought and opinion which he claims as his own 
right. During his long residence in the state he 
has witnessed man}'- changes in the state, has seen 
the development of Lawrence, the extension of its 
educational and commercial interests and the in- 
crease of its population, and to its advancement 
he has contributed his quota. 



EAPT. STEPHEN H. ANDREWS. At the 
time of the slaverj- agitation the subject of 
this sketch came to Kansas to cast his for- 
tunes in with the free-state party. In March, 
1857, he arrived in Leavenworth, where he and 
three others bought a team and wagon and started 
for the Smoky Hill, seven miles above Fort Rilej'. 
His companions returned ea.st after some months, 
but he remained, and was the first to take up a 
claim on the hill. He cleared the timber, built a 
cabiu and began the improvement of the land, 
making his home alternately on that place and at 
Junction City. His sympathies were so strong 
on the side of the Union that at the opening of 
the Civil war he seized the first opportunity to 
offer his services to the government. In May, 
186 1, he enlisted in Company B, Second Kansas 
Infantry, which was mustered in at Wyandotte, 
he being first .sergeant. He was sent to Missouri 
and joined General Lyon at Springfield. After a 
number of skirmishes, his first experience of an 
important battle was at Wilson's Creek, August 
10, 1S61. Thence he was ordered to Rolla, Mo., 
and returned to Fort Leavenworth in September, 
by order of General Fremont. There he was 
mustered out October 31, and honorably dis- 
charged from the army. In December of the 
same year he returned to Massachusetts and 
opened a recruiting office, his intention being to 
bring men out to Kansas to join the Second 
Kansas Cavalry, but during the time the legisla- 



ture was in session and passed a bill prohibiting 
the paying of bounty to married men residing in 
Massachusetts and enlisting elsewhere. This 
changed his plans. He was then authorized by 
the governor of Massachu.setts to raise a company 
and became captain of Company A, Thirty-fifth 
Massachusetts Infantry, his commission dating 
from August i, 1862. With his men he marched 
south and took part, with the Army of the 
Potomac, in the battles of South Mountain, An- 
tietam and Fredericksburg. In the spring of 
1863 he was ordered west with the ninth corps to 
join Burnside's troops, and took part in the siege 
of Vicksburg, after which his company went to 
Knoxville, Tenn., and from there rejoined the 
Army of the Potomac. Immediately before this, 
April 24, 1863, he resigned his commission, 
owing to the impairment of health by the hard- 
ships of army life. After his return to Kansas, 
during the Price raid his company of militia was 
ordered into service by Major-General Curtis, 
who commanded the western department. He 
was first lieutenant of the Black Hawks, attached 
to the Third Kansas militia, and commanded the 
company at the time of the raid. 

Captain Andrews was born in North Scituate, 
Plymouth County, Mass., November 16, 1835. 
His father, Stephen Snow Andrews, was born in 
Boston, and was a son of Rev. William Andrews, 
a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
and a member of one of the oldest families of 
Cape Cod. The father, who died when his chil- 
dren were small, married Rebecca Farrow, who 
was born in Roxbury, Mass., and died in Law- 
rence, Kans. She was a daughter of Allen 
Farrow, who was born in Connecticut, of French 
descent, and served in the war of 1812, after 
which he engaged in farming at North Scituate. 
Our subject was one of three children, two of 
whom are living, his sister, Mrs. Rudencia 
Lamb, who came to Kansas in the fall of 1857, 
being now a re.sident of Wilson County. On 
account of his father's death he was obliged to 
become self-supporting at an early age, and for 
some years clerked in stores. From his home 
state he came west in 1857, and he has since 
(except during his absence in the war) been 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



511 



identified with Kansas. From 1864 to 1866 he 
engaged in the manufacture of brick, after which 
he became a grocer and shipper of produce, 
making shipments to Denver and the mountains. 
In 1S95 he sold out and retired from business. 
In politics he is a Republican, and was chosen 
city assessor for 1900. He is a charter member 
of Washington Post No. 12, G. A. R. , in which 
he has held all the official positions and is past 
commander. Under Commander Green he served 
as assistant quartermaster-general of the depart- 
ment of Kansas, with the rank of colonel. He 
was married, in Lynn, Mass., to Miss Martha A. 
Stickuey, member of an old family of that city. 



30HN HASKELL GILLHAM, a veteran of 
the Civil war, was born near Edwardsville, 
Madison County, 111., February 12, 1836, a 
son of S. P. and Louisa (Gillham) Gillham. The 
family of which he is a member was founded in 
America by John Gillham, an emigrant from Ire- 
land to South Carolina, who brought with him 
his wife and two children. Afterward his wife 
died and he married a German lady, by whom he 
had five sons and two daughters. It is a remark- 
able fact that all of his seven sons and his four 
sons-in-law served in the Revolutionary war. 
One of these sons, John, was born in South Car- 
olina and was reared in the south; but, being op- 
posed to slavery and finding he could not remain 
at the old home without being looked down upon 
because of his views, he decided to settle in the 
north. Accordingly he brought his family to the 
American bottoms of Illinois, where he was a 
pioneer. At the time of the removal his son, 
Ryderus Clark Gillham, was a youth of nineteen 
years, and he afterward engaged in farming in 
Madison County. His son, S. P., was born in 
that county and served in the Black Hawk war, 
after which he turned his attention to farming 
near the old homestead. When he was seventy- 
six years of age he was accidentally killed by be- 
ing thrown from his horse. His wife, who was 
born near Edwardsville, was a daughter of Samuel 
Gillham, a native of South Carolina, and a de- 
scendant of one of the Revolutionary soldier-sons 



of John Gillham. Another of these sons, Isaac, 
was very seriously wounded at the battle of 
Cowpens. He was then only sixteen years of 
age, but he recovered and lived to be ninety- 
three. Samuel Gillham came from South Caro- 
lina in an early day and served as a captain in 
the Black Hawk war, later engaging in agricult- 
ural pursuits. 

By the first marriage of S. P. Gillham ten chil- 
dren were born, of whom three are living, our 
subject being the oldest son and second child. 
By the second marriage three children were born, 
of whom two are living. One brother, Samuel C. , 
now of Springfield, Mo., was a member of the 
same regiment to which our subject belonged. 
The latter was reared on the home farm and at- 
tended the public schools and McKendree College 
at Lebanon, 111., spending two and one-half 
years in the latter institution. In August, 1862, 
he volunteered in Company F, One Hundred and 
Seventeenth Illinois Infantry, and was mustered 
in at Springfield on the 9th of September. He 
was sent to Memphis under General Hurlbert, 
thence to Meridian, Miss., under General Sher- 
man, up the Red River under Banks, thence to 
Tennessee, later under Rosecrans following Price 
in Missouri, from there back to Nashville under 
General Thomas, taking part in the battle in that 
city, and then going into winter quarters. Under 
General Canby he was sent to New Orleans, then 
at Fort Blakely, and after the battle of Red River 
was in constant action, never eating dinner in the 
same place two successive Sundays. He was 
mustered out as fifth sergeant at Springfield, 
111., September 6, 1865. During his entire serv- 
ice he never lost a day on account of illness, but 
he returned home with health greatly impaired, 
and has never recovered from the effects cf ln^ 
army life. 

September 23, 1867, Mr. Gillham came to 
Lawrence, Kans., and for four years and seven 
months was employed by J. J. Reeser, on Massa- 
chusetts street. Under him he gained a thor- 
ough knowledge of horseshoeing. On leaving 
his employ he started out for himself, having a 
partner for two years, and then beginning alone. 
In 1873 he opened his shop at No. 713 Vermont 



512 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



street, and here he has since continued, being the 
oldest blacksmith and horseshoer in the city, 
and having a reputation for expertness and skill 
in his occupation. He is very active in the work 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church and served as 
a trustee during the building of the new house of 
worship. In politics he has always been a Re- 
publican. He is identified with the Select 
Friends and Washington Post No. 12, G. A. R., 
and is a demitted member of the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows. His residence is at 
No. 827 Tennessee street. He was married in 
Illinois the first time, but his wife died there soon 
afterward. His second marriage united him with 
Miss Mary E. Ware, who was born in Kentucky, 
but who, at the time of their marriage, was resid- 
ing in Logan County, 111. They are the parents 
of two sons, Harry N. , who is in business in 
Lawrence; and Arthur W., also a blacksmith bj- 
trade. 



(lOSEPH POITREY, who came to Leaven- 
I worth in 1857, is engaged in farming and 
GJ stock-raising on section 30, High Prairie 
Township. The nucleus of his present propertj' 
consisted of one hundred and sixty acres, bought 
in 1869. To it he added from year to year and 
now owns two hundred acres, much of which is 
used for pasturage, while in other fields hay is 
raised for winter feed. When he came here he 
was 5130 in debt, and the payment of this debt 
(for which his father was security) was the first 
work to which he applied himself. After that 
had been paid he commenced to save, and by fru- 
gality and industry secured a modest competency. 
Mr. Poitrey was born in France November 1 1 , 
1830, being a son of Ale.xander and Josephine 
(Delphis) Poitrey. Of eight children he and his 
brother, John, now a retired cattleman living in 
Trinidad, Colo., are the only ones who came to 
the United States. His education was obtained 
in his native land. When twenty-four years of 
age he crossed the ocean, coming from Paris, 
where he had made his home for five years. The 
sailing vessel "Princeton" brought him from 
Liverpool to New York in twenty-four days. 
After a short sojourn in New York and six months 



in Philadelphia he went to Delaware, where he 
worked during one winter. He then went to 
Reading, Pa. , and for three years was employed 
in railroad shops or as brakeman. 

On coming to Kansas in 1857 Mr. Poitrey 
joined his brother in Marshall Countj-, thence 
went to Shawnee County and soon came to 
Leavenworth. A month later he started out on 
his own account, taking up one hundred and 
sixty acres in Chase County, on which he made 
some improvements. In 1 860 he sold that tract and 
returned to Leavenworth County, taking up land 
in Kickapoo Township. During the war he was 
engaged as teamster in the quartermaster's depart- 
ment, working at Forts Leavenworth and Scott 
and in a part of Arkansas. From November, 1S62, 
to March, 1863, he was on the road every day, no 
matter what the weather might be. At the close 
of the war he returned to his farm in Kickapoo 
Township and continued there until 1869, when 
he sold and bought his present property. About 
twenty-five acres had been cleared, but no other 
improvement had been made. He broke the re- 
mainder of the land, fenced the place, built a 
house and barns, and introduced the various con- 
veniences of a model countrj' home. 

Politically Mr. Poitrey is a Republican. He 
favors good educational advantages, and for 
eighteen years he has been treasurer of the school 
board. In 1864 he married Josephine Hanequin, 
who was born in Lorraine, but at the time of her 
marriage was living in St. Louis. She died in 
April, 1882. Of the twelve children born to 
their marriage five are now living. They are: 
Alice, who married Paul Chmidling, a farmer 
near Leavenworth; Joseph, in Trinidad, Colo.; 
Josephine, who is her father's housekeeper and is 
a popular young lady; Louis, at home; and Orrie. 



P 6) ALTER F. SWIFT came to Ottawa in 
\ A / June, 1866, when the town was new. He 
V Y bought an interest in a dry-goods store, 
but after a few months sold out and started in the 
cattle business, which he continued until the 
country became settled. Afterward he clerked 
for a few months in the store of Horace J. Smith, 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



513 



with whom he formed a partnership in 1868 as 
Smith & Swift. When the partnership was dis- 
solved in 187 1 he began in the loan business, but 
in 1874 again bought a hardware store, which he 
conducted for sixteen j'ears. During this time 
he built the Swift block and also the warehouses 
occupied by the Topping Hardware Company. 
After he retired from the hardware business he 
resumed the loaning of money and in 1890 be- 
came interested in the life insurance business, in 
which he was successful from the'^first. During 
the years that have since elapsed he has written 
$1,500,000 in insurance, as the representative of 
the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Com- 
pany of Milwaukee, and has gained a position as 
one of the leading insurance agents in the state. 

The Swift family was represented among the 
early settlers of New England. Job Swift was 
master of a coasting vessel, and his son, Charles D., 
who was born at Cape Cod, was only eight years 
of age when he began to go to sea. Later he be- 
came master of a whaling vessel and was inter- 
ested at one time in twenty whalers, but when 
the introduction of kerosene lessened the demand 
for whale oil he retired from the business. He 
had sailed in every ocean and had rounded Cape 
Horn many times. After his retirement at thir- 
ty-five years he became interested in banks and 
insurance companies. He died in New Bedford, 
Mass. , when seventy years of age. He married 
Mary Howe Crane, who was born in Dorchester, 
Mass., and died at seventy years. Her sister 
married John Preston, who manufactured the 
first chocolate in America, but sold his business 
to the now celebrated firm of Walter Baker & Co. 

The subject of this sketch was one of the 
eleven children of Charles D. and Mary H. 
Swift. Of these, the eldest, William J., is a re- 
tired druggist of New Bedford. Charles D., Jr. , 
who was first mate of a vessel engaged in Bra- 
zilian trade, was lost at sea, his ship being 
wrecked off Cape Hatteras. Albert H., who 
was with the Corliss Engine Company for twelve 
years, died in New Bedford. John P., who was 
a seafaring man in early life and served in the 
United States navy during the Civil war, is now 
living retired in New Bedford. Walter F. , the 



seventh in order of birth, was born in New Bed- 
ford, March 25, 1845. Arthur Dean is employed 
in the postoffice in New Bedford. Elizabeth A., 
a graduate of the Greenwich (R. I.) University, 
married Hon. George B. Richmond, member of 
one of the oldest families of New Bedford, and 
himself a man of prominence, having served as 
ma3'or for many years, also as member of the 
legislature, and for the past fifteen years as re- 
corder of deeds. Mrs. Mary H. Hewins is the 
wife of the agent of an eastern railroad. Ida C. 
lives in New Bedford. 

When fourteen years of age our subject started 
out in the world for him.self. He began as clerk 
in a store in New Arlington, Mass., where he 
was paid $50 and his board the first year, $75 
and board the second year, and $100 and board 
the third year. In 1861 he was made assistant 
postmaster, the postofiice being in the store where 
he worked. In the spring of 1862 he resigned 
his position and went to Warren, R. I., later to 
Boston, thence to Reading, Mass., where he was 
employed as clerk. While in Reading a shoe 
merchant from Leavenworth came east to buy his 
goods, and each summer for three successive 
years he made Mr. Swift an offer, but each time 
the offer was refused until the third year, when 
he accepted an offer of $100 a month. In the 
spring of 1866 he came to Kansas, spending one 
week from Boston to Leavenworth, but after re- 
maining with his Leavenworth employer for two 
months he came to Ottawa, where he now re- 
sides. He is still interested in property in Massa- 
chusetts, where he spends his summers in pleas- 
ant and invigorating vacations. 

The first wife of Mr. Swift, who bore the maiden 
name of Amanda P. Pickrell, was born in Spring- 
field, 111., and died at Ottawa in 1872. His sec- 
ond marriage also united him with a Springfield 
lady. Miss Bertha Burkhardt, daughter of James 
Burkhardt. He is the father of two sons, 
Charles Delano and William A. The older son, 
who has traveled extensively in Europe, enlisted 
in the Spanish-American war in the spring of 
1898 and was assigned to Troop G, Second 
United States Cavalry, and remained in service 
until the close of the war, when he was mustered 



514 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD, 



out. Mrs. Swift is a member of the Presbj'terian 
church, and Mr. Swift has been most liberal to- 
ward that church, taking an active part in its 
work. He served as a member of the building 
committee that had in charge the erection of the 
new house of worship. Toward all charitable 
and religious enterprises he has displaj-ed the ut- 
most generosity, and his co-operation is always 
relied upon in measures for the benefit of his 
town. It has been contrary to his principles to 
serve in any public or political office, and the 
only exception to this rule was when his intimate 
friends induced him to accept a position on the 
school board. He is a man of high character, 
possessing qualities that win him success in busi- 
ness and the friendship of his associates, and is a 
worthy representative of a family that gave to 
the world Dean Swift, one of the greatest of Eng- 
lish humorists and satirists. 



30HN M. DYER, who was the pioneer coal 
operator in the vicinity of Pomona, Franklin 
County, was born in Clinton Count)', Ohio, 
July 13, 1 841, a son of Lawson B. and Mary 
(Davis) Dyer, natives respectively of Virginia 
and Ohio. When about ten years of age his 
father removed to Jackson, Jackson County, Ohio, 
with his widowed mother, and there he grew to 
manhood, married and carried on a farm for 
some years. In the fall of 1851 he settled in 
Illinois, and from there, in 1868, he came to 
Kansas, locating in Greenwood Township, Frank- 
lin County, and improving a valuable farm from 
a tract of raw land. On retiring from active 
labors he returned to Illinois, where he died at 
eighty-two years of age. As a pioneer, both in 
Illinois and Kansas, he did his part toward 
developing local resources. For several months 
he acted as agent for Whetstone & Baniett in the 
sale of their large tract of land south of the 
Marais des Cygnes River. His wife is still living 
and makes her home with a daughter in Illinois. 
They were the parents of ten children, five of 
whom are still living. 

When twenty-two years of age Mr. Dyer began 
independent farming. In 1868 he accompanied 



his father to Kansas and bought eighty-six acres 
south of the Marais des Cygnes River, which 
property he at once commenced to improve. He 
still owns his first purchase as well as eighty-six 
acres adjoining, making one hundred and seventy- 
two acres in all. After engaging in general farm 
pursuits until 1883 he then moved to Melvern, 
Osage County, Kans., and embarked in the mer- 
cantile business, which he carried on for five 
years. Next, returning to his farm, he remained 
there for a short time, after which he moved to 
Pomona and built a residence. During the first 
year he resided on the farm, while digging a 
foundation for a stable he struck a vein of coal. 
This led him to investigate, and he found the 
earth was underlaid with workable deposits of 
coal. In 1873 he began to dig out the coal, 
which he supplied to the Topping mill. Since 
then he has opened other coal mines. He has 
taken out thousands of tons from his land, and 
supplies Ottawa and other cities and towns of this 
locality. He owns one hundred and forty acres 
(all underlaid with coal), but has only taken out 
about fifteen acres as yet. He was the first man 
to open coal mines south of the river and is the 
pioneer of the business in his vicinity. The 
product is a fine quality of soft coal, which com- 
mands a readj' sale at good prices. 

Besides his other interests Mr. Dyer was for 
three years a partner with Dr. Pasley in the drug 
business in Pomona. He owns ten acres, com- 
prising his home, situated within the limits of 
Pomona, and is also the owner of other property. 
A successful man, he has labored not only for his 
personal prosperity, but has at the same time con- 
tributed to the advancement of local interests, 
and has aided in the erection of churches and 
.school houses and in other movements of un- 
doubted value. For many years he was a Re- 
publican, but has recently allied himself with the 
advocates of free silver. For three years he was 
trustee of Greenwood Township and for one year 
held a similar position in Pomona. In 1894 he 
was his party's candidate for representative to 
the legislature. As a member of the school , 
board he has promoted the welfare of the common 
.schools. Since twenty-one years of age he has 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



515 



been identified with the Masonic fraternity, and 
is a charter member of Pomona Lodge, A. F. & 
A. M., in which he has served as master. He is 
past noble grand of Pomona Lodge of Odd 
Fellows. For years he has been trustee and 
steward and an active worker in the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. 

Ill Illinois, April 2, 1863, Mr. Dyer married 
Martha J. Shreeves, by whom he has three 
daughters and one son, viz.: Viola, wife of 
Porter Groves; Frank E., who is in Wyoming; 
Rachel M., wife of S. E. Richardson; and Lillian 
B., wife of J. M. Dailey. 



(7) AMUEL A. HOUSTON. For ten years Mr. 
?Sk Houston was connected with either the regu- 
Cy/ lar or the volunteer army. In 1855, at 
Zanesville, Ohio, he enlisted in what is now the 
Fourth (then the First) United States Cavalry, 
serving under Capt. George H. Stewart in Com- 
pany K. On the 12th of March, 1856, he arrived 
with his company at Fort Leavenworth, Kans., 
and it was then that he .saw for the first time the 
state that for so many years has been his head- 
quarters and his home. For some subsequent 
years his time was mostly spent on the plains or 
in the mountains, where he encountered the In- 
dians in numerous skirmishes. Those were days 
of hard fighting, long rides, dangers, hardships 
and exposure, yet, across the chasm of the fleet- 
ing years he looks back upon them as the hap- 
piest days of all his life. Finally he was caught 
in a blizzard west of Fort Riley and almost per- 
ished. It was during the winter of 1859-60, and 
he was one of a party of forty-eight men who 
were caught in the norther and injured to such an 
extent by the cold that forty-two of the number 
were sent to the hospital. It was this catastrophe 
that caused the loss of his right eye. Shortly 
afterward he was mustered out of the service at 
Fort Leavenworth. 

When the Civil war began Mr. Houston raised 
forty men at Burlington and brought them to 
Lawrence, where they were mustered into Com- 
pany D, Second Kansas Infantry, he being com- 
missioned second sergeant. He took part in the 



battles of Forsythe, Dug Springs, Prairie de 
Anna Mountains, Backbone, Wilson Creek, Prai- 
rie Grove, etc. The original enlistment was for 
three months, but the time was extended to five 
months. He then, in October, 1861, enlisted 
for three years, but served for a longer time, his 
entire term of service being forty-four months. 
In the spring of 1865 he was mustered out and 
honorably discharged. He then became foreman 
for Van Light & Co. on the plains, continuing 
with them until 1870, when he began railroading. 
In 1876 he established his permanent home in 
North Lawrence, where he has a comfortable, 
attractive residence at No. 431 Locust street. He 
was married in Green Valley, 111., in 1875, to 
Miss Ellen Z. Oswald, who was born in Mary- 
land. They became the parents of three sons, 
Edward T., who died at twenty years; William, 
who is connected with the Maple Leaf Railroad at 
Oelwein, Iowa; and Charles. 

Mr. Houston is past commander of Washing- 
ton Post No. 12, G. A. R.; a member of the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen and the De- 
gree of Honor Pyramids; a charter member of 
J. M. Taylor Camp No. 78, Sons of Veterans, of 
which he was division chaplain, with the rank of 
major, in 1898-99; and secretary of the Kansas 
State Veterans' Association, of which he is a 
charter member. In politics he is an uncompro- 
mising Republican. 



WILLIAM H. ARMSTRONG. On coming 
to Kansas in 1875 Mr. Armstrong settled 
in Osage County, where he purchased land 
and spent one year. In 1876 he removed to Law- 
rence, where he had bought a small place on his 
arrival in the state. Beginning as a dealer in 
cattle, he gradually developed an important and 
profitable business, and from time to time has 
been enabled to increase his possessions, which 
now aggregate five hundred and sixty acres. In 
1898 he removed from his city home to his farm 
three miles southwest of Lawrence, in Wakarusa 
Township, where he has since resided, and is 
making a specialty of raising hay. 

A son of John and Elizabeth (Warren) Arm- 



5i6 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



strong, our subject was born in Madison County, 
Ohio, January 28, 1842. He was one of eleven 
children, the following being the survivors: Eliza, 
widow of Andrew Jackson, of Madison County, 
Ohio; Warren, a retired farmer and capitalist of 
Madison County; Samuel, a cattle dealer; and 
Frances, both of whom reside in that county ; 
William H. ; and John F. , a retired stockman and 
farmer of Madison County. The father was born 
in Virginia in 1790 and while still a boj' accom- 
panied his parents to Chillicothe, Ohio, where he 
grew to manhood. At the breaking out of the 
war of 1812 he enlisted in the service and re- 
mained until the close of the war. A short time 
after his marriage he settled in Madison County, 
where he bought a timbered tract and from the 
woods evolved a finely improved farm. The 
active part of his life was spent upon that place, 
engaging in general agricultural pursuits. In 
politics he was a strong supporter of the Whig 
party, and upon its disintegration became a Re- 
publican, but, while he was influential in political 
matters, he was not an ofiice seeker and never 
held office. His death occurred in 1862. 

Being afflicted with asthma when a boy, our 
subject was not able to attend school regularly, 
nevertheless he gained a good education bj- self- 
culture. During the Civil war he enlisted in 
Company I, One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Ohio 
Infantry, and during his service of one hundred 
days, took part in the battle of New Creek Sta- 
tion. After his father's death in 1862 he and his 
brother Warren took charge of the home farm, 
which they continued to manage for some time, 
purchasing after some years the interests of the 
other heirs. In the spring of 1875 they sold the 
place, and our subject decided to come west and 
engage in farming in Kansas. He has never had 
occasion to regret this decision, as he has been 
very fortunate in his undertakings in this state 
and has gradually built up a farm that is sur- 
passed by few in Douglas County. He is a Re- 
publican in politics, but has been too much en- 
grossed with his personal affairs to devote atten- 
tion to public matters and has never cared for 
official positions. 

February 9, 1875, Mr. Armstrong married 



Miss Anna M. Paine, who was born in Madison 
County, Ohio, her father, Zadock Paine, being a 
prominent farmer there. Two sons comprise the 
family of Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong: Earl W., who 
is in charge of one of his father's farms; and 
Frank M., who assists in the cultivation of the 
home place. 

\A RS. HANORA (HICKEY) ANDERSON, 
y who was one of the early settlers both of 
C9 Illinois and Kansas, and is now living on 
a farm four miles south of Lecompton, Douglas 
Couut}', was born in the city of Limerick, Ireland, 
in 181 6, a daughter of David and Margaret 
(Ryan) Hicke}'. She was one of eight children, 
five of whom are still living, namely: Mary, 
widow of Daniel Mahoney, of Osage County, 
Kans. ; Ellen, wife of Michael Ryan, of St. 
Louis, Mo.; Hanora; David, who lives in Spring- 
field, 111,; and Ann, widow of Michael Murphy, 
of Douglas County, Kans. The parents were 
born, reared and married in County Limerick, 
Ireland, where the father engaged in farm pur- 
suits until his death, in 1831, at the age of fifty- 
five years. 

When seventeen years of age, in 1833, our 
subject became the wife of Thomas Anderson, 
who was born and reared upon a farm adjoining 
the one owned by Mr. Hickey. He was one of 
the five children (all now deceased) of Thomas 
and Bridget (McQueney) Anderson, natives of 
Counties Limerick and Clare. After their mar- 
riage Mr. and Mrs. Anderson settled upon a 
farm in County Limerick and there they re- 
mained until 1841, when they crossed the ocean 
to America. After a voyage of ten weeks and 
three days they landed in New Orleans in the 
fall of that year. From there they traveled via 
steamer to St. Louis, and then took a stage for 
Springfield, 111. Mr. Anderson bought a tract of 
land and settled down upon a farm, which he 
cultivated for fourteen years, and which now 
forms the site for the railroad depot in that city. 
While living there he and his wife saw the first 
railroad laid into Illinois and witnessed the rapid 
development of the state. 

At the time the tide of emigration began to 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



517 



turn toward Kansas Mr. and Mrs. Anderson 
came to this state in the spring of 1857 and set- 
tled four miles south of L,ecorapton, in Kanwaka 
Township, Douglas County. In time Mr. An- 
derson became one of the prominent and pros- 
perous farmers of the county. He was spared to 
a venerable age, passing away May 24, 1889, 
when in his ninety-eighth year. From child- 
hood he was a member of the Roman Catholic 
Church, to which his wife also belongs. 

In politics he was a Democrat. Coming to 
Kansas at the time of the border warfare, he gave 
his sympathy and support to the free-state party 
and favored the abolition of slavery. He was too 
old to enlist in the service during the Civil war, 
but he and his wife both felt the keenest interest 
in the preservation of the Union and the ex- 
tinction of slavery. They were the parents of 
fourteen children, seven of whom survive, viz. : 
Bridget, who is the wife of Patrick Cummings, 
of Douglas County; David, a farmer of Kanwaka 
Township; John and William, who are also en- 
gaged in farming in this township; Margaret, 
wife of Patrick Brown, a farmer of Jackson 
County, Kans. ; George and Alexander, who cul- 
tivate farms near their mother's homestead. 



REUBEN R. DOOLITTLE, a retired farmer 
of Wakarusa Township, Douglas County, 
was born in Wayne County, N. Y., May 
22, 1827. His father, Rev. Grin Doolittle, a 
native of New York, was for many years a minis- 
ter in the Methodist Episcopal Church, but owing 
to the stand taken by the denomination at the 
time the slave question was being agitated, he 
withdrew from the ministry and devoted his at- 
tention to lecturing in behalf of the abolition of 
slaves. It was his privilege to live to see the 
slaves emancipated and our nation the home of a 
people all of whom were free. Later he became 
an advocate of the Republican party. By his 
marriage to Elizabeth Randolph he had nine 
children, of whom our subject was the fifth and is 
the only one in Kansas. 

The paternal grandfather of our subject, Reuben 
Randolph Doolittle, was born in Culpepper, Va., 



where he attained maturity, but afterward he 
removed to New York and settled upon a farm. 
At the outbreak of the Revolutionary war he was 
about seventeen years of age. During the war he 
was employed as dispatch bearer for General 
Washington, a position that required great cour- 
age. 

When our subject was about nine years of age 
the family settled in Michigan, then a new coun- 
try, and afterward he helped to clear a farm. In 
1852 he went via water to California, crossing the 
isthmus of Panama and reaching the Pacific coast 
after a long voyage. For two years and four 
months he engaged in mining. At the time of 
his return the railroad across the isthmus was 
completed with the exception of eight or ten 
miles. He resumed farming in Michigan, but 
soon became restless again, and in the spring of 
1859 started for Pike's Peak. However, when 
about one hundred and twenty miles west of Oma- 
ha he met so many returning that he decided not 
to go further. Consequently he drove down to 
Douglas County and bought a claim where he 
now resides, afterward securing from the govern- 
ment a deed, bearing the signature of Andrew 
Johnson, to one hundred and sixty acres of land. 
Of the entire tract, only ten acres had been im- 
proved. He set to work to break the land, fence 
it, and put up necessary buildings. His first 
house was a log cabin, in which he lived for 
about eight years. At first he raised principally 
corn and wheat. It was difl5cult to dispose of his 
crops, as there was no railroad even to Lawrence 
and it was then quite a small town. At the time 
of the war he was a member of the state militia, 
but did not see active service, as he was placed on 
detached duty. 

As he prospered, Mr. Doolittle added to his 
possessions until he became the owner of two 
hundred acres. In 1885 he erected a comfortable 
house from plans designed by his wife, and here 
he has since resided. While his attention has 
been given mostly to farming, he has also en- 
gaged in dairying to some extent and at one time 
also raised fowls and sold eggs and chickens. His 
wife gained a reputation throughout the county 
as a skillful buttermaker, and at no time was a 



5'8 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



pound of her butter ever sold for less than twenty- 
five cents, while at times it commanded as much 
as fifty cents. In addition to the residence there 
are other good buildings on the place, including 
a substantial barn, and there is also a complete 
equipment of machinery. 

In politics Mr. Doolittle was a Republican un- 
til 1892, when he transferred his allegiance to 
the Democratic party. He would never accept 
any office, but has devoted all of his energy to the 
proper management of his place and, as a farmer, 
has acquired a reputation second to none in his 
locality. Interested in the fruit business, he 
brought some peach pits from Michigan to Kan- 
sas and the fruit he raised was as fine as any 
grown in the county. At the Columbian Expo- 
sition in Chicago, some of his peaches were sent 
for exhibition, but were rejected, as the commit- 
tee could not be convinced they were seedlings. 
During the lifetime of his wife they traveled con- 
siderable, both being fond of studying customs 
and habits, as well as viewing scenery in different 
parts of the country. Several times they visited 
California and the east, and also visited the Cen- 
tennial in Philadelphia, the World's Fair in Chi- 
cago and the Trans-Continental Exposition in 
Omaha; having by intelligent labor earned the 
right to independence, they enjoyed life to the ut- 
most, without a break in their happiness until 
the death of Mrs. Doolittle, in March, 1899. Prior 
to her marriage, in Michigan, in 1852, she was 
Jeannette Van Vleet. Her father was a justice of 
the peace and for thirty years served as post- 
master at Wheatland, Hill.sdale County, Mich. 

The only son of our subject and his wife is 
Randall Doolittle, who was born in Michigan in 
December, 1857. He was two years of age when 
his parents brought him to Kansas. His educa- 
tion was received in district schools and the busi- 
ness college at Lawrence, after which he took a 
course in telegraphy. For two years he was em- 
ployed as an operator on the Santa Feroad, but, 
being the only child, he felt it to be his duty to 
help in the management of the home farm, of 
which he now has entire control. Active in po- 
litical matters, he has been a delegate to many 
conventions. In 1895 ^^^ was elected township 



trustee and served for two terms, being the only 
Democrat elected to any office in Wakarusa Town- 
ship. November 29, 1882, he married Ella Wal- 
ton, of this township. They have four children, 
Charles, Faith, Jeannette and Walton Randall. 



HENRY CHRISTIAN PRANG. The life of 
this pioneer was for years intimately iden- 
tified with the growth and progress of 
Leavenworth County. He lived to enjoy the 
comforts secured by the toil of earlj' days, and to 
witness the growing importance of the city of 
Leavenworth, with whose history he was familiar 
from the time of its start. A native of Germany, 
he made his home in America after eight years 
of age, his parents settling near Burlington, Iowa, 
where he was reared. The year 1854 found him 
in Leavenworth. Soon afterward he went to 
Kickapoo, where he opened a blacksmith's shop, 
and for two years followed his trade. He then 
returned to Leavenworth and engaged in general 
blacksmithing until 1872. 

On retiring from blacksmithing he opened a 
plow factorj' with Mr. Howell, organizing the 
firm of Howell & Prang, and continuing in the 
business for five years. In 1875 he became fore- 
man for the Caldwell Manufacturing Company, 
manufacturers of wagons at the Kansas state 
penitentiary, where he remained for four j-ears. 
In 1883 he formed a partnership with August 
Schanze in the implement business, the two con- 
tinuing together for a few years. From that time 
he followed his trade until his death, which oc- 
curred July 23, 1886, at the age of forty-nine 
years. His life was an active and busy one, and 
by industry and economy he gained a com- 
petency. 

The Republican party received the support of 
Mr. Prang. He never sought office, but was 
once nominated, without his consent, for council- 
man from the third ward. He was willing to 
assist his friends who desired office, but preferred 
to give his attention to business affairs rather 
than to official duties. lu the blue lodge of 
Masonrj' he held the office of master for .several 
successive years. In religion he was a Method- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



519 



ist. By his marriage to Jane Waddell he had 
three children: Charles H., a grocer, and George 
W., a horseshoer, both residing in L,eavenworth, 
and Ellen, who died at the age of twenty-two. 
George W. was a member of the council from 
the third ward for one term, and fraternally he is 
active in the Modern Woodmen and Odd Fel- 
lows' Orders. 



(T H. JACOBS, manager of the Kansas Water 
I and Ivight Company, of Lawrence, came to 
(2/ this state in the spring of 1857 ^nd settled in 
Douglas County. He assisted in laying out the 
village of Eudora, and there he opened a general 
mercantile store. However, the following year 
he removed to Johnson County and staijed in 
business at DeSoto, remaining there for six 
years. In the fall of 1864 he disposed of his 
store there and came to Lawrence, becoming a 
member of the firm of Summerfield & Jacobs, 
and opening a wholesale and retail grocery. The 
partnership continued successfully until the 
death of Mr. Summerfield, after which Mr. Jacobs 
carried on the business alone for fourteen years, 
retiring in 1894, after thirty years of business life 
in the same city. Meantime, after retiring from 
the wholesale trade, he gave some attention to a 
baking business, in which he built up a large 
trade. As a business man he was known as a 
hard worker, and one who in all of his transac- 
tions was just, honest and fair. In 1894 he was 
made superintendent of the water works in Law- 
rence, which position he has since held, giving 
careful attention to the management of the plant. 
The water works are built according to modern 
plans and have proved satisfactory, the supply of 
water being ample and the quality excellent. 
The water is carried by a system of basins to a 
standpipe, which gives the desired pressure. 

Mr. Jacobs was born in Nowowiesz, province 
of Plock, Poland, in December, 1829, and was 
next to the youngest of twelve children, six of 
whom are living, two in America, the others in 
the old country. His parents, Jacob and Rika 
Jacobs, were born in Poland, where his father 
was a merchant and farmer until his death at 
sixty-eight years. Our subject remained at home 



until seventeen years of age, when he migrated 
to Germany, and for three years taught school 
there. He then went to Newcastle, England, 
where he learned the trade of painter and glazier. 
In the fall of 1853 he came to America on the 
sailer, "Constantine," which anchored in New 
York City after a voyage of seven weeks. He 
remained in New York until 1855, when he went 
to Chicago and began in the fruit and confection- 
ery business on the corner of Wells and Ran- 
dolph streets. From there he came to Kansas in 
1857, and his subsequent history has been identi- 
fied principally with that of Douglas County. 
He was married in Eudora, this county, to Miss 
Mina Summerfield, who was born in Germany, 
and died in Lawrence in 1898. They were the 
parents of three children: Benjamin, who gradu- 
ated from the Kansas City Medical College and 
is now practicing in that city; Solon, who is so- 
licitor for the Georgia Central Railroad in Ala- 
bama; and Mrs. Bertha Tilles.of Fort Smith, Ark. 
Fraternally Mr. Jacobs is connected with the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen and is a Master Mason. 
During the Price raid he was called out as a 
member of the state militia, and assisted in driv- 
ing the Confederates out of Kansas. In politics 
he has always been a Republican, but is not 
radical in his views. 



GJRTHUR J. ANDERSON, M. D., general 
Ll medical examiner for the Fraternal Aid 
/ I Association and one of the popular physi- 
cians of Lawrence, was born in Greenfield, Ohio, 
June 19, 1863, and has made his home in Lawrence 
since the fall of 1868. His father, S. B. AndersoTi, 
M. D., was a son of John and Sarah (Brooks) 
Anderson, natives of Scotland, who lived for some 
years in Pennsylvania, but later settled in Green- 
field, Highland County, Ohio. Born in Pennsyl- 
vania and reared in Ohio, S. B. Anderson gradu- 
ated from a medical college in Cincinnati, and for 
some years practiced in Greenfield, but in 1868 
settled in Lawrence, Kans., where he built up a 
large practice. He served both as president and 
vice-president of the State Homeopathic Medical 



520 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Society. Since his retirement from practice he 
has made his home in Denver, Colo. At Green- 
field, Ohio, August 9, 1849, he married Miss 
Nancy L. Davis, daughter of Dr. Jephtha Davis, 
who was born in Kentucky, but removed to Ohio 
and engaged in medical practice at Circleville 
until his death. In the family of Dr. S. B. and 
Nancy Anderson there were seven children, 
namely: Samuel H., who graduated from the St. 
Louis Homeopathic Medical College and is now 
engaged in practice in Kansas City, Mo. ; Mary 
A., wife of S. D. Coffin, of Denver, Colo.; John 
Frank, who owns and conducts a stock ranch in 
Monte Vista, Colo.; William J., who died in 
Kansas City; Nannie, who died in childhood; 
George D., who died in Denver, Colo., in 1899; 
and Arthur J. 

The subject of this sketch studied in the Uni- 
versity of Kansas with the class of 1885 until the 
close of the junior year, making a specialty of 
chemistry and anatomy. On leaving school he 
began the study of medicine with his father. In 
1884 he entered the St. Louis Homeopathic Med- 
ical College. One j-ear later he matriculated in 
the Hahnemann Medical College of Chicago, 
from which he graduated in 1887, with the degree 
of M. D. The confinement of college work had 
impaired his health greatly, but after a year de- 
voted to recuperation he was as rugged as before. 
He practiced with his father until 1895, and since 
the latter' s retirement has been alone. In 1893-94 
he held the chair of sanitary science and hygiene 
in the Kansas City Homeopathic Medical College. 
In 1893 he received from the governor appoint- 
ment as a member of the state board of health, 
which position he filled for two years. 

Dr. Anderson was married in Lawrence to Eva 
B., daughter of E. A. Smith, who was the first 
cashier of the first bank established in this city 
and is now engaged in the raising of standard- 
bred horses. Mrs. Anderson was educated at 
Bethany College and is a lady of refinement, 
holding a high position in society. Their three 
children are Bessie, Eva and Arthur. 

Fraternally Dr. Anderson is connected with 
Acacia Lodge No. 9, A. F. & A. M., Scottish 
Rite and Topeka Consistory. He is past chan- 



cellor in the Order of Knights of Pythias. In the 
organization of the Fraternal Aid Association he 
took an active part and has been one of its active 
members. In 1897 he was elected general med- 
ical examiner for the association, his district cov- 
ering eleven states and two territories. So ablj' 
did he fill the office that at the expiration of his 
term he was re-elected, in 1899, against thirteen 
candidates. He is local examiner for the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen, examiner for the 
Modern Woodmen, Woodmen of the World, Se- 
lect Friends, National Reserve and Ancient Or- 
der of Pyramids. A charter member of the 
Douglas Count J- Homeopathic Medical Society, 
he has been one of the officials since its organiza- 
tion and is now its vice-president. He is also 
connected with the Kansas State Homeopathic 
Medical Society and the American Institute of 
Homeopathy. In politics he is a Democrat. 



HARRY RABINOVITZ, of Leavenworth, 
was born near Kovina, Russia, a son of Zus- 
man and Rachael (Hernburg) Rabinovitz, 
and a descendant, on his father's side, of a family 
of noted Jewish rabbis, while through his mother 
he traced his lineage to an old and prominent 
family engaged in the mercantile business. He 
was the youngest of five children, of whom two 
sons and one daughter are in the United States, 
his brother, Frank, being a merchant in Kansas 
City. He was born January 18, 187 1. Until 
fourteen years of age he attended the national 
schools in Russia. When a boy he traveled 
through Russia, France, Germany and England. 
In 1885 he came to America, reaching Philadel- 
phia a stranger in a strange land, with whose 
cu.stoms and language he was not familiar, and 
with no money in his possession except sixty- 
five cents. For four months he engaged in sell- 
ing matches to such customers as he could find 
on the .street or in offices. In this way he earned 
$g. With this money he purchased a small out- 
fit of goods and began peddling through diffi;rent 
parts of Pennsylvania, making his headquarters 
in Allentown. 

After three years as a peddler he went to Chi- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



521 



cago and from there to Kansas City in 1889, 
spending three months as a clerk. His next lo- 
cation was at Lee Summit, Mo. , where he attended 
school two winters and also studied under private 
instruction in the summer. At the same time he 
carried on business as a peddler. On his return 
to Kansas City he engaged in the restaurant 
business. In 1894 ^^ came to Leavenworth, 
where he bought a wholesale liquor business, and 
this he carried on for one year. In 1895 he ac- 
cepted a position as agent in Leavenworth for 
Val Blatz Brewing Company of Milwaukee, Wis., 
and has since filled this position. The company 
has recently completed a large plant, with office, 
warehouse, ice house and storage rooms, on 
Broadway and Seneca street. The ice house has 
a capacit}^ of two hundred and fifty tons, and the 
warehouse a capacity of three car loads. 

In 1893 Mr. Rabinovitz returned to his native 
land, where he visited relatives and old friends. 
Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of 
Pythias. He is a Republican in national poli- 
tics, but in local elections votes independently. 



fgjEORGE UMMETHUN, who was one of 
|_l the leading business men and well-known 
vU pioneers of Leavenworth, was born in Furst- 
nau, Hanover, Germany, December 15, 1835, and 
was educated in his native province. In 1851 he 
accompanied his parents to America and settled 
with them in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he secured 
work in a drug store, and remained in the same 
position until he left the city. In the spring of 
1859 he came to Leavenworth and opened a drug 
store under the firm name of Coolidge & Um- 
methun, having as a partner his former employer 
in Cincinnati. After the building burned in 
which he had carried on business he erected 
what was then known as the Ummethun opera 
house, a two-story brick building on the corner 
of Delaware and Fourth streets. Here, in the 
corner room of the ground floor, he conducted 
the leading drug business in the city. For 
several years he rented the upper part of the 
building as an opera house, but afterward it was 
remodeled into a business block, and the Leaven- 



worth National Bank now occupies the rooms in 
which he had his drug store. He then opened a 
drug store in another part of the town, where he 
continued in business until his death. 

Upon the organization of the German Savings 
Bank Mr. Ummethun was chosen its president 
and served as such during the first three years of 
its existence, after which he was a director and 
stockholder in the institution until its consolida- 
tion with the First National Bank. In 1878 he 
was elected mayor of Leavenworth, being the 
first Democrat to hold that office for some years. 
It was the wish of both parties that he serve a 
second term, but he refused. In 1889, at the 
Democratic state convention held in Leavenworth, 
he was unanimously nominated for lieutenant- 
governor, but was defeated with his party. In 
1863-64 he was a member of the city council. 
His interest in local afiairs was less that of a 
partisan than of a public- spirited citizen, who 
desired the advancement of his city and its in- 
creasing prosperity. Fraternally he was con- 
nected with the Odd Fellows. He was reared in 
the Lutheran faith and always inclined toward 
that church. His disposition was genial, accom- 
modating and generous; he was a man of domestic 
tastes, and his happiest hours were those spent in 
the midst of his family, to whom he was intensely 
devoted. He died January 30, 1890, while he 
was still in the prime of life and business activity. 

The marriage of Mr. Ummethun to Miss Martha 
Augusta Austin occurred October 4, 1865. She 
was born in Huron County, Ohio, a daughter of 
Homer and Adaline (Cherry) Austin, natives 
respectively of Berkshire County, Mass., and 
New York. Her father went to Ohio when a 
young man and assisted in clearing and improving 
a farm there. From 1849 to 1851 he was with 
the gold-seekers in California and met with fair 
success. After his return to Ohio he remained 
for some years on the home farm, which had been 
given to him by his father. In the spring of 
1863 he sold that place and came to Leavenworth, 
where he engaged in the grocery business for 
three years. Later he settled upon a farm twelve 
miles from the city and there he has since made 
his home. At the time of Price's raid he served 



522 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



in the home guard. During his residence in 
Ohio he served as justice of the peace for several 
years. Notwithstanding his eight3'-four busy 
years, he is .still active for one of that age. His 
wife is also living and is seventy-five years of age. 
Of their four children, Martha Augusta is the 
eldest. Mr. and Mrs. Ummethun have two 
daughters, Josephine, at honae; and LinnieLeona, 
wife of Dr. C. C. Allen, of Kansas City, Mo. 



ROBERT M. FERGUSON, who is proprietor 
of a mercantile store in Leloup, Franklin 
County, was born in Plainfield, 111. , June 12, 
1853, and represents the third generation of his 
family in America. His father, Robert, came to 
the United States in 1849 and after one year in 
eastern Pennsylvania, where he married, he 
settled in Illinois, becoming identified with agri- 
cultural matters in that state. By his marriage 
to Nancy McDoiigal, he had eight children, of 
whom Robert is the oldest now living. His edu- 
cation was begun in the common schools of 
Illinois and carried on later in Northwestern Col- 
lege at Plainfield, a business college at Joliet, and 
Northwestern University in Evanston, 111., but 
he left the last-named institution before gradu- 
ating. 

In the spring of 1876 Mr. Ferguson came to 
Franklin County to take charge of his father's 
farm here, and, besides its management, he en- 
gaged in shipping grain and cattle. After a time 
he began to raise stock, and he continued buying, 
raising, feeding and shipping, until 1887, when 
he embarked in the mercantile business. In the 
meantime he also engaged in the lumber business, 
in which he was interested for four years. Since 
beginning as a merchant he has dropped all out- 
side matters and enterprises except the shipment 
of grain and the supervision of his farm. He 
is the owner of two hundred and thirty acres 
which he cultivates, in addition to three hundred 
and twenty acres that he rents. In raising farm 
produce he makes a specialtj' of corn. His various 
interests combine to make him a very busy man. 
He has the leading business in Leloup, his sales 
aggregating $6,000 per annum, outside of his grain 



business, which is also large. Having to devote 
himself closely to the management of his private 
affairs, he has no leisure for participation in public 
affairs, but he seeks to do his duty as a citizen 
and keeps posted concerning national issues. The 
Democratic party represents his views upon the 
problems before our countrj', and he gives his 
vote to his party's candidates. Three times he 
was chosen to act as po.stmaster (during the ad- 
ministrations of Hayes, Cleveland and Harrison), 
and he had the oflSce in his .store. 

Mr. Ferguson's family con.si.sts of his wife and 
two children, Henry, aged sixteen, and Robert, 
aged two j-ears. 

/5JEORGE A. ANDERSON, a prosperous cat- 
|_ tleman and farmer of Kanwaka Township, 
\ji Douglas Count}', was born in this count}' 
March 15, i860, the son of Thomas and Hanora 
(Hickey) Anderson, to whose sketch upon an- 
other page the reader is referred for the family 
historj'. He grew to manhood on the home farm 
and was given such advantages as local schools 
afforded. Reared under the most careful home 
influences, and trained to habits of industrj', 
perseverance and integrity, he was well fitted for 
the responsibilities which awaited him in life. 
At an early age he became familiar with agri- 
culture, and it was natural that, when selecting 
an occupation, he should choose the one with 
which he was most familiar and in which he 
might reasonably hope to gain exceptional suc- 
cess. 

In 1885 occurred the marriage of Mr. Ander- 
son to Miss Maggie J. Favvl, who was born in 
Douglas County. Her father, Patrick Fawl, was 
among the earliest settlers of Kansas and is still 
living at the homestead in Marion Township, 
Douglas County, where he settled upon coming 
west. After our subject's marriage he settled 
upon a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in 
Kanwaka Township, which place had been deeded 
to him by his father. Upon this place he began 
farming for himself. Working industriously he 
was rewarded bj' a commendable degree of suc- 
cess. Realizing the possibilitj' of large profits in 
the cattle business he devoted considerable atten- 




WILLIAM SERVATUS. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



525 



tion to this branch of agriculture. In the fall of 
1891 he purchased one hundred and sixty acres 
additional, and removed to his new home. Be- 
sides these two properties, comprising three hun- 
dred and twenty acres, he owns one hundred and 
sixty acres which he uses for the pasturage of his 
cattle. He and his wife are the parents of eight 
children, seven now living, viz.: Mary, Maggie, 
George, Thomas, Frank, Rosie and William. 

The political affiliations of Mr. Anderson are 
with the Democratic party. In 1895 he was 
elected clerk of the township, which office he 
filled for three years. In religion he is a Roman 
Catholic. Fraternally he is connected with Law- 
rence Camp No. 798, Modern Woodmen of Amer- 
ica. He is respected as one of the enterprising 
farmers and honorable citizens of his township. 



y yi RS. DELIA F. SERVATUS, who is a pio- 
Y neer of Franklin County, has for more than 
(9 forty years made her home on a farm ten 
miles southwest of Ottawa, in Homewood Town- 
ship. She was born in Bucks County, Pa., a 
daughter of John and Anna Catherine (Hoffman) 
Matts, of whose ten children eight are still living. 
The three oldest sons, Peter, Alexander and 
Elias, are retired from active cares, the first- 
named living in Dane County, Wis., the second 
in Coopersburg, Pa., and the third in Richland- 
town. Pa. John lives in Dane County, Wis.; 
Nicholas is a farmer in Franklin County, Kans. ; 
Jackson F. carries on farm pursuits in Bucks 
County, Pa.; and Catherine Amelia makes her 
home in Bucks Count}', Pa. 

The Matts family was founded in America by 
John Mich Metz (as the name was then spelled), 
a native of Germany, who settled in this country 
in early life. His wife, Barbara, was born on 
the ocean when her parents were crossing from 
Germany to the United States. Born in Phila- 
delphia, John Matts was a boy when he accom- 
panied his parents to Bucks County, Pa., and 
there he learned the tanner's trade under his 
father, with whom he worked in the tanning 
business until the father's death, when, he being 
the only son, the responsibility of managing the 

22 



business fell entirely upon him. After some 
years of successful work he retired from the busi- 
ness and settled upon a farm, where the remain- 
ing years of his life were spent. He was a 
prominent figure in local politics and took a lead- 
ing part in district affairs. For four years he 
was a member of the state legislature, and at 
other times he held local positions of honor and 
trust. In early life he voted with the Democrats, 
but at the time of Andrew Jackson's veto of the 
national bank bill, which did not meet with his 
approval, he allied himself with the Whig party 
A successful business man, he amassed a consid- 
erable fortune. While he was not connected with 
any church, he was a man of Christian belief and 
exemplary life. During the war of 18 12 he went 
to the front in the American army. 

The mother of our subject was a native of 
Northampton County, Pa., and a daughter of 
John and Margaret Hoffman, natives of Pennsyl- 
vania, and owners of a valuable farm in Bucks 
County. Mr. Hoffman was a soldier during the 
entire period of the Revolutionary war and was 
with Washington when he crossed the Delaware 
on that stormy night in winter. Often, in later 
years, he told his children and grandchildren of 
those days of suffering, when the soldiers, illy 
clad and barefooted, pushed their way through 
ice and snow, leaving behind them the bloody 
footprints made by their bare and lacerated feet. 

When eighteen years of age our subject went 
to Wisconsin and made her home with her four 
brothers who had preceded her to that state. In 
1856 she became the wife of William Servatus, 
who was born in Prussia, German}', in 1830, and 
came to America late in the '40s. For some 
years he followed the painter's trade in Utica, 
N. Y. Later he settled in Dane County, Wis., 
where he met and married Miss Matts. Shortly 
after his marriage, in the winter of 1856-57, he 
came to Kansas and pre-empted one hundred and 
sixty acres in Franklin County, on which he 
built a small cabin. Returning to Wisconsin, he 
brought his wife back with him and settled in 
his new home, where they arrived June 6, 1857. 
Settlers were few at that time, their nearest 
neighbors being a few families who had settled 



526 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



oil Middle Creek. In time thej- were prospered 
and were able to replace their cabin with a 
neat house, while other improvements were con- 
stantly being made also. Mr. Servatus died here 
February 4, 1881, since which time his widow 
has continued to live here, managing the cultiva- 
tion of the land and actively superintending all 
of the work. In religion she is identified with 
the Christian Church, while Mr. Servatus was a 
Roman Catholic. 



\A ICHAEIv A. PRZYBYLOWICZ, city clerk 
y of Leavenworth, was born in thiscit)' June 
(9 I, 1865, a son of Hon. Michael A. and 
Johanna (Geschnecher) Przybylowicz, natives 
respectively of Poland and Germany. His father, 
who was the son of a soldier in the Russian army, 
learned the butcher's trade in youth, and after 
coming to America spent some time in the east, 
but about 1847 traveled through Kansas and 
Missouri, settling in St. Joe. About 1850 he 
cros.sed the plains to California and engaged in the 
restaurant business in San Francisco. Later he 
took up a claim in what is now Portland, Ore., 
and engaged in business there, but soon gave up 
all of his interests in that place, and returning 
east settled in Leavenworth, where he embarked 
ill the grain and commission business. During 
the Civil war he was a member of a Kansas regi- 
ment of volunteers. In 1869 he started the Con- 
tinental hotel and this he conducted, building up 
a large business, and becoming well known as an 
accommodating, genial landlord. From 1883 to 
1890 he rented the hotel toothers, but in the lat- 
ter year again assumed its management, and car- 
ried it on until his retirement from business in 
1895. During his active business life he made 
several trips across the plains. In local affairs he 
took an active part, being a leading Democrat. 
Several times he was elected a member of the 
city council and for two terms he was a member 
of the .state legislature of Kansas. Of his eleven 
children, six are now living. 

The oldest son and next to the oldest child is 
the subject of this sketch. In 1884 he gradu- 
ated from the high school. Shortly afterward he 
entered the First National Bank as a messenger 



bo}', and later was promoted, bj- successive steps, 
until he became a bookkeeper. After four and 
one-half years in the bank he resigned in order 
to engage in the hotel business with his father, 
and for four years he continued with the latter. 
When his connection with the Continental hotel 
was severed he went to Kansas City and for a 
.short time was bookkeeper for the We.ston Brew- 
ing Company. On his return to Leavenworth he 
became night clerk in the Imperial hotel. April 
6, 1897, he was elected city clerk on the Demo- 
cratic ticket and on the 14th of the same month 
he took the oath of office. Since then he has 
given his attention to official duties, in the dis- 
charge of which he has shown efficieucj* and 
energy. Fraternally he is connected with the 
Select Knights. 

(Tames L. turner, of Ottawa, was born 
I in Marysville, Union Count}-, Ohio, March 
(2/ 14, 1857, a son of James and Elizabeth 
(Gibson) Turner, natives respectively of Penn- 
sylvania and Virginia. His grandparents came 
from their respective localities to Ohio and settled 
upon farms in Union County. For many years 
James Turner held office as probate judge in 
Union County, where he died in 1859; five years 
later his wife died. Of their twelve children all 
but three grew to mature years, and five sons 
and one daughter are now living. One of the 
sons, Taylor, was a soldier in the Civil war and 
died in Pennsylvania. Another son, Emory, 
lives in Kansas City, Mo., while Allen and James 
L. reside in Ottawa, Kans. 

The youngest of the .sons, our subject was de- 
prived by death of his parents while he was still 
too young to realize his lo.ss. He remained with 
an older sister on the home farm and when she 
died, in 1876, he started out forhim.self. After- 
ward he was employed on farms in the same 
neighborhood until December, 1878, when he 
and his brother Allen came to Ottawa. At first 
he rented land in Ottawa and carried on farm 
pursuits, but in 1893 he settled in the city and 
.started a livery business on Second street. Here 
he has since built up a large business. He is the 
owner of two fine draft horses, "Moscow" and 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



527 



"Thumper." "Moscow," No. 14,282, is a black 
Percheron stallion, bred by F. J. Jolidan & Son, 
of Elvaston, 111. Sired by Isidore, 8018, he by 
Bayard II (5612), he by Picadore I (7330), he 
by Bayard (9495), he by Estrabia, 187 (796), he 
by a son of Jean-le-Blanc (739). Dam, Rosette 
7998(12121) by Mignon (11216), by Fa vori, be- 
longing to Madam Marchand; second dam Co- 
cotte (12120) by Bayard, belonging to M. Le- 
feuvre. He is coal-black, with star on forehead, 
sixteen and one-half hands high, and won the first 
prize at the Franklin County fair of 1896, while 
one of his colts won first prize at both the Doug- 
las and Franklin County fairs. 

In politics Mr. Turner is ajRepublican. He is 
past officer in the Ancient Order of United Work- 
men and a member of the Knights and Ladies of 
Security and the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows. He was married in Ohio to Miss Lou 
Coon, who was born in Sidney, Shelby County, 
that state, and is a lady of refinement and pleas- 
ing manners and an active member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. 



EHARLES C. EMERY, who is one of the old- 
est surviving residents of Kanwaka Town- 
ship, Douglas Count}^ now makes his home 
in Lawrence, where, in March, 1895, he pur- 
chased a residence at No. 504 Louisiana street, 
with the intention of spending his remaining 
days here, in the enjoyment of the competency 
acquired by his industrious efibrts in earlier days. 
He was born in Saco, Me., May 31, 1830, a son 
of Moses Emery, who was an attorney and farmer, 
a man of high standing and a prominent factor in 
church and educational matters. The famil)^ is 
descended from John Emer)', who with his broth- 
ers, Anthony and another whose name is un- 
known, crossed the ocean from England in 1635, 
one settling in Pennsylvania, while Anthony and 
John became pioneers of Newburg, Me. In 
1836-37 Mo-ses Emery, then a member of the 
Maine legislature, successfully engineered the 
enactment of the charter of the Portland, Saco 
and Portsmouth Railroad Company in the face of 
a powerful opposition. Of the cause of education 



he was a prominent champion, and for a long 
period was president of the board of trustees of 
Thornton Academy at Saco, named after Mar- 
shall Thornton, one of its founders and a leading 
contributor to its support. Our subject's mother, 
Sarah C Thornton, was a daughter of Rev. 
Thomas Thornton, a minister sent by the English 
government to act as marshal of the province. 

Prior to the age of nineteen our subject started 
for California. Sailing to Boston, he there took 
passage on a boat and journeyed to the isthmus 
of Panama, where he spent three months. From 
there he took a whaling vessel to California, where 
he arrived after a voyage of seventj' -eight days. 
For three weeks he worked in San Francisco, 
living with a Mormon family. He then went to 
the mountains and engaged in mining. For a 
time he worked with a Mr. Bowie, a cousin of 
the inventor of the bowie knife. While there he 
met Nathaniel Gordon, a man from Maine, who 
was hanged in New York in 1862 and was the 
first man to suffer capital punishment in the 
United States on account of bringing negroes 
from the coast of Africa to our country. Finally 
our subject sold out to his brother and returned 
to Maine. Since his first trip a railroad had been 
built across the isthmus, and he crossed on it, the 
fare being $25 for a ticket and fifteen cents for 
every pound of baggage taken across. 

On the twenty-fifth anniversary of his birth 
our subject arrived in Kansas. He bought one 
hundred and sixty acres of unsurveyed land in 
what is now Kanwaka Township. The land 
was raw and no attempt had been made to clear 
it of the timber growth or break the prairie. He 
at once settled upon it and began the work of im- 
provement. Afterward he engaged in raising 
horses and cattle, and also carried on general 
farm pursuits. He continued to live there until 
March, 1892, when he removed to Kansas City. 
From there became to Lawrence in 1895. 

He never sought for office, but, at the solici- 
tation of the members of the Republican party in 
his locality consented to serve as road overseer, 
which office he filled for a number of years. He 
was also one of the board of directors of school 
district No. 20. In religion he is of the Uni- 



52? 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



tarian faith. September 9, 1857, he married 
Anna Caldwell, of Saco, Me., an estimable lady, 
whose death February 27, 1897, was a heavy 
blow to the family. They were the parents of 
three sons, namely: John C, who died at Rico, 
Colo., of pneumonia, at thirty -one years of age; 
Frank W., a physician in Winfield, Kans. ; and 
Eugene T. , who conducts the home farm. Be- 
sides his property possessions in the west our 
subject is interested in a cotton factory at Bidde- 
ford. Me. 

(p\ NDREW SCHWARTZ, who is a prosper- 
LJ ous German- American farmer of Alexandria 
/ I Township, Leavenworth County, was born 
at Schwegenheim by Speyer, Rhine Province, 
Germany, January 9, 1845. He was the second 
child and oldest son among seven children (two 
now deceased) born to the union of Philip and 
Katherine (Reichert) Schwartz, who were far- 
mers. When a boy he attended the schools of his 
native land and afterward learned the wagon- 
maker's trade. When twenty-one years old he 
came to America, with the intention of returning 
to Germany, but, liking this country, he decided 
to remain. From New York, where he landed, 
he went to Columbus, Ohio, and secured work 
at his trade. Two years later he came to Kan- 
sas and for a time stopped in Leavenworth, but 
later settled in the village of Springdale in the 
fall of 1870. After two months as an employe he 
bought out his employer and carried on the shop 
alone. With a short intermission he continued 
the business until 1888, when he turned his at- 
tention to farming. From the proceeds of his 
business he secured the money necessary for the 
purchase of farm land. From time to time he 
made investments in land, and now owns one 
hundred and thirty acres, all lying near Spring- 
dale. Stock-raising has been his specialty. He 
understands stock thoroughly and gives them 
the best of care. On his place may be seen Short- 
horn cattle and Poland-China hogs. The fact 
that he has running water on his place greatlj' 
increases its value. Everj'thing is arranged in 
the best manner possible, and there is plenty of 
shelter for the stock. He has always been a lover 



of a good horse, and those on his place, both 
work and carriage horses, are of the best. The 
larger part of the land is used for pasturage, but 
some is planted to grain, which is used for feed 
for the stock. He has been prospered and has 
secured a competency. 

Politically Mr. Schwartz votes the Republican 
ticket and attends the county conventions of his 
party, as well as some of the congressional and 
state conventions. In 1889 he drove out to Colo- 
rado with a four-mule team and was engaged in 
railroad work there during the summer, but in 
the fall sold his outfit for $700 and returned to 
Kansas, preferring this state to Colorado. As he 
had rented his place for three years he opened 
a hotel at Brighton, Leavenworth County, and 
continued there until the lease on his place had 
expired. He then returned to his farm, where 
he has since devoted himself closely to the stock 
business. He is agenial,companionableman,fond 
of good companj-, but never neglecting his busi- 
ness affairs, which he manages with shrewdness 
and in an economical manner. On his farm 
stands a Quaker Church, and he is a member of 
the congregation, though his wife is a member 
of the Catholic Church. August 9, 1882, he mar- 
ried Annie Mohan, who has resided in Leaven- 
worth County since 1861. They became the par- 
ents of three children, but all are deceased. They 
have reared a nephew of Mr. Schwartz, who is 
now in Denver, Colo. 



EHARLES APITZ, proprietor of the Central 
Hotel of Lawrence, was born in Halle, 
Saxony, Germany, a son of August and 
Maria (Spott) Apitz, also natives of Saxony. 
Both of his grandfathers took part in the wars of 
the early part of the nineteenth century ; his pa- 
ternal grandfather, who was forced to take part 
in the Napoleonic march to Moscow, perished 
during the trip. August Apitz was a harness-' 
maker and upholster and engaged in the leather 
business. He died in 1872, having survived his 
wife twelve years. They were the parents of 
nine children, all but three of whom attained 
mature years. Of those who were spared to 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



529 



manhood and womanhood, Henrietta and Frede- 
ricka died in Germany, and Frederick, who came 
to Kansas in 1865 and was a large and prosper- 
ous harness manufacturer, died in Lawrence, on 
the 4th of July, 1894. The three now living are: 
Charles, of Lawrence; and Albert and Franz, of 
Germany. 

In the village where he was born October 28, 
1837, the subject of this sketch was reared and 
there he learned the trades which his father fol- 
lowed. Afterward he was employed as a jour- 
neyman in the different kingdoms of Germany, 
also in Switzerland, Austria and Hungary. In 
1863 he left Bremen on the sailer "Peter Roland" 
and, after a voyage of forty-six days, landed in 
New York, where he worked at the upholster's 
trade. September 28, 1864, he enlisted in Com- 
pany A, Eleventh New Jersey Infantry, Second 
Army Corps, being mustered in as a private at 
Elizabethtown, and thence sent to the front at 
Petersburg, arriving there three days after his 
muster-in. The company was not provided 
with muskets until after reaching the battle-field. 
On the 28th of October they went into the battle, 
being stationed near the front on the left flank of 
the army. When the day was ended fifteen hun- 
dred were dead, wounded or captured. He was 
one of the prisoners, and was taken to Libby 
prison at Richmond, where he remained for four 
months lacking four days, after which, at the 
time of the grand exchange, February 26, 1865, 
he was returned to the northern ranks. His ex- 
periences in prison were exceedingly trying, for 
he suffered not only from hunger, but also from 
the cold, and at times it seemed as if he would 
die of starvation or freeze to death. 

On being released from prison, Mr. Apitz was 
given a furlough of thirty days, at the expiration 
of which he accompanied his regiment to the 
south, witnessed the final surrender of Lee and 
then took part in the'review at Washington. On 
being discharged he returned to New York City, 
and there found a letter from his brother stating 
that he was in Canton, 111. Desiring to join 
him, our subject came west, but on arriving at 
Canton found his brother had gone to Lawrence, 
Kans. Accordingly he came to this citj', in 



August, 1865. He was the first upholsterer in 
Lawrence, starting a shop on Massachusetts 
street which he conducted for three years suc- 
cessfully. However, the dust injured his health 
and he was obliged to quit. Going to Leaven- 
worth, he bought the City hotel, which he con- 
ducted until 1870, but the venture was not suc- 
cessful. His next undertaking was the building 
of the Tremont house at Humboldt, Kans. , which 
he conducted for six years. In 1876 he traded it 
for one hundred and seventy acres of land in 
Shelby County, Mo. He went to Macon City, 
Mo. , where he carried on the Macon house until 
1880, when the building was burned down. 
Then, going to Moberly, Mo., he ran a hotel and 
was so successful that after a year he bought a 
place, selling this at a great profit a year later. 
In 1882 he returned to Lawrence and bought the 
old Union (now the Central) hotel, corner of 
Vermont and Warren streets, where he has a 
large building covering three lots and equipped 
with all of the modern improvements. Of this 
hotel he is the popular landlord. 

In national politics Mr. Apitz is a Republican, 
but is independent in local politics. He has been 
trustee of the Turn Verein and is a member of 
Washington Post No. 12, G. A. R. In Lawrence 
he married Miss Mary Stadler, who was born in 
Germany, and in childhood accompanied her 
parents to Missouri. They have three children: 
Amelia, William F. and Bertha. The older 
daughter is the wife of Albert Krause, who is 
first lieutenant of Company H, Twentieth Kansas 
Infantry, that won fame in the Philippines; Will- 
iam F., who was a member of the Sixth United 
States Infantry, was shot and seriously wounded 
in the right hand at Santiago, during the Spanish- 
American war. 



(I CASS RATHBONE. The family repre- 
I sented by this gentleman has been identified 
(2/ with American history since the days of the 
" Mayflower" and the settlement of Massachu- 
setts. Subsequent generations removed further 
south. J. Castelli Rathbone, who was born in 
New Jersey and educated in New York City, 
moved to West Virginia in young manhood and 



53° 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



bought property on which afterward oil was first 
discovered in that state. His lauded posses- 
sions aggregated several thousand acres, which 
he superintended, in addition to engaging in mill- 
ing and merchandising. For many years he 
served as county surveyor. He was a man of 
superior abilit}' and intelligence, and wielded a 
large influence in his community. At the open- 
ing of the Civil war the government called upon 
him to raise a company for the Union army, and 
this he did, receiving a colonel's commission in 
recognition of his services. Oil had been discov- 
ered on his land just prior to the war, and after 
its close he returned home and gave his attention 
to the development of that industry. He has 
always been a verj' active man, and now, at 
eighty-one years of age, is still hearty and robust. 
His home is now with his son in Leavenworth 
County, but he retains some interests in the east. 
In earlier life he was active in the Democratic 
party, and took a leading part in local affairs as 
a member of the town council and in other capaci- 
ties. In religion he is of the Catholic faith. By 
his marriage to Eliza Vanderbeek, of New Jersey-, 
he had ten children, only four of whom are now 
living, namely: Abram, of Lawrence, Kans.; 
William, who remains in Parkersburg, W. Va. ; 
F. W., M. D., of Kansas City, Mo.; and J. Cass, 
of this sketch. 

During the residence of the family in Parkers- 
burg, W. Va., our subject was born July 25, 
1858. He was educated in Baltimore and the 
college at Ellicott City. In deference to his 
father's wishes he took up the study of law, 
which he completed in 1879, and afterwards prac- 
ticed at St. Mary's and Parkersburg. However, 
the profession was not congenial, and he sought 
other work more to his taste. In 1880 he bought 
a drug store in Kansas City and with his brother 
continued in that business for five years. He 
then came to Leavenworth County and purchased 
a country place of three hundred and twentj' 
acres in Tonganoxie Township. At that time 
his health was so poor that he was told by the 
physicians that he would probably not live more 
than a month. In the hope that country life 
might assist him to regain his strength he bought 



his property here. The hope was realized and 
he has now regained his strength and is hale and 
strong. At the time of its purchase the farm 
had a small house, but he has since erected a fine 
residence, as well as other farm buildings. In 
1897 he went to Missouri and bought a mill at 
Pleasant Hill, but not finding it profitable he 
sold it a year later. He now gives considerable 
attention to the stock business, making a specialty 
of black Jerseys. He has never been active in 
politics nor has he allied himself with any party, 
but maintains an independence of thought in such 
matters. In religion he is a member of the 
Roman Catholic Church. 

August 18, 1S79, Mr. Rathboue married Miss 
Eugenia Chancellor, daughter of Capt. Edmund 
P. Chancellor, who at one time was a well- 
known river captain on the Ohio between Pitts- 
burgh and Cincinnati. Mr. and Mrs. Rathbone 
have four children, Rhoda, Mary Eugenia, Lu- 
cille and Edmund Castelli. 



I EWIS SEUFERT is engaged in farming and 
I C stock-raising in Leavenworth County and is 
U one of the pioneers of Stranger Township. 
He was born in Baden, German}-, Maj- 30, 1834, 
and was only one j-ear old when brought to 
America by his parents. Reference to his family 
history appears in the sketch of his brother, 
George A. Seufert, who occupies a farm near his 
own. He was educated in the public schools of 
Buffalo, N. Y. When nineteen years of age he 
.settled on a farm with his parents. In 1854 he 
went to California by water and remained for 
four and one-half years, engaged in farming and 
mining. His mining ventures were not very 
successful, but in farming he was more fortunate. 
After his return to the east he resumed work 
on the homestead. 

In 1867 Mr. Seufert left New York and .settled 
in Leavenworth County, Kans., where he has 
since made his home. At first he carried on 
general agricultural pursuits in partnership with 
his brother, George Adam, but in 1S93 the estate 
was divided, he taking the eastern half, and his 
brother the western tract. He has since carried 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



S3t 



on general farming alone. The place consists of 
two hundred and fifty acres of valuable land, 
upon which he has made all the improvements of 
a first-class farm. He is an energetic and indus- 
trious man and deserves the abundant success that 
has rewarded his efibrts. 

For some years Mr. Seufert identified himself 
with the People's party, but when the Democrats 
adopted a free silver plank in their platform he 
transferred his allegiance to this party. While 
he has never accepted office, he has been inter- 
ested in local politics and has taken an active 
part in matters affecting the welfare of the people. 
Fraternally he is connected with Henry lyodge 
No. 90, A. F. & A. M., of Tonganoxie. His 
parents being Lutherans, he was reared in that 
faith and has always adhered to its doctrines. In 
1865 he married Miss Barbara Leininger, who 
was born in Alsace, and came to America in girl- 
hood. They have had seven children, but one 
died in infancy. The others are: Charles L. and 
Henry, who are in the employ of a firm in Kan- 
sas City, Mo.; Louisa, William, Priscilla and 
George E. 

30HN WILLIAM ALDER, chief clerk of the 
Haskell Institute at Lawrence, and a veteran 
of the Civil war, was born in Buffalo, N.Y., 
November 3, 1844, a son of John and Marie 
Antoinette (Rossenbach) Alder, natives repec- 
tively of Burwick on the Tweed, England, and 
Alsace, which at that time was a part of France. 
His father was the only son of William Alder 
(also an only son). In youth he learned the 
carpenter's trade. At the age of seventeen he 
entered the British army and served in the Ber- 
mudas for seven years altogether, after which he 
settled in Buffalo, N. Y., and followed his trade. 
In 1856 he removed west to Wisconsin and set- 
tled in the woods near Prairie du Chien, where 
he cleared and cultivated a farm. At the opening 
of the Civil war he enlisted in the Fifth Wiscon- 
sin Infantry, and served for four and one-half 
years, until the close of the war. At the battle 
of Antietam he was severely wounded in the left 
side, from the effects of which he never recovered. 
He died in 1882, at the age of sixty-six. In poli- 



tics he was a strong Republican and was fre- 
quently elected on that ticket to local offices. 
His wife, who was of German and French ex- 
traction, accompanied her parents to Buffalo, 
N. v., in girlhood, and died in Wisconsin. 
They had seven children, five of whom are liv- 
ing. One of the sons, Alfred A., enlisted at six- 
teen years in an Illinois battery and served during 
the last two years of the Civil war; he is now 
living in South Dakota. 

In August, 1S62, the subject of this sketch 
was enrolled as a member of Company I, Third 
Wisconsin Cavalry, and was mustered into the 
service at Madison, Wis., joining the regiment 
at Fort Scott about thirty days after their arrival. 
Six months later he was made orderly to Major- 
General Blunt, with whom he served at the 
taking of Fort Smith, and the battles of Lexing- 
ton, Little and Big Blue, Westport, Mine Creek 
and Newtonia. At Baxter Springs, October 6, 
1863, eighty soldiers were attacked by six hun- 
dred guerillas and met with severe losses. 
He continued fighting bushwhackers and engaged 
in outpost duty. At the close of the war he was 
honorably discharged at Fort Leavenworth, in 
July, 1865, and at once came to Lawrence, where 
he clerked in a boot and shoe store. After a 
time he became a member of the firm of D. C. 
Haskell & Co., continuing in this connection un- 
til the business was sold in 1877. I" January, 
1879, he entered the Indian service at Pine Ridge 
Agency, S. Dak., where he remained as chief 
clerk until the fall of 1885. He then came back 
to Lawrence, where he has since made his home. 
In May, 1890, he received appointment to his 
present position as chief clerk at the Haskell 
Institute. 

In politics Mr. Alder is a Republican, stanch 
in his allegiance to his party. He is a member 
of the Congregational Church and a contributor 
to its benevolences. He was made a Mason in 
Lawrence Lodge No. 6, A. F. & A. M., to which 
he still belongs, and he is also connected with 
Lawrence Chapter No. 4, R. A. M., and DeMo- 
lay Commandery No. 4, K. T. Washington 
Post No. 12, G. A. R., numbers him among its 
members. Since coming to Lawrence he married 



532 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Miss Eunice M. Pease, who was born in New 
Hampshire, a daughter of C. A. Pease, a pioneer 
of 1855 in Lawrence, and now a retired business 
man of this city. The only son of Mr. and Mrs. 
Alder is Charles Eugene, a graduate of the high 
school and the Univ^ersitj' of Kansas, from which 
he received the degrees of A. B. and A. M., also 
a graduate of Harvard College in 1898. The 
daughters are Louise, a graduate of the high 
school in 1898, and Helen, a member of the high 
school class of 1902. 



(lEREMIAH H. GLATHART, who was one 
I of the very first men to engage in business 
Q) in Lawrence, was born near Pekin, Carroll 
County, Ohio, in May, 1836, and when eighteen 
months old was taken to Hancock County, the 
same state, by his parents, Peter and Susanna 
(Kennel) Glathart, natives of Switzerland. The 
former, who accompanied his father to America, 
settled in Carroll County in 1825 and followed the 
mason's trade and general farming. Early in 
1838 he settled nine miles east of Findlay, Ohio, 
where he followed his two occupations of mason 
and farmer, and where he died at fifty-six years. 
His wife also died in Ohio, and of their ten chil- 
dren only three are living. There were six sons, 
one of whom died in boyhood. Manassah, who 
was a member of the Second Kansas Regiment, 
was killed in the battle of Springfield, Mo., early 
in the war; Leon, who enlisted in Ohio, died at 
Chattanooga, Tenn.; Aaron, also a member of an 
Ohio infantry regiment, was wounded in service, 
but recovered and now lives in Findlay, Ohio; 
Rudolph went to San Antonio, Tex., before the 
war and never returned. 

Among his brothers and sisters, of whom he 
was third from the youngest, the subject of this 
sketch passed his boyhood days on a farm. He 
assisted in clearing the land and placing it under 
cultivation. His advantages were meagre. For 
a short time he was a pupil in a log building, 
furnished after the manner of primitive schools, 
with a writing desk running along the wall and 
with puncheon floor and rough pine benches for 
seats. He taught school one winter and then 



clerked in Findlay. He was the first of the 
family to migrate west. Having read much con- 
cerning the history of Kansas, its struggles for 
the abolition of slavery and its border troubles, 
he became so interested that he established his 
home here and in 1S58 assisted in voting it in as 
a free state. He came from Cincinnati by boat 
to St. Louis, thence by boat to Kansas City, from 
there walked to Paola and Osawatomie.from there 
to Lawrence. At Osawatomie he had staked a 
claim, then another in Franklin County, and, 
finally, on reaching Lawrence, was so pleased 
with this neighborhood that he gave up the first 
two claims and took one ten miles south of Law- 
rence. After six months he traded it for a stock 
of grocerj- and bakery goods and embarked in 
business in this city. 

In the spring of i860 Mr. Glathart started 
with a company of twelve and three wagons 
drawn by mules and horses, and following the 
Platte route, reached Denver after five weeks. 
He spent a short time on a ranch and then re- 
turned to Lawrence. In the summer of the same 
year he drove cattle and hauled freight to Den- 
ver, and afterward freighted in the mountains as 
far as Idaho Springs, returning in i85i, when he 
took another load of freight to Denver. In the 
summer of 1861 he sold goods at Empire City, 
returning by stage in the fall. While he went to 
Ohio on a visit he sent some freight to Colorado 
in charge of others, but they did not follow out 
his instructions and he lost heavily thereby. He 
then quit freighting and began auctioneering in 
Lawrence, in which line he has had a large busi- 
ness. For some years he carried on the Old 
Curiosity Shop, selling out in 1878. About 1869 
he started in the wagon and carriage business. 
For some years he also had a livery business on 
North Hampshire street, and now has a stock of 
agricultural implements, his location being No. 
640 Massachusetts street. At different times he 
has been extensively interested in the stock busi- 
ness and has bought and sold horses and mules. 
He owns a farm of one hundred and sixty acres 
in Wakarusa Township, this county, and two 
farms of five hundred acres in Sarcoxie Town- 
ship, Jefferson County. He was a director in the 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



533 



old Douglas County Bank and had continued 
as such with its successor, the Lawrence Na- 
tional Bank. He is also a director in the Ameri- 
can Plaster Cement Company and a director in 
the Sparr-Stubbs Contracting Company, which 
has had railroad contracts, and built the Physics 
building. University of Kansas. He is also a 
member of a company that bought Bismarck 
Grove for a public park. 

In Lawrence Mr. Glathart married Miss Emily 
Thompson, who was born in Massachusetts, but 
has spent her life principally in this city. They 
have two children living. Albert, who graduated 
from the University of Kansas in 1896 with the 
degree of A.B., has since been connected with 
his father in business; Emily, who is a graduate 
of the high school and the conservatory of music 
at Lawrence, is the wife of Dr. Charles Simmons, 
of this city. Mr. Glathart is a member of the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen. Politically 
he was a Republican from i860 to 1870, when he 
espoused the cause of Democracy and has since 
been a firm adherent of its principles. 



["ELIX C. BROWN, proprietor of Brooklawn 
r3 Sanitarium in Kickapoo Township, Leaven- 
I worth County, was born in Buchanan Coun- 
ty, Mo., August 13, 1843. He is a son of Gideon 
L. Brown, who removed from Tennessee to Mis- 
souri in 1830 and became a pioneer farmer of 
Jackson County, and later of Platte, settling in 
the latter county in 1837. A man of enterprise 
and shrewd business judgment, he was considered 
one of the best and most successful farmers in his 
section of the country. The most of his active 
life was spent in Buchanan County, where he had 
a host of warm friends. In 1854 he visited Kan- 
sas and entered a tract of land in High Prairie 
Township, Leavenworth County, but never re- 
moved to this state. Having come from the 
south, and being familiar with southern institu- 
tions, he sympathized with the Confederacy at 
the time of the Civil war. He was himself a 
large slave holder and lost heavily by the war. 
Politically he was active in the Democratic party 
and took a warm interest in public affairs. His 



intelligence and high character fitted him for po- 
sitions of honor and trust, but his preference was 
for private life, and he devoted himself assiduous- 
ly to his agricultural interests. At the time of 
his death, in 1859, he was fifty-nine years of age. 
He was a son of Felix Brown, of North Carolina, 
who descended from Scotch ancestors identified 
with colonial history and active in the Revolu- 
tionary conflict. By the marriage of Gideon L. 
Brown to Matilda Patton, of South Carolina, 
seven children were born, four of whom are now 
living, namely: Martha, wife of A. H. Squires, 
of Platte County, Mo. ; Amanda, widow of Sam- 
uel Fulton; Felix C; and Missouri T., wife of 
Henry Turner. The mother, who is now eighty- 
four years of age, resides in Wallace, about two 
miles from the old homestead in Buchanan Coun- 
ty, Mo. 

When eighteen years of age the subject of this 
sketch enlisted in the Confederate army, joining 
a company of dragoons under Governor Jackson. 
After a short time he became a member of the 
First Missouri Light Artillery, in which he con- 
tinued until the close of the war. In a skirmish 
near Newtonia, Mo., and a battle at Jenkins 
Ferry, he was wounded, but neither time serious- 
ly. He took part in all the battles west of the 
Mississippi River in which the department of the 
Mississippi participated, with the single excep- 
tion of the battle of Elk Horn. After the sur- 
render of General Lee and the downfall of the 
Confederacy, in April, 1865, he returned to his 
native county. He began farming on the old 
homestead and there remained for seven years. 
In 1872 he settled in Atchison County, Kans. 
His first visit to this state had been made in 
company with his father, when he was a boy of 
nine years, and he well remembers the excite- 
ment caused by the border warfare of those days. 

After farming in Atchison County for eight 
years Mr. Brown returned to Missouri, and from 
there, in 1883, he came to Leavenworth County 
to take charge of an asylum known as the Maple- 
wood Asylum. He remained at the head of the 
institution for a year, after which he engaged in 
the mercantile business in Leavenworth for four 
years. In 1889 he erected a substantial building 



534 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



south of the city and there he opened a private 
sanitarium, of which he has since been the head, 
although, in the spring of 1898, he moved his 
institution from its former location to the old 
military road, where he now carries on a private 
asylum and sanitarium. Since 1883 he has made 
a study of this line of work and is admirably 
([ualified for all of its responsibilities, hence he 
meets with success. In politics he is a Democrat 
and takes a part in public affairs. While in 
Atchison County he served as trustee of Walnut 
Township for two terms. Twice he was a can- 
didate for alderman from the sixth ward of Leav- 
enworth, but each time was defeated by a small 
majority. Fraternally he is past grand of Odd 
Fellows' Lodge No. 103. February 15, 1866, he 
was united in marriage with Jincy A. Blakeley, 
of Platte County, Mo. They are the parents of 
eight children, namelj': Thomas J. , who is under- 
sheriff of Leavenworth County; Cora M., wife 
of Arthur Land; Maude, who married C. H. 
Masterson; Felix L., a farmer; Gideon A., Jes.se, 
Ernest and Kirby, at home. 



GlLEXANDER G. GLENN. Noticeable 
Ll among the fine farms of Douglas County is 
/ I the property of Mr. Glenn, which is situa- 
ted on the uplands of Lecompton Township, 
three miles west and one mile south of Lecomp- 
ton. Here he has made his home since 1861, 
meantime making valuable improvements on the 
place and bringing it under a high state of culti- 
vation. Through able management of his farm- 
ing and stock interests he has become one of the 
substantial men of his locality, and is now the 
owner of four hundred and twenty-three acres of 
valuable land. 

In Boone County, Mo., our subject was born 
April 27, 1833, being a .son of A. W. and Nancy 
(Austin) Glenn, of who.se eleven children eight 
are living. His father, a native of Kentucky, 
born about 1800, was eight years of age when his 
parents moved to Missouri, settling at a point 
that is now the heart of St. Louis. Daniel Boone 
was a ju.stice of the peace at the time and made 
out the deed for the land. Indians still roamed 



over the prairies, and the Spaniards, too, caused 
constant trouble. After two years the family re- 
moved to St. Charles, Mo., but in a short time 
settled in Howard County, where the men erected 
forts, manufactured their own powder, and 
guarded their homes while the women largely at- 
tended to the crops. 

After his marriage A. W. Glenn engaged in 
farming in Boone County for some years. Later, 
however, he went to Linn County, Mo., where 
he had many exciting experiences with and es- 
capes from the Indians. In the .spring of 1856 he 
came to Kansas, settling in Lecompton Town- 
ship, Douglas County,, where his son, our sub- 
ject, now resides, the latter having the previous 
year purchased a settler's right to a quarter-sec- 
tion for $500 in gold. During the fall after the 
father's arrival, his farm was the camping place 
for a thousand soldiers who were sent to protect 
the citizens of this part of Kansas. He lived on 
the old homestead until within a few days of his 
death. While visiting his son on this farm he 
was stricken with congestion of the brain and 
died in January, 1898. 

His youthful years spent upon the frontier, 
amid pioneer scenes, had given our subject a taste 
for this kind of life, and in 1854 he started for 
Kansas, then a sparsely settled territory. Arriv- 
ing in Douglas County in August of the same 
year, he looked over the country and was favora- 
bly impressed by the prospects offered. Return- 
ing to Missouri, he spent the winter there, and 
in the spring of 1855 he again came to Kansas, 
where he pre-empted one hundred and sixt)' acres 
of land three miles from Lecompton, upon which 
tract he began farming. In 1861 he exchanged 
his farm on the river bottoms for his father's 
place, and removed to the latter property, where 
he has since resided. In politics he has alwa3'S 
been a Republican, but has not cared for public 
offices, nor had a desire to identify himself with 
partisan affairs. His religious faith is that of the 
Methodist denomination. He is a man of up- 
right life, kind heart and great generosity, and 
willingly gives to objects of an educational, reli- 
gious or charital)le nature. 

The marriage of Mr. Glenn, in 1856, united 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



535 



him with Miss Elizabeth Zinn .daughter of George 
W. Zinn, who came to Kansas at an early day, 
settled in Douglas County, and was a member of 
the first territorial legislature as well as several 
succeeding sessions of that body. Eleven chil- 
dren were born to the union of Mr. and Mrs. 
Glenn. Of these ten are living, namely: George 
A., William B., John T., Cyrus and Grant, who 
are farmers of Lecompton Township; Jacob, who 
is at home with his parents; Eliza A., who is the 
widow of Joseph Vaughn and makes her home 
with her parents; Nancy J., at home; Mary E., 
wife of Cyrus McQuisten, of Big Springs; and 
Alphareta, at home. 



r~REDERICK WEELBORG was a resident 
r^ of Leavenworth County from the pioneer 
I days of 1S57 until his death. Born in 
Germany in 1832, he was reared in that country 
and received the advantages of its schools. In 
order to escape obligatory service in the Ger- 
man army he came to America at the age of 
twenty-one years. Securing employment at the 
shoemaker's trade in Indianapolis, Ind., he 
remained in that city for a few years. In 1857 
the attention of the people in the United States 
was drawn toward Kansas and strong efforts were 
made to attract settlers there. Among the many 
who decided to cast in their lot with the new 
country was Mr. Weelborg. He came to Leaven- 
worth when the town was very small, giving 
little evidence of future prominence and pros- 
perity. Opening a small shop he devoted himself 
to the shoemaker's trade. After some time he 
removed to the country near Leavenworth and 
for thirteen years made his home upon a farm, 
the management of which he superintended. The 
latter part of his life was spent in retirement from 
business cares and in the enjoyment of comforts 
his early labors had rendered possible. 

April 23, 1862, Mr. Weelborg married Sophia 
Schreck, who was born in Union County, Ind. 
Her father, Henry Schreck, a native of Prussia, 
was reared on a farm in that country and there 
married Mary Baymer, a native of the same place 
as himself. About 1848 he brought his family 



to America, settling first in Pittsburgh, Pa., and 
working in mines in western Penn.sylvania. 
From there he moved to Union County, Ind., 
and rented a farm. Later he bought farm land 
in Ripley County, Ind., where he engaged in 
general agricultural pursuits. As the country 
settled up he removed further west. For a time 
he lived in Missouri. In 1862 he came to Kansas 
and purchased a farm of forty acres five miles 
south of Leavenworth, where he resided until his 
death at seventy-three years of age. Politically 
he was a Republican and in religion a member 
of the Methodist Church. His wife, who, like 
himself, was an earnest Methodist, died when 
eighty-two years of age. 

Active in local politics, Mr. Weelborg voted 
the Republican ticket and identified himself with 
enterprises for the benefit of his town and county. 
His life was that of a conscientious Christian, 
and he and his wife were active workers in the 
Methodist Church. They had no children of 
their own, but took three into their home and 
cared for them as their own. When Mr. Weel- 
borg died, January 2, 1890, he was in comfort- 
able circumstances. In his estate was included 
a two-story brick building on Delaware street, 
with a store room on the first floor and residence 
apartments, occupied by his widow, on the second 
floor. He had many friends among the people 
of this county where for so long he had made his 
home. 



HON. WALTER B. BASS, deceased, former- 
ly a successful grain and stock farmer of 
Ottawa Township, Franklin County, was 
born in Williamstown, Orange County, Vt., De- 
cember 4, 1828. His father, Joel, was a son of Joel 
Bass, Sr. , who was a son of one of three brothers 
that came to this country from England and settled 
in the New England states. The education of our 
subject was obtained in the common schools and 
Kimball Union academy. In 1850 he went to Ken- 
tucky and there he taught school for two years, 
after which he engaged in farmingin Will County, 
111. , for about fifteen years, buying and improving 
one hundred and sixty acres of land that was 
raw prairie and engaging largely in the stock 



536 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



business. In December, 1868, became to Kansas 
and settled in Ottawa Township, Franklin Coun- 
ty, where his family still resides. All around 
this locality he found the land raw and destitute 
of improvements, not even having fences. Be- 
ginning with a half section, he broke the land, 
put the best of it under the plow, so that one 
hundred acres were in cultivation. Most of the 
property was used for hay and grazing purposes. 
He gave considerable attention to the stock busi- 
ness, raising cattle and handling other stock. 

In public affairs Mr. Bass was active, affiliating 
in his earlier days with the Republican party, but 
becoming somewhat independent in later life. He 
was a champion of the free silver cause. While 
in Illinois he served for some time as township 
supervisor, a position similar to that of county 
commissioner. After coming to Kansas he was 
township trustee for many years. In the fall of 
1880 he was elected to the state legislature on the 
Republican ticket. During his term of service he 
was a member of the committee that drafted the 
Murray act and gave considerable time to the suc- 
cessful carrying through of the bill. From the 
time of his .settlement in the west he was identified 
with the Presbyterian Church, in which he served 
for several years as an elder. 

February 26, 1856, in Orange County, Vt., 
Mr. Bass married Ellen, daughter of John and 
Dolly (Smith) Lynde. Her grandfather. Judge 
Cornelius Lynde, who was for many years a judge, 
descended from an English family that settled in 
the neighborhood of Maiden, Mass. John Lynde, 
a native of Vermont, was a farmer and a man of 
influence and strong character. For years he 
was a director in a bank at Northfield and another 
in Barre. In politics he was a Whig and later a 
Republican, and he served ably in the state legis- 
lature , both as representative and as senator. He 
was a strong supporter of the temperance cause. 
By his marriage to Miss Smith he had twelve 
children, all but one of whom attained mature 
years, Mrs. Bass being the eldest. She received 
good advantages in girlhood and was fitted, both 
by natural gifts and by training, for the responsi- 
bilities of life. By her marriage nine children 
were born, but only three attained maturity. Of 



these William assists in the management of the 
home farm; John, who married Sarah Ruth Tracy, 
also resides on the old homestead; and Ella, de- 
ceased, w^as the wife of George Marsh. 

The latter part of the life of Mr. Bass was 
spent somewhat in retirement, although he con- 
tinued to maintain an oversight of his property 
interests long after advancing years rendered 
manual labor unadvisable. During the existence 
of the Grange he was one of its best known mem- 
bers. Both by principle and by practice he ad- 
vocated the temperance cause, regarding the 
licensing of liquor as an evil to be condemned. 
When in his seventieth year he passed from 
earth, March 14, 189S. 



GIlFRED B. POWELL, deceased. This pio- 
Ll iieer .settler of Levenworth County was long 
/ I numbered among the leading agriculturi.sts 
of Alexandria Township, with whose vital in- 
terests he was intimately identified. When he 
came to the vve.st the farming lands had not been 
brought under culivationto any great degree; the 
.soil was waiting for the hand of the husbandman. 
He purchased raw land, which under his skillful 
guidance rapidly developed into a cultivated 
farm, yielding abundant harvests. All of the 
surroundings underwent a transformation, the 
result of labor and energy. He was interested in 
the development of his township and did his full 
share in making it a profitable farming region. 

In Madison County, Ind., where he was born 
May 17, 1820, the subject of this memoir was 
reared until fourteen years of age. His mother 
dying at that time, he went to Virginia to make 
his home with an aunt in Loudoun County, forty 
miles from Washington, D. C. For several years 
he remained on a farm. April 2, 1842, he mar- 
ried Miss Haimah Smith, who was born in Lou- 
doun County August 15, 1820, and was reared on 
a farm there. After his marriage Mr. Powell fol- 
lowed farming and the shoemaker's trade. In 
1848 he went to Warren County, Ohio, and one 
year later settled in northern Indiana, where he 
worked as a shoemaker. In April, i860, he 
came to Leavenworth County and rented farm 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



537 



land. In 1863 he bought the farm of raw prairie 
land which, under his management, was trans- 
formed into a highly cultivated place. It in- 
cludes three hundred and twenty acres of land 
and is now the home of his widow. Here his 
life was brought to a close, January 2, 1899, after 
a busy and useful existence. Republican in poli- 
tics, he was active in local affairs and held several 
offices. He was a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, while his wife was a Quaker 
by birthright. Of his children we note the fol- 
lowing: William is postmaster of the Soldiers' 
home at Leavenworth; Mary G. resides with 
hermother; Virginia is the wife of M. S. Grant, 
of Leavenworth; Frank is in Alaska; Charles L. 
in Leavenworth; Robert F. on the home farm; 
and Mahlon T. in Leavenworth; Howard, the 
youngest, is a farmer in High Prairie Township. 



r"REDERICK W. WULFEKUHLER, propri- 
JM etor of the wholesale grocery house of 
I Rohlfing & Co., has been identiSed with 
the business interests of Leavenworth since the 
fall of 1 86 1, and is not only one of the most 
experienced, but also one of the most successful 
grocers in the state. His establishment is situ- 
ated on the corner of Cherokee and Third 
streets. The main building is four stories in 
height, 50 X 125, besides which there is a three- 
story building, 25 X 125, and also a warehouse. 
The company is one of the oldest in the state 
and its trade extends throughout this entire 
section of the country, the business having 
proved a most successful investment for its 
promoters. 

Mr. Wulfekuhler was born at the family home- 
stead near Osnabriick, Hanover, Germany, in 
September, 1841 . Reference to the history of his 
father, Christopher, may be found in the sketch 
of his brother, H. William. When he was four- 
teen years of age he came to America, proceeding 
from New York City to St. Louis, where he was 
apprenticed to the jeweler's trade. His trade 
occupied his days and in the evenings he attended 
school. In St. Louis, in May, 1861, he enlisted 
in Company A, Third Missouri Reserves, and 



served in southwestern Missouri for three months. 
After his muster-out he came to Leavenworth 
and entered the employ of his brother, who 
had established the business of Rohlfing & Co. 
in 1858. In 1864 he became a partner in the 
company. 

During the early days Rohlfing & Co. were 
engaged in freighting to Denver and established 
a branch house on Fifteenth street, that city. 
In 1866 the two brothers bought the old-estab- 
lished house of Henry & Garrett and continued 
that business, which he still owns. In 1887 he 
bought the block which he now occupies. He 
was instrumental in the re-organization of the 
Globe Canning Company, of which he has since 
been treasurer. In the re- organization of the 
Leavenworth National Bank he took an active 
part and has since been a director; he is also a 
director in the Union Savings Bank. 

Politically Mr. Wulfekuhler is a Republican. 
He and his family are members of the Lutheran 
Church. He is a member of Custer Post No. 6, 
G. A. R. His marriage took place in Denver and 
united him with Miss Sophia Rohlfing, who was 
born in Hanover. Four children were born of 
their union, viz.: Alma; Hattie, who was educated . 
at Bethany, Kans. ; Adolph, who is bookkeeper 
for his father; and Frederick, Jr. 



HENRY BIEBUSCH, a pioneer of Lawrence, 
now deceased, was born in Prussia, in April, 
182 1, and in youth learned the builder's 
trade. At eighteen years of age he came to 
America and followed his trade in the eastern 
states. In March, 1857, he arrived in Lawrence, 
Kans. , where he took contracts for the building 
of houses. At the time of the Quantrell raid, in 
August, 1863, he had just completed a building 
on the corner of Warren and New Hampshire 
streets. This the raiders burned to the ground. 
They also visited the family residence, but Mrs. 
Biebusch, instructing her hu.sband to hide, met 
them at the door and they left the place without 
doing any harm. As a contractor he was very 
successful, but in 1873 he lost all he had by the 
failure of the Home Insurance Company of 



538 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Topeka, in which he held stock and mortgages. 
About the .same time he ceased to take contracts 
and engaged in the hotel business. During his 
residence in the east he was a prominent member 
of the Turn Verein. Fond of music he was 
himself a fine singer and a good musician. He 
organized the Turners' Society in Lawrence, 
which held its first meetings in his yard, but 
afterward built a hall of its own. In the first 
band organized here he played the trombone. 
During the war he was a member of the Kansas 
militia. For many years he was connected with 
the Masonic fraternity and in religion he was an 
active member of the Lutheran Church. After 
having been for years successfully engaged in 
the hotel business he died February 24, 1891. 

The widow of Mr. Biebusch, who has had 
charge of his property interests since his death, 
was Annie Kaittenberg, born in Bakken, Schles- 
wig-Holstein. Her parents, Kassen and Cecelia 
(Peterson) Kaittenberg, were also born there, 
the former being a brick manufacturer and con- 
tractor. He joined his children in America when 
past middle life, but died a month after he 
reached Davenport, Iowa. After his death his 
.widow went to California with her .sons and died 
at Willow, that state, in 1891, aged eighty-one 
years. She was the mother of seven children, 
named as follows: James, of Lawrence, who was 
a member of an Illinois regiment during the Civil 
war and died at the home of his sister, Mrs. 
Biebusch, May 18, 1899; Jasper, who is living 
retired from busine.ss in Dixon, Cal.; Anna 
Dorothea, Mrs. Biebusch; Hans C, a ranchman 
at Willow, Cal.; Mrs. Maria Brinkman, of Inde- 
pendence, Kaus. ; Henry and Andrew, who are 
engaged in ranching at Willow, Cal. 

When Mrs. Biebu.sch was a girl of eighteen 
she came to America, in the .sailer "Johanna 
Eliza," which after a voyage of six weeks from 
Hamburg landed in New York. The voyage 
proved an almost fatal one, for the vessel had a 
collision and was injured to such an extent that 
it began to fill with water, but by a constant use 
of the pumps the danger was averted. After 
landing .she went to Rock I.sland, 111., and there, 
March i, 1857, she became the wife of Mr. 



Biebusch. With him .she proceeded at once to 
Kansas. She experienced all the hard.ships of 
the days of border warfare and the subsequent 
perils of the Civil war. In 1873 .she started the 
Biebusch hotel, which she continued until 1888, 
and afterward built a house, 100 x loa, on New 
Hampshire street. Besides this property she 
owns the building occupied by the University 
book store. In religion she is connected with the 
Evangelical Lutheran Church. She is identified 
with the Woman's Relief Corps and has taken an 
interest in its work. To her marriage three 
children were born, Clara, Cecelia and Otto. 
The two younge.st died in childhood. Clara 
married Philip Weitzenkorn, of Lawrence, and 
died May 18, 1896, leaving two children, Leo 
and Dorothea. Notwithstanding all the sorrow 
that has came into the life of Mrs. Biebusch in 
the loss of her husband and all her children she 
is not sad or gloomy, but has a cheerful, pleasant 
disposition that wins the friendship of her associ- 
ates and acquaintances. 



r"REDERICK DEICHMANN, who is living 
1^ retired at No. 812 Rhode Island street, Law- 
I ^ rence, was born in Hesse-Cassel, Germany, 
in 1 83 1, and received his education in the schools 
of his native land. When a young man he came 
to America, landing in New York and going 
from there to Chicago, where he was employed 
for some years. In i860 he settled in Douglas 
County, Kans., opening a butcher shop at Eu- 
dora, and at the same time engaging in farming 
and stock-raising. He was successful and ac- 
quired considerable property. After Quantrell's 
raid he moved to Lawrence and bought the lots 
on which the Hub store now stands. Here he 
erected a building, which he rented for two years. 
The construction of this building was superin- 
tended by his wife, he meantime continuing his 
shop in Eudora, but on closing up that business 
he opened a shop in Lawrence. For many years 
he carried on business, building up a large trade. 
At Eudora, in 1861, Mr. Deichmann married 
Mrs. Henrietta (Kuffman) Harbold, who was 
born in Germany and immigrated to the United 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



539 



States during the same year that Mr. Deichmann 
crossed the ocean. She was first married to Carl 
Harbold, who died soon afterward. After her 
marriage to our subject she at once began to as- 
sist him in all of his enterprises. When she set- 
tled in Eudora she was obliged to cut the bushes 
down in order to make the land open to travel. 
For years she lived in a small log hut, meantime 
working outdoors in the cultivation and clearing 
of the land. Early and late she toiled in the 
fields, shirking no work that would aid in the de- 
velopment of the place. Indians were numerous 
in early days, and she became familiar with their 
language so she could converse with them, after 
which she had no trouble with them. To her 
marriage with Mr. Deichmann three children 
were born: Mary, wife of A. M. Goldstandt, of 
Wichita, Kans. ; Frances, who married H. L. 
Gerson, of Oklahoma; and Alfred, who is en- 
gaged in the cattle business in Kansas City, Mo. 
At various times Mr. Deichmann invested in 
city and farm property, much of which he still 
owns. For eight years he was a director in the 
L,awrence National Bank and the Lawrence Gas 
Company. An honest, upright man, his business 
transactions were conducted in such a manner as 
to win the confidence of those who had dealings 
with him. In 1890 he retired from business. In 
politics he early identified himself with the Dem- 
ocratic party, and on that ticket he was twice 
elected to the city council. Of recent years he 
has been afflicted with softening of the brain, and 
since this affliction has come upon him his wife 
has taken charge of his business interests and 
managed his affairs successfully. 



30HN Q. ADAMS, who owns and operates a 
farm in Grant Town.ship, Douglas County, 
was born in Brooke County, W. Va., July 
27, 1841, and is a descendant, in the fourth gen- 
eration, from one of that name who came to 
America and settled in Pennsylvania, later going 
to Ohio. His father, James Adams, was a cabi- 
net-maker by trade, which he followed in West 
Virginia, but in 1857 came to Kansas in order to 
identify himself with the free-state cause. Set- 



tling in Franklin County, he took up one hun- 
dred and sixty acres of land, broke the ground 
and made the necessary improvements. There 
he engaged in farming and stock-raising until 
1862, when he gave the place to our subject in 
order to keep him out of the war, a plan, how- 
ever, which did not prove successful, as the latter 
had been in the army before and afterward en- 
listed a second time. Going to Lawrence, James 
Adams followed his trade there. Upon the death 
of his wife, whom he had married in Virginia and 
who bore the maiden name of Jane Orr, he re- 
moved to Anderson County, Kans., and lived at 
the home of his son, O. B. Adams, and there his 
death occurred in 1891. He was an earnest 
Christian and a faithful member of the Presby- 
terian Church. In politics he was a stanch Re- 
publican. In his family were seven children, six 
of whom are now living. 

Educated in subscription schools, our subject 
was reared to farm life and early selected agri- 
culture for his occupation. He was sixteen years 
of age when the family settled in Kansas. At 
the opening of the Civil war he enlisted in Com- 
pany F, Second Missouri Battalion, under Col- 
onel Nugent, and served until he was honorably 
discharged in January, 1862. On his return 
home his father persuaded him to turn his at- 
tention from military affairs to the cultivation of 
the farm, and for a time he engaged in the plant- 
ing of a crop, but in July he again enlisted, this 
time becoming a member of the Twelfth Kansas 
Infantry, in which he remained until January, 
1865. During most of the time he was engaged 
in scout duty, principally in Arkansas, but he 
also took part in a number of engagements, 
among them that of Jenkins Ferry on the Saline 
River. 

Returning to Lawrence at the close of the war 
Mr. Adams secured employment at carpentering. 
After a year he bought a farm in Tonganoxie 
Township, Leavenworth County, where he en- 
gaged in the cultivation of grapes, continuing 
there until 1873. He then sold the place and 
bought his present farm in Grant Township, 
Douglas County, where he has eighty-six acres 
devoted to general farm pursuits, making a 



540 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



specialty of wheat, corn and potatoes. In all 
movements for the good of the communitj' he 
maintains an interest. His first presidential vote 
was cast for Abraham Lincoln and he has ever 
since adhered to Republican principles. In re- 
ligion he is a Congregationalist. He is a mem- 
ber of Washington Post No. 12, G. A. R. In 
1867 he married Mi.ss Annie M. Miller, daughter 
of Robert Miller, of Lawrence. They have five 
children, namely: Robert J., who is engaged in 
the mercantile business at Big Springs; MarkO., 
who conducts the home farm for his father; Susie 
M., wife of George Ford, a farmer in Grant 
Township; Frank, who is engaged in business as 
a photographer; and Eva V., at home. 



(lAMES DONNELLY, whocameto Lawrence 
I in June, 1857, is proprietor of one of the 
O finest livery establishments in the entire 
west. In 1869 he started in the hack business 
with one hack, and from that small business has 
built up his present large and important business. 
With his brother, in 1873, he bought a suitable 
location for a livery, and carried on a growing 
business in an old building that stood there. 
When that barn was burned down, in 1897, he 
erected a two- story brick structure, 50x117 feet, 
with an adjoining stable, 75x50, the new part 
containing an elevator. Here he has ample 
accommodations for hacks, carriages, coupes and 
surreys, as well as for his roadsters and driving 
horses. Every modern improvement is to be 
found in the stables, including water and sewer 
connections, electric bells and lights, etc. 

The Donnelly family is one of the oldest in 
Derry. Our subject's father, Bernard, who was 
born in that county, grew to manhood upon a 
farm there and was educated in the national 
schools of Ireland. In 1847, accompanied by his 
wife, Mary (Mclver) Donnelly, a native of Coun- 
ty Tyrone, and with their seven children, he 
took passage on the sailer "Sir Colin Campbell," 
which after a voyage of six weeks and three days 
from Belfast arrived in Quebec. From there he 



proceeded via the lakes to Chicago and thence to 
a farm near Woodstock, 111. Two of his broth- 
ers, Neill and Andrew, had preceded him, and 
the settlement in that vicinity is still known as 
the Donnelly settlement. In 1S57, with all of 
his family except his son Andrew (who in 1849 
had crossed the plains to California, and re- 
mained there until 1873, finally coming to Law- 
rence, where he died) and his daughter Cather- 
ine (who had died in Illinois in 1849) he started 
for Kansas, making the trip via Jefferson City and 
steamer, while his son, our subject, drove over- 
land, crossing the Mississippi at Burlington and 
the Mis.souri at Weston. After settling in Law- 
rence he built the Donnelly house and engaged 
in keeping boarders until he died in 1863. His 
wife, who was a daughter of Dennis Mclver, died 
in Lawrence in 1884, aged about eighty years. 
Of their children who accompanied them to Kan- 
sas, Mrs. T. J. Collins and Mary reside in Law- 
rence; James was fifth in order of birth; John, 
who was our subject's partner, diedin 1892; and 
Neill is in charge of the Kansas City business 
owned by himself and brother. 

In County Derry, Ireland, the subject of this 
sketch was born in December, 1840. He was 
se%'en j'ears of age when he accompanied his par- 
ents to America. From an early age he hired 
out to farmers in Illinois. In 1857 ^^ drove over- 
land to Kansas, and after his arrival in Lawrence 
began working for other parties. During the 
war he and his brother John served in the mili- 
tia. In 1864 he went to Leavenworth, but re- 
turned to Lawrence the following year. Here 
he married, in 1S72, Miss Maggie McConnell.vvho 
was born in St. Catharine's, Canada, and died iu 
1879. She was a daughter of John McConnell, 
who was a merchant tailor by trade and settled in 
Lawrence about 1868. 

Politically Mr. Donnelly is a Democrat and 
has been on the county committee various times. 
In 1858 he voted for the admission of Kansas as 
a free state. In the organization of the Commer- 
cial Club he took an active part, and is now one 
of its leading members. He is also a member of, 
and stockholder in, the Merchants' Athletic As- 
sociation. 




CLARK TEFI'T. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



543 



ELARK TEFFT, one of the pioneers of the 
western country, now living in Appanoose 
Township, Franklin County, was born in 
Exeter, Washington County, R. I., in 1827, a 
son of Jonathan and Mary (Gates) Tefft, both of 
Puritan descent. His grandfather, Sprague 
Tefft, spent his entire life in Washington County, 
of which he was a native, and he was a member 
of a family connected with the early history of 
Rhode Island. Jonathan Tefft was also a life- 
long resident of Washington County, and died on 
a farm there at forty-nine years of age. A man 
of pronounced views, he was stanch in his anti- 
slavery beliefs and was also a leading spirit in 
agitating reforms in the sale of intoxicating liq- 
uors. He was long survived by his wife, who 
died in Connecticut at eighty years of age. They 
were the parents of eight children, five of whom 
are living, namely: Israel G., of Connecticut; 
Clark; Lyman B.; Lucy A., widow of Euos 
Hunger; and Jonathan E., a physician residing 
in Springfield, Mo. 

Until twenty-six years of age our subject re- 
mained in his native county. He learned the 
blacksmith's trade and also worked in a cotton 
mill for some time. In 1854, coming west, he 
settled south of Lawrence, pre-empting the north- 
west quarter of section i , Willow Springs Town- 
ship, Douglas Couuty. The land was wholly 
unimproved audit was only after years of toil on 
his part that the necessary improvements were 
made. He made of it a stock farm and continued 
there until 1870, when, desiring more satisfactory 
range for his stock, he sold out and purchased 
one hundred and sixty acres in Franklin County 
where he now lives. By subsequent purchase 
he has become the owner, altogether, of two hun- 
dred and fojrty acres, on which he follows general 
farming and stock-raising. At the time he settled 
on the place only twelve acres had been im- 
proved. He has developed the remainder of the 
two hundred and forty acres and made the various 
improvements now noticeable on the place. 

Often members of the Republican party, to 

which he adheres, have asked Mr. Tefft to become 

a nominee for some local office, but he has always 

refused political offices except in Douglas County, 

23 



where he served three terms (six years) as jus- 
tice of the peace. For several years he served as 
a member of school boards in Douglas and Frank- 
lin Counties, during which time he assisted in 
building a schoolhouse and in promoting the 
standard of education in the district. By his 
marriage, in 1846, to Clara A. Larkin, he has a 
daughter, Mary J., Mrs. J. F. Patten, and a son, 
Milton D., a farmer of Appanoose Township. 
At the time of the Civil war he was a member of 
the state militia and served as captain of Company 
A, Twenty-first Kansas Cavalry, with which he 
took part in the battle of the Blue against General 
Price. During Quantrell's raid, in 1863, he 
started from Lawrence to Baldwin to notify the 
people of Quantrell's approach. After he had 
left home, some of the raiders surrounded the 
house and said they had orders to burn all houses. 
Mrs. Tefft entreated them not to burn the place 
and they promised not to do it if she would give 
them $50. She had only seventy-five cents in 
the house. This she gave them, but it was of 
coiirse not enough to appease their demands; 
and, had they been able to find matches, the house 
would undoubtedly have been destroyed, but 
they finally left without doing any damage. Mr. 
Tefft was always stanch in his adherence to the 
free-state cause and did all in his power to keep 
slavery out of Kansas. He was on duty during 
the battle of Washington Creek. At all times he 
was found ready to do his part. As a citizen he 
has shown a loyal devotion to his state and his 
nation, and has supported measures for the bene- 
fit of each. 



^/j ARK S. WRIGHT, who is engaged in con- 
Y tracting and building in Leavenworth, was 
(9 born in Roanoke County, Va., December 
27, 1856. The years of boyhood and youth he 
spent upon the farm where he was born, and 
from an early age he assisted in the cultivation 
of the land. His father was interested in an 
undertaking and furniture business and manu- 
factured furniture and coffins. Under his super- 
vision the son gained a knowledge of cabinet- 
making. From that he drifted into carpentering. 
When about sixteen he secured employment as 



544 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



a carjienter in the erection of the buildings of the 
Agricultural and Mechanical College at Blacks- 
burg, \'a. The following season he was employed 
on the Lake Spring Hotel at Salem, Va. When 
he was twenl)--one years of age his father was 
killed b)- a runaway horse; afterward he took 
charge of the home place and remained there 
until twenty-four years of age. 

Mr. Wright then left his old Virginia home 
and came west as far as Decatur, 111., where he 
worked at his trade during one season. In Sep- 
tember, 1S83, he came to Leavenworth and for two 
years worked at carpentering, but since 1885 has 
been taking contracts. Much of his work since 
1894 has been in the nature of contracts for the 
government, including work at Forts Leaven- 
worth, Reno and Root, Ark. , where he had charge 
of the building of officers' quarters. He was the 
contractor and builder of the Ettenson block, one 
of the finest buildings in the west. Besides his 
contracting business he is the owner of a farm of 
one hundred and sevent}' acres in Leavenworth 
County, which he managed personally for a num- 
ber of years, but in 1898 rented the land to ten- 
ants. 

In politics Mr. Wright affiliates with the Re- 
publican party and votes its ticket at local and 
national elections. By his marriage to Miss 
Hannah Dowdell, December 31, 1884, he has 
four children, namely: Elmer R. ; Lawrence and 
Laura, twins, who are now eleven years of age; 
and Edna. 



EIIARLES C. CUTLER came to Kansas in 
1S57, and took up one hundred and sixtj^ 
acres of land near the claim which his father 
entered, in Cutler Township, Franklin County. 
While improving his place he remained with his 
father, whom he assisted in the general manage- 
ment of the estate. He is now the owner of 
eight hundred acres of land, on which he is en- 
gaged in raising .stock, making a specialt}' of 
Shorthorn cattle, of which he has about thirty 
head. He also has a number of Clydesdale 
horses. A man of progressive disposition, he has 
always been interested in matters looking toward 
the improvement of his property, and is quick to 



seize upon any idea that promises to be of practi- 
cal help. During the many years of his residence in 
this one spot he has maintained a constant inter- 
est in the growth of the county. As vice-presi- 
dent of the Fair As.sociation he endeavored to 
promote an enterprise which he believed would 
prove advantageous to the people. 

Born in Washington County, Ohio, in 1835, 
our subject is a son of Daniel C. and Betsy 
(Larkin) Cutler. His father was born in Water- 
ford, Ohio, in 1799, when all of that region was 
included in the northwestern territory. He en- 
gaged in farming and stock-raising there until 
1857, with the exception of two years in Iowa. 
During 1857 he crossed the plains into Kansas 
Territory, and, settling in Franklin County, he 
took up a quarter-section where his .son now 
lives. The remainder of his life was spent in 
this place. In time he accumulated one thousand 
acres of land. Much of his attention was given 
to trading in land and raising stock, his interests 
being large and important. A stanch free-state 
man, he was fearless in the expression of his 
opinions and firm in his decisions. On the or- 
ganization of the Republican partj' he became a 
supporter of its principles. While in Ohio he 
was a political associate of Asa Harris. It was 
through his efforts that a postoffice was estab- 
lished at Rantoul, and he served as postmaster 
for several years, having the office at his resi- 
dence during all of the time. He was the first 
county commissioner under territorial govern- 
ment. Throughout all of eastern Kansas he was 
known and honored. His death occurred at his 
home in 1887, aged eighty-eight years. His 
wife, who was born in Ohio in 1806, died in 
Kansas in 1883. They were the parents of two 
children, Charles C, and Mary A., who died in 

1853- 

While our subject did not have good advan- 
tages when he was a boy , he has gained a broad 
knowledge through observation and self-culture, 
and is a well-informed man. Politically he is a 
Republican, but he has never cared for political 
prominence, nor has he sought office, preferring 
to give his attention wholly to his private busi- 
ness affairs. During the war he served in the 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



545 



state militia, which was called out to assist in 
driving Price out of the state, and he took part 
in the battles of Westport and the Blue. Like 
his father, he is an active worker in the Cumber- 
land Presbyterian Church. In 1890 he married 
Sarah Friesner, who was born in Ohio, a daugh- 
ter of Daniel and Eliza (Shields) Friesner, also 
natives of that state. Her father, who was for 
years the leading merchant of Logan, Ohio, died 
in that place in 1859, at the age of forty-four 
years. Strong in convictions, he supported the 
old-line Whig party with all the ardor of a man 
who firmly believes in the justice of his cause. 
' He was a man of religious character, a devoted 
member of the Presbyterian Church. Of his 
family of nine children, only three are living, 
those besides Mrs. Cutler being William S. , who 
was an officer in the Union army during the 
Civil war and is now living in Logan, Ohio; and 
John S., a prominent attorney and ex-judge of 
the circuit court of the Hocking County district. 



ber of Abdallah Temple of the Mystic Shrine. 
In 1886 he was married to Amanda R. Clough, 
second daughter of William McNeill Clough, a 
former member of the Leavenworth bar. 



pCJiLLIAM A. PORTER was born in Gra- 
\ A / tiot. Licking County, Ohio, January 22, 
YV 1852. His opportunities for securing an ed- 
ucation were meagre, and he is therefore a self- 
made man. At the age of ten years he moved 
with his parents to central Illinois and settled in 
DeWitt County, where he remained until 1869. 
He then came to Kansas, settling in Miami 
County, where he engaged in farming in the 
summer and teaching school in the winter. 
At the death of his father, in 1877, he began the 
study of law at Paola under the instruction of 
W. B. Brayman, a prominent attorney of that 
place. In 1880 he graduated from the law de- 
partment of the University of Michigan at Ann 
Arbor, and in September of the same year he lo- 
cated at Leavenworth, where he has since resided 
and practiced his profession. He is well versed 
in the science of the law and is strong before 
courts and juries. He has never held a political 
office, although an able campaigner and always 
interested in the election of Republican nominees 
and always giving his services freely to his party. 
He is a Past Eminent Knight Templar and a mem- 



NARRY T. HUTSON, proprietor of Hutson's 
bakery, was for a number of years one of 
the most active and enterprising business 
men of Lawrence. He still retains a general 
supervision of his bakery, but, on account of ill- 
ness, is forced to leave the active work to others. 
About 1887 he was afflicted with inflammatory 
rheumatism and for years suffered most severely 
from that disease, which, in 1894, left him a 
cripple, with both limbs stiff and useless. How- 
ever, although he is to a large extent helpless, 
his illness has not warped his sunny, genial dis- 
position, but he retains his good nature and 
cheerful way of looking at things. 

Mr. Hutson was born in Gosburton, Lincoln- 
shire, England, December 31, 1850, a son of 
Charles and Annie (Rice) Hutson, also natives 
of Lincolnshire. His father, who was a shoe- 
maker by trade, during the latter part of his life 
engaged in farm pursuits. There were twelve 
children in the family, but only two ever came 
to America. Our subject, who was one of the 
5roungest, received only limited advantages, for, 
the family being large and the parents people of 
small means, he was early obliged to become 
self-supporting. At nine years of age he began 
to work for his board and clothes, and for some 
years he was employed on a farm. While he 
did well in England, he was ambitious to gain a 
larger success, so came to America in March, 
1872. Settling in Lawrence, he was employed in 
a livery for almost two years, and then worked 
for a baker about the same time, after which he 
farmed near town for a year, and then started a 
restaurant on Massachusetts street. From this 
business he drifted into the management of a 
bakery in 1882. He bought a lot at No. 709 
Vermont street, built a building suitable for resi- 
dence purposes, also containing bake shops, of- 
fice, etc. In 1892 he sold out his restaurant in 
order to devote himself entirely to the bakery, 



546 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



which has proved a very successful enterprise. 
Hutson's bread is known all over Lawrence and 
is in steady demand. 

In Lawrence, in Maj', 1877, Mr. Hutson mar- 
ried Miss Anna Groh, who was born at Cape 
Vincent, Jefferson County, N. Y. Her father, 
George Groh, a native of Frankfort, Germanj', 
came in company with other members of the 
family to America and settled near Watertown, 
where he grew to manhood. Afterward he en- 
gaged in farming in Jefferson Count}-. In i860 
he settled in Boonville, Mo. , where he remained 
until his death, in 1877. He married Susannah 
Lear, who was born in Frankfort, German^-, and 
accompanied her parents to Lafargeville, N. Y. , 
where .she was reared and married. Her death 
occurred in Missouri. Of her ten children, six 
attained maturity, one of these, Jacob, being a 
soldier in the Civil war. Mrs. Hutson was born 
in 1 85 1 and in i860 accompanied her parents to 
Missouri, where she attended the public school. 
In 1870 she came to Lawrence, where she was 
married seven years later. She is an energetic, 
capable woman, and has proved a helpmate to 
her husband in the truest sense of that word. 
They have two sons, George, who is in Arkansas 
City, Kans., and William, who assists in the 
bakery business. Mr. Hutson is identified with 
the Ancient Order of United Workmen and his 
wife is a charter member of the Fraternal Aid 
Association in this city. 



(I OHN CRAMER. Notwithstanding hiseighty 
I active years, Mr. Cramer is still a man of 
v2/ keen intellectual powers and well-preserved 
bodily faculties. A pioneer of Wellsville, where 
he still makes his home, he is the owner of a resi- 
dence and eight acres of land in this village, also 
has eighty acres in Douglas County, Kans., and 
a five-acre tract in Kansas City, Mo., which he 
purchased thirty years ago and which has since 
become quite valuable. For some years he has 
engaged in the buying, selling and shipping of 
stock, and has met with success in the business. 
Near Lancaster, Fairfield County, Ohio, Mr. 
Cramer was born April 25, 1819, a son of William 



and Margaret (Coonfoj-er) Cramer, natives of 
Pennsylvania and of Dutch families. His father, 
who learned the blacksmith's trade in Pennsyl- 
vania, moved to Ohio when that .section of coun- 
try was new, and there he engaged in farming 
and blacksmithing. From Fairfield County he 
moved to Knox County, Ohio. Later he bought 
a farm in Florence, Cooper County, Mo., where 
he cultivated his land and also engaged in black- 
smithing. Politically he voted with the Demo- 
crats. He died in Missouri when ninety years of 
age. His wife died when ninety-five. When 
only five years of age our subject was put into 
the home of a man with whom it was planned he 
should learn a trade, but when ten years old he 
returned to his mother, who took, on a lease, a 
tract of timber land. This he helped to clear, 
and afterward bought. In time he became the 
owner of over two hundred acres, which he had 
earned by his own efforts, in addition to helping 
his mother. 

In 1859 Mr. Cramer sold out in Ohio for about 
$10,000 and came to Kan.sas, where he bought a 
halfsectionof landin Richland Township, Frank- 
lin County. He carried on farm pursuits and 
dealt in .stock until 1882, when he sold his farm 
of six hundred acres for $17,000. On leaving 
that place he settled in Wellsville, where he has 
since bought and sold stock. For half a century 
he has been an earnest member of the Baptist 
Church. He is a believer in Democratic prin- 
ciples and is deeply interested in public affairs, 
but has never desired office, and the only posi- 
tions he has con.sented to hold are those of school 
director and other local ofiBces. For many years 
he has been connected with the Masonic fraternity. 

The first wife of Mr. Cramer was Maria Hard- 
ister, of Ohio, who died at forty-five years of age. 
Of her nine children six are still living, namely: 
Andrew, who served in the Civil war and is now 
a farmer in Butler County, Kans.; Frank, who 
served in the Rebellion and is now engaged in the 
livery business in Wellsville; Lavina, Mrs. Ham- 
ilton; Mar\', who is married and lives in Green- 
wood, Kans.; Louisa; and David, a farmer of 
Osage County, Kans. William died from the ef- 
fects of disease contracted in the army. The 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



547 



second marriage of Mr. Cramer united him with 
Lucy Morgan, who was born in Ohio and died in 
Kansas at thirty-eight years of age. Of the 
three children born of this union, John is en- 
gaged in buying and shipping stock in Wellsville, 
being a partner of his father; Louisa, Mrs. Bev- 
ins, whose husband is a farmer, lives in Iowa; 
Carrie is married and lives in Kansas City, Mo. 
The present Mrs. Cramer bore the maiden name 
of Anna Bivens rnd wa ; born in Circleville, Ohio. 



(TOHN W. KINDRED. The farm in the Kaw 
I Valley which is owned and operated by Mr. 
Q) Kindred is known as the Jacob Dolosi 
estate, and comprises ninety acres of fine land 
situated in the Weaver bottom. The soil is so 
excellently adapted to the raising of potatoes that 
the owner is making a specialty of them, and has 
already met with noteworthy success in this 
branch of agriculture. Besides his private inter- 
ests he is general manager of the Kaw Valley 
Potato Growers' and Co-operative Dealers' Asso- 
ciation of Weaver, in the organization of which 
he took a very active part. 

Born in Madison County, Ky., August lo, 
1858, our subject was two years of age when his 
father. Fields Kindred, moved to Clay County, 
Mo. , and there he acquired the rudiments of his 
education. When he w^as twelve he accompanied 
his parents to Edwardsville, Kans., where he 
grew to manhood, completing the common-school 
studies in Wyandotte Count}-. He remained with 
his father until twenty-six years of age, when he 
took a farm four miles north of Bonner Springs. 
In addition to operating this place, which was 
known as White Feather farm, he also purchased 
and cultivated adjoining land. In 1894 he moved 
to Fall Leaf, Leavenworth County, where each 
year he planted between sixty-five and one hun- 
dred and twenty acres in potatoes. While farm- 
ing there he made his home in Eudora, in order 
to secure educational advantages for his children. 
Next he purchased two hundred and fifteen 
acres in the Kaw Valley, four miles west of 
Eudora, where he engaged in raising potatoes 
quite extensively. In February, 1898, he sold 



that place and bought a farm in Willow Springs 
Township, Douglas County, from which place, 
in April, 1899, he removed to his present prop- 
erty in Eudora Township, the same county. 
This location he considers the best he has yet 
found, and he has energetically set about the 
improvement of the farm, which shows the 
results of his efficient supervision. 

Fraternally Mr. Kindred is connected with 
Bonner Springs Lodge, K. of P., and the Knights 
and Ladies of Security in Eudora. In politics he 
is a Populist. While living in Wyandotte County 
he took an active part in local afiairs, and in 
1887, 1888 and 1889 he served as trustee of Dela- 
ware Township. While filling that position he 
was instrumental in securing good bridges for 
the countr)' roads, and was appointed bridge 
commissioner by the county board. Other local 
improvements also received the impetus of his 
assistance. Believing that the public school is 
the basis of the good government of the future, 
he does all in his power to promote the welfare 
of the schools of his neighborhood. For five 
years he was a .school director in Wyandotte 
County. December 29, 1881, he married Miss 
Annie Morgan, who died April 16, 1883, leaving 
a daughter, Edna, now a student at the Hesper 
Academy. April 2, 1885, he was united in 
marriage with Eliza B. Magee, who was reared 
in Wyandotte Countj^ and bj' whom he has had 
the following-named children: Agnes, Nora, 
Frank (deceased), Grace, Lena, Seth, Byron, 
Ethel and Ellis Lee. The family are connected 
with the Christian Church, and aid religious 
movements as far as possible. 



(Junius underwood, member of the 
I wholesale produce firm of Kumler & Under- 
C2/ wood, and secretary and treasurer of the 
Griffin Ice Company, of Lawrence, is a member 
of an old Pennsylvania family. His father, 
Prescott, was a son of Daniel Underwood, a na- 
tive of Connecticut, who removed to Pennsyl- 
vania and engaged in lumbering and building. 
During the Civil war Prescott Underwood offered 
himself for service, but was rejected. After the 



548 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



war he settled upon a plantation in Georgia, but 
in 1868 removed to Kansas, settling in Lawrence. 
While making his home in the city he improved 
a tract of seventy-five acres adjoining the city 
limits, where he engaged in raising fruit and 
potatoes. He was one of the first to engage in 
raising potatoes in this locality, and became one 
of the largest shippers and growers in the county, 
having nearly one hundred and twenty-five acres 
planted in potatoes. However, neither he nor 
his wife had good health, .so, hoping a change 
would prove beneficial, he removed to Whatcom 
County, Wash., in 1S87. There the climate 
proved very helpful, and he has since given his 
attention to the cultivation of his valuable farm, 
making a specialty of raising cherries. He has 
frequently contributed to agricultural papers, and 
his success as an agriculturist and particularly as 
a fruit and produce-grower makes any suggestions 
from him valuable. His wife, who bore the 
maiden name of Jane A. Niles, was born in 
Wayne County, Pa., and died in Washington 
February 17, 1889, leaving three children: Junius; 
Mrs. Mary Buswell and Hattie, both in Wash- 
ington. 

Born in Wayne County, Pa., March 15, 1865, 
the subject of this .sketch was reared in Kansas, 
and studied in the Lawrence high school and the 
University of Kansas, which he attended until 
the junior year. On account of his father's poor 
health he left the university and assumed the 
management of the home farm, which he super- 
intended for three years. During that time he 
engaged in .shipping potatoes to different points 
and thus became acquainted with his present 
partner, G. V. Kumler. In 1891 the firm of Bell 
& Kumler was succeeded by Kumler & Under- 
wood, who at first carried on an exclusive pro- 
duce business, but later began to deal in garden 
and field seeds, also to handle potatoes and apples 
in carload lots. The firm have a warehou.se, 
25x50, at No. 628 Massachusetts street, and a 
seedhouse, 40x80, three stories in height. Be- 
sides this business, Mr. Underwood is secretary- 
and treasurer and a director of the Griffin Ice 
Company, which he assisted in incorporating and 
of which A. J. Griffin is the manager. This is 



the largest ice company in Lawrence. Not only 
have they several warehouses in which natural 
ice is stored, either for home distribution or ship- 
ment to other points, but they also have a plant 
with a capacity of thirteen tons a day for the 
manufacture of artificial ice. 

On the Republican ticket Mr. Underwood was 
elected to represent the sixth ward in the city 
council, where he served for six years, retiring in 
the spring of 1899. During his last term he was 
chairman of the library committee. He is con- 
nected with the Fraternal Aid, Ancient Order of 
United Workmen and Knights of Pythias. In 
Delmar, Iowa, December 15, 1887, hewas united 
in marriage with Miss Flora Hinckley, who was 
born in that city, a daughter of Clark Hincklej-, 
a veteran of the Civil war and now manager of 
a creamery at Welton, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Un- 
derwood had six children: Alice, Addie, William, 
Hattie, Fay and Prcscott. Hattie died June 16, 
1899- 

EHARLES W. EWING, M. D., a leading 
physician of Wellsville, Franklin County, 
was born in Marathon, Clermont County, 
Ohio, December 8, 1861, a son of John and Re- 
becca (Birdsall) Ewing, and a descendant of one 
of three brothers, John, Samuel and Alexander, 
who emigrated to Philadelphia from Ireland 
about the time of the Revolutionary war. His 
father, a native of Batavia, Ohio, was reared and 
educated in that place. About 1861 he went to 
California, where (and in Idaho) he engaged in 
mining for seven years. Like many miners, he 
met with both good and bad luck, at times was 
successful and again unsuccessful. On return- 
ing to Ohio he took up farm pursuits near Mara- 
thon, where he remained until his death, at six- 
ty-three years of age. His wife, who was born 
near Marathon, is still living, and is how sixty- 
four years of age. She is a lady of noble Chris- 
tian character, and an earnest believer in Meth- 
odist Episcopal doctrines. Of their three chil- 
dren, Edward, who is engaged in railroading, 
resides at Concordia, Kans.; Elizabeth is the wife 
of N. S. Hazen. 

When eleven years of age our subject began to 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



549 



work upon a farm. From that time on he was 
self-supporting. At the age of sixteen he came 
to Kansas, settling in Nemaha County, where he 
secured work on a farm. When not busy with 
farm duties he attended school, completing the 
course in the Paola normal school at Paola, Mi- 
ami County, from which he graduated in 1884. 
He had commenced to teach school in 1880, hav- 
ing schools in Miami and Johnson Counties, and 
after his graduation he taught for two winters, 
also served as deputy county treasurer of John- 
son County. In 1884 he took his first readings 
in medicine, having as preceptor Dr. G. T. 
Goode, of Olathe, Johnson County. Later he 
matriculated in Jefferson Medical College at 
Philadelphia, Pa., from which he graduated in 
1888. Returning to Kansas he opened an office 
at Edgerton, Johnson County, and continued 
thereuntil July, 1892, when he removed to Wells- 
ville. He is well informed regarding his profes- 
sion, has a thorough knowledge of the various 
forms of disease and the best remedial agencies 
for each, and his practice is large and growing. 

Fraternally Dr. Ewing is connected with the 
blue lodge of Masonry in Wellsville, and is also 
a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows and Knights of Pythias. In religion he is 
a Methodist, while his wife adheres to the doc- 
trines of the Christian Church. October 7, 1896, 
he married Miss Minnie A. Goode, of Olathe, 
Kans. , daughter of Dr. G. T. and Virginia A. 
(Lane) Goode. They have one son, Charles 
W.,Jr. 

|~RANK P. SMITH, A. B., A. M., is one of 
1^ the successful educators of Kansas. He 
I ^ became principal of the high school at Ot- 
tawa, Kans., in the fall of 1889, and the follow- 
ing year was elected superintendent of schools. 
In that capacity he continued until December, 
1894, when he was elected to succeed Edmund 
Stanley (state superintendent of public instruc- 
tion), as superintendent of the Lawrence schools, 
which responsible position he has filled with the 
greatest intelligence and fidelity. Under his 
supervision are fifty-two teachers and twenty-six 
hundred pupils, of which enrollment more than 



seventeen per cent are in the high school. There 
are seven grammar school and one high school 
buildings. The latter is thoroughly equipped 
for advanced work, and it is said that no high 
school in the state is higher in its standard or 
more thorough in its work than this, which fact 
proves the ability of those who are devoting 
themselves to the instruction of the students. 

Professor Smith was born in Salem, Ind., July 
9, 1854, a son of Lewis N. and Nancy Jane 
(Worrall) Smith, natives respectively of Wash- 
ington County, Ind., and Westport, Ky. His 
grandfather, Richard Smith, of Virginia, settled 
in Salem, Ind., about 1822, and died there in 
1833. During the war of 18 12 he served in the 
American army. His wife, Hannah, was a daugh- 
ter of George Etzler, who enlisted from Virginia 
in the Revolutionary war. Lewis N. Smith has 
been a farmer, and by economy and judgment has 
accumulated a competency. He has served sev- 
eral terms as county commissioner. Of his three 
sons and one daughter, Spencer W. is a physician 
in Indiana; Mrs. Laura Maudlin also resides in 
that state; and L. Newland occupies the old 
homestead. The oldest of the family is the sub- 
ject of this sketch. He was reared on a farm and 
had few leisure moments, but, being studious, he 
devoted himself to his books whenever possible, 
and was in the habit of plowing corn during the 
day and studying Caesar and Virgil at night. In 
1873 he entered the Indiana State University at 
Bloomington, from which he graduated in 1878, 
with the degree of A. B. The degree of A. M. 
was conferred upon him by Baker University in 

1893- 

In 1878 Professor Smith became principal of 
the village school at Fisherville, Ky., and in 
October of that year he was married, in Salem, to 
Miss Amanda E. Brewer. In February, 1879, a 
disastrous fire terminated his work in Fisherville. 
He returned to Indiana and remained for some 
months on the home farm. Afterward, for three 
years, he was principal of the high school at 
Salem, and for two years held a similar position 
in Orleans, Ind. For five years he served as 
superintendent of the Bedford city schools. His 
wife died in December, 1888, leaving a daughter, 



550 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Daisy B., who is a graduate of the Lawrence high 
school class of 1S99, and is now a student in the 
Kansas University. From Indiana he came to 
Kansas, where he has since won prominence as an 
instructor, the energy with which he carries on his 
work and the intelligence displayed therein having 
secured for him the confidence of his associates. 
He is a member of the state school text book 
commission, appointed by Governor Stanley, and 
is connected with the State Teachers' and the 
National Education Association, of the latter of 
which he is a vice-president. Politically he ad- 
heres to Republican principles. At one time he 
was active in the work of the Knights of Pythias. 
He is a past officer in the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows, a member of Lawrence Lodge No. 
6, A. F. & A. M. ; Lawrence Chapter No. 4, 
R. A. M.; DeMolay Commandery No. 4, K. T., 
and the consistory of Topeka. In religion he is 
a Methodist. Since coming to Kansas he has 
been a second time married, his wife being Miss 
Rose E. Brock, who was born in Leavenworth 
County, Kaus., and was educated in the Eureka 
high school. 

nOHN B. STUMP, who resides near Baldwin, 
I Douglas County, was born in Clermont 
(2/ County, Ohio, May 30, 1834, a son of Louis 
and Elizabeth (Fitzwater) Stump, also natives 
of that part of Ohio. His paternal grandfather, 
John Stump, who was of German extraction, was 
born in Virginia and for a short time made his 
home in Kentucky, but removed to Ohio with 
two brothers, settling upon a farm and afterward 
devoting himself to agricultural pursuits there; 
he married Jane Lowrey, who was a native of 
the Old Dominion. Louis Stump was born on the 
first day of the year 1804, and spent his entire 
life upon a farm near Camp Dennison, Ohio, 
where he met with fair success as an agriculturist. 
During the existence of the Whig party he voted 
for its principles, and afterward became identified 
with the Republicans. He died when eighty-one 
years of age. 

The mother of our subject, who was a daughter 
of Thomas Fitzwater, died in 1836, when her 
three .sons were small. In religion she was a 



faithful member of the Presbyterian Church. Of 
her children, the two eldest were Thomas and 
David, neither of whom ever married. Thomas, 
who was a farmer in Illinois, died at the age of 
seventy-years, and David, who remained in Ohio, 
died when sixty-eight years of age. After the 
death of our subject's mother, his father was 
married to Matilda Price. By that union seven 
children were born, one of whom died in infancy. 
The others are as follows: Daniel, a farmer of 
Franklin County, Kans.; Belinda, who married 
Jerry Hussey, and died in Ohio in 1885; Jane; 
Samuel, a farmer and stockman, who died in 
Kansas at the age of fifty years; Joel H., who is 
a farmer in Illinois; and Mary, who lives in Ohio. 

Until thirty-five years of age our subject re- 
mained at home with his father and step-mother, 
excepting only the period of his service in the 
army. In March, 1863, he enlisted in gunboat 
service on the "Covington," Captain Hurd, and 
after three months was transferred to the "Ex- 
change" No. 38, Captain Gibson, where he re- 
mained for twentj- months. The most of this 
time was spent on the Tennessee, Cumberland, 
Yazoo, Mississippi and White Rivers, and he 
participated in a number of engagements. At 
the close of the war he was honorably discharged 
and went back to his Iowa home. In the spring 
of 1869 he came west to Kansas and in the county 
of Douglas purchased a tract of farm land in Wil- 
low Springs Township. There he continued to re- 
side until 1895, when he sold the one hundred and 
sixty acre farm and bought a tract of ten acres 
near Baldwin, his present home. 

In political views Mr. Stump has always afiili- 
ated with the Republican party; but he has 
never shown a partisan spirit in his opinions. 
For five years he served as trustee of Willow 
Springs Township and discharged the duties of 
the office with the utmost fidelity. With his 
family' he holds membership in the Presbyterian 
Church. Fraternally he is connected with Odd 
Fellows' Lodge No. 31, in Baldwin, and with 
E. D. Baker Post No. 40, G. A. R., also in this 
village. His marriage, November 8, 1869, united 
him with Miss L. A. Goodell, who was born in 
Grafton County, N. H., January 3, 1835, a 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



551 



daughter of John and Lucy (Storrs) Goodell, 
natives of the same counts^ both members of old 
New England families and of Scotch extraction. 
Her father died at sixty-five and her mother 
when sixty-one years of age. Both were adhe- 
rents of the Congregational Church. She was 
educated in the public schools of New Hampshire 
and an academy in Vermont. After teaching for 
a few years in New England she went to Ohio, 
and was similarly engaged for four years, also 
taught for three years in Iroquois County, 111. 
Two daughters were born to the union of Mr. 
and Mrs. Stump. The older. Birdie, is the wife 
of J. F.- Dole, a resident of Washington state. 
The younger, Mysie E. , is a graduate of the 
Baldwin high school and an accomplished j'oung 
lady, who is popular among the young people of 
the village. 

ROBERT A. KIER, who is one of the enter- 
prising and progressive business men of 
North Lawrence, was born in Clarksburg, 
Indiana County, Pa., August 28, 1832, a son of 
David and Jane (Lauglin) Kier, also natives of 
that county. His grandfather, David Kier, Sr., 
was born in Ireland of Scotch ancestry, and at an 
early age settled in Pennsylvania, where he en- 
gaged in farming until his death; in this country 
he married a lady who was of German descent. 
Upon a large farm in Indiana County David 
Kier, Jr., carried on agricultural pursuits until 
he passed away, when forty-five years of age. 
His wife, who was a daughter of John Lauglin, a 
native of Westmoreland County, Pa., and a large 
farmer, was left at the death of her husband with 
the management of the farm and the care of the 
children. She remained with her children on the 
homestead, and there her death occurred when 
advanced in years. Of her five sons and three 
daughters, four sons and one daughter are now 
living, and one of the brothers occupies the old 
homestead. Another son, James, served in the 
navy during the Civil war. 

The youngest of the children was Robert. He 
attended the grammar and high schools, and re- 
mained with his mother until he was twenty- 
three years of age. In the fall of 1855 he settled 



on a farm near Muscatine, Iowa, and there he en- 
gaged in farming, superintending for four years 
a place owned by a steamboat captain. Then 
going to Winterset, Madison County, Iowa, he 
worked there for a time, later was at Leon, Decatur 
County, that state, where he carried on a drug 
business for seven years. In 1880 he came to 
Lawrence, and during the first year worked as a 
druggist, but afterward engaged in contract paint- 
ing for three j'ears. In 1886 he began in the coal 
business and has since built up a large yard on 
Rhode Island street, where he deals in coal of all 
varieties, and also has wood on sale. A siding 
from the Union Pacific Road makes easy connec- 
tion with his yard, thus facilitating the work. 
For a time he engaged in the manufacture of 
wire fence, but now devotes himself exclusively 
to the coal business. 

Besides his coal j'ard Mr. Kier owns three 
houses in North Lawrence, one of them, on the 
corner of New York and Maple streets, being his 
residence, and one of the finest houses in this part 
of Lawrence. A man of firm convictions, he has 
never wavered in his allegience to the Repub- 
lican party, but always supports its principles. 
He is a member of the Christian Church and a 
contributor to its maintenance. Fraternally he 
is connected with the Odd Fellows. During his 
residence in Iowa he was married in Muscatine 
County to Miss Cordelia Ritchie, who was a 
member of an old family there, her father, John 
D. Ritchie, having been the earliest settler there. 
Mr. and Mrs. Kier have three daughters, Ionia, 
May and Maude. 

HON. NOAH SIMMONS, M. D. For many 
years identified with the history of Law- 
rence, Dr. Simmons did much to promote 
the prosperity of the city, among whose citizens 
he held a position of influence. His recognized 
ability led to his election to a number of positions 
of trust and responsibility. For two terms he 
served as a member of the state legislature, and 
during the legi.slative struggles of his second term 
he supported the Douglas faction. Among the 
other offices which he filled were those of mayor 
of Lawrence, health officer and coroner of Doug- 



552 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



las County, member of the state board of health 
and president and secretary successively of the 
Kansas State Medical Association. While his close 
connection with public affairs brought him promi- 
nence in his home county and state, he became 
best known throughout the country as the pro- 
prietor of Simmons' liver tablets or ginger snaps, 
which have had a large sale, their manufacture 
having become a business of considerable mag- 
nitude. 

Dr. Simmons was born in Piqua, Ohio, March 
21, 1828, and died at Lawrence, Kans., April 27, 
1898. He was the youngest of thirteen children, 
whose father, Adam Simmons, was a native of 
Switzerland, a farmer by occupation, and a mem- 
ber of the German Reformed Church. When he 
was entering upon manhood he began the study 
of medicine in Miami County, Ohio, and after a 
time spent in studj- under private preceptorship, 
in 1852 he entered the Cincinnati Eclectic College, 
and began the course there, but did not complete 
his studies at once. Instead, he opened an office 
at Union City, Ind. , where he practiced steadily 
for two years. He then took another course of 
lectures in college, after which he returned to 
Union City. In 1864 he again entered college, 
remaining this time until his graduation February 
15, 1865. He continued actively engaged in 
practice at Union City until June, 1868, the date 
of his removal to Lawrence, where he afterward 
built up a large and remunerative practice. He 
also gave some attention to the supervision of his 
farm in Sarcoxie Township, Jefferson County, 
where he had a fine fruit orchard. Fraternally 
he was connected with the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows and Rebekahs, Masonic fraternity 
and Eastern Star, also the Independent Order of 
Good Templars. In religion he was connected 
with the Methodist Episcopal Church. Political- 
ly he was firm in his allegiance to Republican 
principles. He was a man who possessed far 
more than ordinary literary ability, and, had he 
not chosen medicine for his profession, he would 
probably have made a name for himself in liter- 
ature. Even in the midstof his busy professional 
career he found time for the preparation of 
articles bearing upon the science of medicine or 



upon historical or general subjects, and these 
indicate his high order of literary talent. 

In Fletcher, Ohio, April 9, 1857, occurred the 
marriage of Dr. Simmons to Miss Elizabeth Toms, 
who was born near Dayton, Montgomery Coun- 
ty, Ohio, a daughter of Jonathan and Mary 
(Merkel) Toms, natives respeclivelj' of Frederick, 
Md., and Washington County, Pa. Her paternal 
grandfather, Jacob, was born in Maryland and 
was of English descent. Her maternal grand- 
father, Daniel Merkel, moved from Pennsylvania 
to Miami Count)', Ohio, where he died; he was a 
son of a Revolutionary soldier. Jonathan Toms, 
though a tanner by trade, devoted himself prin- 
cipally to fanning in the Miami Valley. He was 
reared in the Lutheran faith, but, on his removal 
from Maryland to Ohio, there being no Lutheran 
Church in his new home, he identified himself 
with the United Brethren denomination. He was 
an Abolitionist in principle and a Republican in 
politics. At the time of his death he was ninety- 
two years of age. His wife died when she was 
.sixty-two. Their ten children attained mature 
years, and five are now living, Mrs. .Simmonsbeing 
next to the youngest. She had two brothers who 
served in an Ohio regiment during the Civil war, 
Emanuel being sergeant, and George Oliver cap- 
tain of his company. 

The family of Dr. and Mrs. Simmons consisted 
of three sons. The oldest, Charles Jefferson 
Simmons, is represented in the following .sketch. 
The second son, Frank Simmons, is a graduate 
of a high school and the commercial college of 
Lawrence and is now connected with a business 
house in Lawrence. Harry, the youngest son, is 
a commercial grain dealer in New York City. 
The younger sons are professional .skaters and 
have traveled over the entire world, giving ex- 
hibitions of, and lessons in, that art. Mrs. Sim- 
mons has been a member of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church since a girl of sixteen years. She 
is connected with the Eastern Star, Selected 
Friends and Ladies' Circle of the Grand Army. 
Since the death of her husband she has been in 
charge of the manufacture of the tablets and has 
superintended their sale in a way that proves her 
to be a woman of exceptional business ability. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



553 



Among the people of Lawrence, where for more 
than thirtj^ years she has made her home, she has 
many friends and well-wishers. She has witnessed 
the growth of this city from an early day and has 
taken a pride in its development and progress. 

There is connected with the Simmons family a 
history that is more than usually interesting. As 
already stated, the family is of Swiss origin. 
Phillip Simmons with his wife and only son, John, 
settled in York County, Pa. After the death of 
his parents and years after his own marriage, 
John started with his family for Ohio. On the 
way he met the Millhouse family, who had come 
from the same part of Switzerland as himself. 
The two families settled in the Miami Valley. 
John Simmons, Jr. , a few years later, married 
Susan Millhouse. In the latter part of 1809 
their only son, David, was born. March 14, 
1 8 10, John enlisted in the First Regiment of 
United States Infantry and was assigned to duty 
at Fort Dearborn, on the present site of the city 
of Chicago. Soon afterward he arrived at the 
fort, and was so pleased with the prospects that 
he frequently expressed the belief that a great 
city would in time be built near there. Wishing 
to have his family with him he walked back to 
Ohio, and in the latter part of March, 181 1, ac- 
companied by his wife and son, started for their 
new home in the west. They reached Chicago in 
April, joining the little band of soldiers at the 
fort. February 13, 1812, their daughter Susan 
was born, the first white child born on the present 
site of Chicago. Indians were treacherous and 
hostile, and the small troop of soldiers, with their 
families, were constantly menaced by these foes. 
August 15, 1812, occurred the dreadful massacre 
ot Fort Dearborn, the record of which is a part 
of history. Near an old cottonwood tree, long 
known as "Massacre" tree, a wagon filled with 
little children, fleeing from the Indians, was over- 
taken and every child murdered. Among these 
children was David, who was known as the ' 'curly- 
headed corporal," and about the same time the 
little "corporal's" father, Corporal Simmons, 
was foully murdered by the savages, and his wife, 
with her infant daughter in her arms, was cap- 
tured. Of their long months of captivity, their 



sufferings, their cruel treatment, it is difficult to 
conceive. In April, 1813, an exchange was ef- 
fected and mother and daughter were once more 
permitted to return to the mother's old Ohio 
home. Nor did their trials end with the return. 
A year afterward the mother's sister and brother- 
in-law were killed by the Indians. In time, how- 
ever, peace and prosperity came to them, and, in 
the happiness of the present, the mother could to 
some extent forget the sufferings of the past. 
The daughter became the wife of M.P. Winans and 
moved from Ohio to Iowa, thence to California. 
During the World's Fair it was the desire of 
many that she visit the great city by the lake, but 
she had lived so long in the genial climate of 
southern California that she was averse to return- 
ing, even temporarily, to the east. 



EHARLESJ. SIMMONS, M. D. Inthepro- 
fession which he selected for his life work, 
Dr. Simmons has attained a success that en- 
titles him to rank among the foremost physicians 
of eastern Kansas. A close student of the sci- 
ence of medicine, his skill and ability have won 
for him a high reputation, not only among those 
who have been under his professional care, but 
also among other physicians. His reputation 
among the people of Lawrence, his home town, 
is that of an able physician, who is accurate in 
the diagnosis of disease and skillful in the selec- 
tion of remedial agencies. From year to year 
his practice has increased, and is now of such 
proportions that it leaves him with little leisure 
for social recreation or needed rest. 

Dr. Simmons was born in Union City, Ind., 
February 25, 1858, and was ten yearsof age when 
brought to Lawrence by his father, Noah Sim- 
mons, M. D. He was educated in the gram- 
mar and high schools and in the University of 
Kansas, from which he graduated in 1882, with 
the degree of A. B. Immediately afterward he 
began the study of medicine, of which he had 
gained a rudimentary knowledge under his 
father's instruction. He attended a course of 
lectures in the medical department of the state 
university, after which he studied in Dartmouth 



554 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



(N. H.) Medical College, and finally graduated 
from the University of Vermont, with the degree 
of M. D. He also graduated from Bellevue 
Hospital Medical College, New York, where 
he attended two sessions; and from the Eclectic 
Medical Institute of Cincinnati, Ohio, where he 
took one course of lectures. Returning to Law- 
rence, he entered upon the practice that has since 
assumed large proportions, and in addition to his 
private practice he was citj' phj'sician for two 
years. His office is at No. 721 Massachusetts 
street. 

The few vacations which Dr. Simmons has al- 
lowed himself in his bu.sy life are devoted to 
post-graduate work in eastern colleges. In 
1895-96 he took a course of lectures in the Post- 
Graduate Medical College of New York. In 
1897-98 he made a special study of surgery and 
gynecology in the New York Polj'clinic, and in 
1898-99 he devoted some time to the same 
specialties in Philadelphia. Devoted to profes- 
sional duties, he has no desire to enter the arena 
of public affairs and, aside from voting the Re- 
publican ticket, takes no part in politics. How- 
ever, as a public-spirited citizen he is well in- 
formed concerning local and national issues. 
Fraternally he is connected with the Modern 
Woodmen and Knights of Pythias. For two 
years he was United States Pension Examiner. 
In his religious views he favors the doctrines of 
the Methodist Church. His marriage, which 
took place in Lawrence, united him with Emily, 
daughter of J. H. Glathart, of this city. They 
have two children, Jerry and Stella. 



REV. JAMES MURRAY, a retired raini.ster 
residing in Baldwin, was born in Canan- 
daigua, Ontario County, N. Y., on the 4th 
of July, 182S. His father, James, who was 
probablj' a native of Massachusetts, accompanied 
his parents to Monroe County, N. Y., in boy- 
hood, and later removed to Ontario County, 
where he followed the shoemaker's trade. Dur- 
ing the war of 181 2 he enli.sted in the American 
army, and served until he lost an eye in the bat- 
tle of Sacket's Harbor. In politics he was iden- 



tified with the Know- Nothing party and later with 
the Whigs. In religious belief he was a Method- 
ist, and while he was quiet and retiring in dis- 
position and not prominent in the church, he was 
a very earnest and faithful member. He died in 
1855, at the age of sixty-four years. His mother, 
Sarah, who was of Scotch birth, died October 23, 
1841, at seventy-seven yearsof age. He married 
Orpha Hickox September 14, 1814. She was 
born in Ontario County, N. Y., and spent her 
last days in Michigan in the home of her son, 
James, where she died at .sixty-four years of age. 
Of her seven children our subject alone survives. 
She, like her husband, was an earnest Christian 
and a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. 

In the village of Canandaigua, N. Y., our 
subject received his education, graduating from 
the academy there at nineteen years of age. He 
then went to Michigan and taught school for a 
short time. October 5, 1853, at Bellevue, Mich., 
he married Miss Hannah Perry, who was born in 
Cortland County, N. Y., August 11, 1833, ^ 
daughter of Joab and Jane (Crawford) Perry, 
natives of New York. Her father, in 1834, went 
to the then territory of Michigan, where he 
cleared a homestead from the primeval wilds, 
and, as his count}' became settled, acquired 
prominence among his neighbors by reason of 
his upright character and acknowledged ability. 
A Democrat in politics he was active in local 
affairs, and for many years served as justice of 
the peace. His death occurred when he was 
eighty-five. His wife, who, like him, was born 
in New York of old New England stock, and 
was a member of the Methodi.st Episcopal Church, 
died in 1880, at the age of seventy-two years, upon 
the old homestead, where she and her husband 
had lived for many years. 

In 1857 Mr. Murray came to Kansas and se- 
lected a claim in Johnson County, but was driven 
away by the troops. Returning to Michigan he 
devoted considerable time to the work of a local 
preacher. At the opening of the Civil war he 
enlisted as a delegate in the Christian commis- 
sion rooms at Louisville, Ky., and later enlisted 
in Company E, Fifteenth Michigan Infantry. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



555 



He was assigned to Sherman's division, and at 
the time of the march to the sea was detailed and 
left in the rear to complete some clerical work on 
the muster rolls. When the work was finished 
he went via New York to Goldsboro, expecting 
to join the command, but found that Sherman 
had passed on to the sea. He then returned to 
Washington, where he took part in the grand 
review. Afterward he was ordered to Memphis, 
Tenn., and Helena and Little Rock, Ark., where 
he was discharged. He was paid off at Detroit, 
Mich., in September, 1865. In October of the 
same year he sold his property in Michigan and 
removed to Kansas, settling in Ottawa, and ac- 
cepting a position as agent for the American 
Bible Company. In 1869 he entered the minis- 
try, and was present and answered every roll call 
for thirty years thereafter. For three years he 
was superintendent of mission work in the Indian 
Territory, but was then obliged to retire from the 
work on account of poor health. During his 
time in this position he had been in twenty-one 
of the twenty-three nations of the Indian Terri- 
tory, and has had personal interviews with many 
leading Indians, including "Scar- Faced Charley" 
and "Steamboat Frank," who massacred Custer. 
From 1869 to 187 1 Mr. Murray held a pastor- 
ate in Mound City, Kans. , after which he re- 
ceived conference appointments to various places. 
He entered the town site at Oklahoma City and 
was elected the first mayor of the place, also 
served as president of the Oklahoma Town Site 
Company, that city having been founded at the 
time that he was superintendent of missions in 
the Indian Territory (1886-89). In 1889 he 
came to Baldwin, purchased a home, and, on 
account of ill health, took a superannuated posi- 
tion in the conference. When the president of 
the bank at Baldwin died, in 1891, the cashier of 
the bank, in behalf of the directors, ofi"ered Mr. 
Murray the presidency. Although he had no 
experience in banking he accepted and filled the 
position with success, continuing until 1898, 
since which time he has been a director in the 
institution. Twice he was elected mayor of 
Baldwin, and in other ways the people have 
shown that they hold him in the highest respect. 



In politics he is a Republican, with prohibition 
sympathies. Some years ago he was asked to 
act as financial agent of Baker University. At 
the time of his appointment he was asked what 
salary he expected. He answered "that he 
would give his services and board himself," 
which he has continued to do, donating his serv- 
ices gratuitously to the college and collecting 
considerable money for the institution. He is a 
member of E. D. Baker Post No. 40, G. A. R., 
and for one year acted as department chaplain for 
the state association. He and his wife have two 
daughters: Jennie, wife of R. N. Kemp; and 
Mary, who married James E. Hair, cashier of 
the bank at Baldwin. 



(lOHN A. DAVENPORT, Sr., was born in 
I Belmont County, Ohio, and was the member 
(2/ of an old and honored Virginian family of 
planters. His father and grandfather, both of 
whom bore the same name as himself, were born 
in the Old Dominion, and were extensive planters 
and tobacco merchants, their plantations being 
operated by their slaves. However, the father 
became convinced that the institution of slavery 
was unjust, and in order to free himself from its 
influences he removed to Ohio, taking with him 
his eighty slaves. Purchasing large tracts of 
land he presented eight}' acres to each colored 
man, entailing the property to their descendants. 
Upon the remainder of the tract he carried on, 
through tenants, agricultural pursuits. 

Much of the life of our subject was passed in 
Ohio, and for years he carried on a general store in 
Woodsfield. In 187 1 he came to Kansas, settling 
upon a farm near Ottawa, and during the subse- 
quent years of his life he identified himself closely 
with the growing prosperity of Franklin County, 
among whose citizens he was known and honored. 
Fraternally he was a Mason. He was active in 
the work of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
and served as a member of the official board. 
He attained the age of seventy-nine, dying July 
13, 1898. His life was that of an exemplary cit- 
izen. He always stood for measures to benefit 
the people and uplift the race. During the Civil 



556 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



war he served as colonel of the state militia at the 
time of Morgan's raid in Ohio, being one of 
three colonels who commanded twenty thousand 
men. 

The marriage of Mr. Davenport united him 
with Margaret .Smith, who was born in Ohio; her 
father, John Smith, having moved to that state 
from Pennsylvania. She is now living in Ottawa. 
Of her six children all but one are still living, 
one son, J. W., being a merchant of this city, 
while another son, John A., Jr., is county clerk. 



(John a. davenport, Jr., clerk of Frank- 
I lin County and one of the successful busi- 
Qj ness men of Ottawa, was born in Woods- 
field, Monroe County, Ohio, September 30, 1858, 
and was fourth among the six children of his 
parents. When twelve years of age he accom- 
panied the family to Franklin County and his 
education was completed in the high school of 
Ottawa. When thirteen he entered the employ 
of the People's National Bank as a messenger 
boy, continuing in that position for eighteen 
months, after which he returned to high school. 
Subsequently he'clerked in a mercantile establish- 
ment. In 1 88 1 he went to Des Moines, Iowa, 
where he engaged in coal operating, organizing 
the Standard Fuel Company, which opened four 
mines in the vicinity of Des Moines and had its 
office in that city, with Mr. Davenport as secre- 
tary. 

Selling out his interest iii the concern in 1886, 
Mr. Davenport returned to Ottawa, where he has 
since carried on the grocery business in the same 
block, his location being No. 320 Main street. 
He has built up the largest business of its kind in 
the city and is known as a reliable business man, 
whose dealings are always fair and honorable. 
From year to year he has increased his stock and 
the aggregate amount of his sales, while reason- 
able prices and fair dealing have brought the 
store into favor with all customers. 

In politics Mr. Davenport is in sympathy with 
the silver wing of the Republican party, being a 
champion of the free coinage of silver and at the 
same time a believer in the protection of home 



industries. For one term he represented the 
third ward in the city council, and during the 
last year of the term he served as president of the 
board. In 1897 he was nominated for county 
clerk on the Democratic ticket, endorsed by the 
Populists, and was elected by a large majority, 
leading his ticket. In January, 1898, he took 
the oath of office, and has since given his time to 
official duties. Fraternally he is connected with 
Ottawa Lodge No. 128, A. F. & A. M., Franklin 
Chapter No. 7, R. A. M., and in religion he is 
identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church 
and a member of its board of trustees. The Com- 
mercial Club numbers him among its members. 
He was married in Springfield, 111., to Miss Ida 
Burkhart, who was born in that city, and by 
whom he has two sons, John Adrian (the fifth of 
that name in direct line) and Walter. 



r^HILIP M. LEWIS, M. D., who is a success- 
Lr ful practicing physician of Lecompton, was 
t^ born in Delaware County, Ind., February 
20, 1841, a son of Ephraim and Sarah (Johnson) 
Lewis. He is one of sixteen children, of whom 
the following survive: Julia, widow of David 
Conger, of Marshall County, Kans. ; Philip M.; 
Jefferson, a minister of the United Brethren 
Church, residing in Lecompton; Caleb, of Las 
Animas, Colo.; Margaret, who married Archi- 
bald McLaughlin, of Nemaha County, Kans.; 
Susan, wife of Claudius McLaughlin, of Mar- 
shall County, this state; Nancy E., of Frankfort, 
Marshall County; Ada J., who married James 
Smith, of Oklahoma; Sarah, wife of J. C. Blair, 
of Centralia, Nemaha County; and William, 
who is engaged in the real-estate business at 
Blue Rapids, Kans. 

A native of Tennessee, born in i8og, Ephraim 
Lewis was only one year old when his parents 
removed to Indiana and established their home 
in a blockhouse in Dearborn County. Some 
years later they removed to what was known as 
the reserve, in the northern part of the state. 
When Indiana was redivided into counties they 
were in Delaware County. After his marriage 
Ephraim Lewis settled upon a farm in that coun- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



557 



ty and engaged in farming. In 1845 he re- 
moved to Decatur County, where he made his 
home for six years. Thence he went to Bartholo- 
mew County. After another six years he estab- 
lished his home in Jennings Count}'. In the 
fall of 1857 he came to Kansas, settling on Sugar 
Creek in I,inn County. He experienced the 
perils and riots of pro-slavery and free-state 
troubles. In 1858 he removed to Marshall Coun- 
ty and there remained up to the time of his 
death, which occurred in 1893. Though he was 
reared a Democrat, after he settled on Kan- 
sas he became an active worker in the free-soil 
party. For two terms he served as county com- 
missioner of Marshall County, where he was a 
very influential citizen. 

The education of Dr. Lewis was obtained in 
public schools and in Lane University. In 1859 
he began the study of medicine in the office of 
Dr. A. J. Ockerman, of Marshall County. Dur- 
ing the next year he accompanied his preceptor, 
who removed to Madison County, Iowa, and 
there spent two years. On the death of Dr. 
Ockerman he continued his studies under Dr. 
A. B. Smith. In 1865-66 he attended Rush 
Medical College in Chicago, after which he began 
to practice, as an under-graduate, in Madison 
County. Two 3'ears later he returned to Kansas 
and the year 1868 found him located in Lecomp- 
ton, where he has since resided. In 1883 he 
entered Kansas City Medical College, from which 
he graduated the following year. Prior to this 
he had built up an extensive practice, and had 
gained the confidence of his community as a 
skilled practitioner. Since entering in partner- 
ship, in 1895, with Dr. H. L. Chambers, a physi- 
cian and surgeon of exceptional ability, he has 
been gradually retiring from professional prac- 
tice and has been devoting a part of his time to 
the growing of fancy poultry. 

After the reorganization of the town of Le- 
compton. Dr. Lewis was the first mayor and con- 
tinued in that office for five years. For two 
terms he served as township trustee. In poli- 
tics he is independent, supporting the measures 
he deems best for the country, irrespective of 
party. In 1897 he was elected president of the 



Kansas State Poultry Association. Fraternally 
he is connected with the Odd Fellows and in re- 
ligion is a member of the United Brethren 
Church. By his marriage to Miss Martha J. 
Baird, of Warren County, Iowa, three children 
were born, two of whom are living, Benjamin E. 
and Maggie B. The son, who is a graduate of 
Lane University and holds a state teacher's cer- 
tificate, is principal of the high school at Centra- 
lia, Kans. Soon after graduating he was united 
in marriage with Miss Hattie E. Snyder, an ac- 
complished young lady, daughter of Rev. Dr. 
Snyder, of Lecompton. The daughter, who is a 
talented musician, is the wife of Dr. H. L. 
Chambers, of Lecompton. 



GlLVIN V. SHARPE, B. S., LL. B., attor- 
LJ ney-at-law and justice of the peace of Law- 
/ I rence, is a descendant of German ancestry. 
His great-grandfather was one of three brothers 
who came from Germany and settled in Ten- 
nes.see, where the grandfather, William Sharpe, 
was born. The latter removed to the north, set- 
tling in Hendricks County, Ind. William Sharpe, 
Jr., our subject's father, was born near Pitts- 
burg, that county, and in 1862 enlisted in Com- 
pany C, Seventieth Indiana Infantry, of which 
regiment Col. Benjamin Harrison was commander. 
Among the engagements in which he took part 
were the battles of Chattanooga and Missionary 
Ridge and those along the line of Sherman's 
march to the sea. At the close of the war he re- 
turned to Indiana. A few years later he removed 
to Ringgold County, Iowa, where he engaged in 
farm pursuits. In 1870 he came to Kansas and 
settled upon a tract of land near Vilas, Wilson 
County, where he has since made his home, 
transforming his property into a well-improved 
farm. Politically he is a Republican, and in re- 
ligion a member of the Christian Church. He is 
interested in the work of the Grand Army of the 
Republic, and enjoys meeting his old comrades 
and reviewing with them the events of the Civil 
war and those memorable engagements at Rus- 
sellville, Resaca, Cassville, New Hope Church, 
Lost Mountain, Kenesaw Mountain, Marilla, 



558 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Savannah, Benton- 
ville, Averborough, etc., in which he bore so 
brave and gallant a part. Two of hi.s brothers 
also fought bravely in defense of the Union. 

The marriage of William Sharpe, Jr., united 
him with Miss Sarah E. McAninch, who was 
born in Hendricks Countj-, Ind., and died in 
Wilson County, Kans., in February, 1882. Her 
father, Joseph McAninch, was of Scotch parent- 
age, and with two of his sons served in an Indi- 
ana regiment during the Civil war. He is still 
living and makes his home on a farm in Ring- 
gold County, Iowa. Of the children of William 
and Sarah Sharpe four are living, viz.: Alvin 
v.; O. Dayton, a practicing physician in Neode- 
sha, Kans.; Mrs. Minnie Newman, of Neodesha; 
and Mrs. Etta Wiggins, also of Wilson County. 
Our subject, who was the oldest of the family, 
was born near Caledonia, Ringgold County, 
Iowa, June 23, 1867. From three years of age 
he was reared upon a farm in Wilson County, 
Kans. After completing the studies of the schools 
there, in 1888 he entered Lane University, from 
which he received the degree of B. S. a few' years 
afterward. He then entered the law department 
of the University of Kansas, where he took the 
regular course, graduating in 1893, with the de- 
gree of LL. B. Previous to this, in order to earn 
the funds necessary for his university course, he 
had devoted some attention to teaching. In 1893 
he opened an office at Yates Center, but in 1895 
returned to Lawrence, where he has since en- 
gaged in practice, with the exception of a short 
period .spent in travel as attorney and collector for 
the Deering Harvester Company. During this 
time he traveled through North Dakota, Minne- 
sota and Manitoba, and after his return to Law- 
rence he represented the same company in Kan- 
sas. In March, 1899, he was appointed justice 
of the peace, and on the ist of April was elected 
to the office. 

June 7, 1893, in Lawrence, Mr. Sharpe mar- 
ried Miss Linnie Blakley Worthington, who was 
born in New York state and received her educa- 
tion in the University of Kansas. They have one 
child, Maud. The family attend the Methodi.st 
Episcopal Church and are identified with its 



work. Fraternally Mr. Sharpe is connected with 
the Modern Woodmen and the Sons of V^eterans. 
In politics he is stanch in his adherence to the 
Republican party, and is an active member of the 
Republican county central committee. 



EYRUS W. FLORY. Coming to Marion 
Township in 1876, Mr. Flory settled on what 
was then known as the Metsker farm and 
since that time he has been associated with the 
agriculturists of his part of Douglas County. 
His wife is the owner of six hundred and ninety 
acres of land bearing first-class improvements, in- 
cluding the usual buildings found on a first-cla.ss 
farm. Besides general farming he is interested 
in the stock business and has made a specialtj' of 
feeding cattle, the farm being admirably adapted 
for stock-raising by reason of the abundance of 
water on it. He is also interested in the mercan- 
tile business at Lone Star with his brother, J. M . 
Flory, under the firm title of Florj- Brothers. 

Born in Whitley Count)', Ind., in 1852, Mr. 
Flory was a boy of almost twelve when his father, 
Christopher Flory, in 1864 removed from Indiana 
to Kansas and .settled in Willow Springs Town- 
ship, Douglas County, where he has since made 
his home on a farm. In earlj' manhood he fol- 
lowed carpentering, but of later years has devoted 
himself to agriculture. The subject of this sketch 
received his education principally in the schools 
of Willow Springs Township. At the age of' 
twenty-one he started out for himself and, for a 
year, had charge of a portion of the home farm. 
At the time of his marriage, February 24, 1876, 
he moved to the farm where he has since resided. 

Taking an interest in all local affairs, Mr. 
Flory gives his support to measures of undoubted 
value to the people. Twice he was the Republi- 
can candidate for township trustee, and for sev- 
eral years he served as town.sliip clerk and treas- 
urer, also was a member of the school board and 
assisted in the building of Lone Star schoolhouse 
No. 47. The people of this township recognize 
his moral worth and hold him in the highest re- 
gard as a man and a citizen. His wife, Sarah E., 
daughter of John C. Metsker, shares with him in 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



559 



the esteem of friends and associates. Inimedi- 
atel}^ after their marriage her father, Mr. Metsker, 
gave her three hundred and fifty acres of land and 
this she still owns, in addition to three hundred 
and fifty acres they have since bought. They 
are the parents of five children now living, 
namely: Clarence M.; Jane E., wife of W. J. 
Anderson; Leroy, Wallace O., and Lola M. One 
son, Claude, died of diphtheria when three years 
and ten months old. 



gjEORGE ADAM SEUFERT, who is a re- 
_l tired farmer and stock- dealer of Stranger 
J Township, Leavenworth County, was born 
in Baden, German)', May i6, 1832, a son of Lewis 
Florian and Catherine (Roland) Seufert, natives 
of Germany and France respectively. His father, 
who was a tailor by trade, came to America in 
1836, and stopped for two years in Rochester, 
N. Y. From there he started with his family 
for the west, but had gone only as far as Buffalo 
when his wife was taken ill with fever and he was 
obliged to stop. He became interested in busi- 
ness in that city and was so successful that he 
employed as many as twenty-five men. About 
twenty j'ears after he settled in Buffalo, poor 
health caused him to retire from business to a 
farm where he continued to reside for twenty-four 
years. Finally he came to Kansas and two years 
later he died here, at the age of sixty-six. 
Of his six children three are living: Catherine, 
wife of Florian Seufert and a resident of New 
York state; G. Adam, the subject of this sketch; 
and Lewis, a farmer in Stranger Township. 

When four years of age our subject was brought 
by his parents to America, spending forty-two 
days upon the ocean in a sailing vessel. He 
was educated in Buffalo schools. For seven years 
he worked for Holt & Palmer, proprietors of a 
line of canal boats. Later he engaged in farm- 
ing. During the gold excitement of 1859 he 
went to California, where he secured work as a 
farm hand, remaining until the spring of 1863. 
On his return to Buffalo he resumed agricultural 
pursuits near that city. In the fall of 1867 
he settled in Kansas and bought one hundred 

24 



and sixty acres of land, of which twenty acres 
had been broken. The only building on the 
place was a small log house. For twenty-five 
years he and his brother operated the land in 
partnership. During the first seven months they 
lived in the log cabin, but as soon as they had 
money enough they built a more substantial 
house. From time to time they added to their 
possessions. They were shrewd, cautious and 
conservative in their dealings, and never gave a 
note or mortgaged their property, but bought for 
cash only. At the time of the division of their 
property, in 1891, they had five hundred and 
forty acres, on which they raised cattle, horses 
and mules, as well as engaged in general farm 
pursuits. 

After retiring from farming our subject gave 
his attention more closely to the creamery busi- 
ness, with which he was identified until the spring 
of 1899. He is still interested in the creamery 
at Basehor and is chairman of its board of di- 
rectors. In 1899 he rented much of his land and 
has since lived retired. He is a member of the 
German Lutheran Church and a contributor to 
religious enterprises. Politically he was reared 
a Democrat. For ten years he has served as 
school director and for twelve years has acted as 
township treasurer. In 1864 he married Marga- 
ret Leininger, whose home was twelve miles from 
the city of Buffalo, in Erie County, N. Y. They 
are the parents of four children: George, a farmer 
of Tonganoxie Township; Rosie, who married 
Harry Levan, of Kansas City; John, now in the 
Klondike; and Margaret. 



(Tames CONNOLLEY SIMMONS, former 
I representative of the fifteenth district in the 
Q) Kansas legislature, is a successful farmer 
and stock-raiser of Franklin County. In 1890 
he bought a tract of land in Franklin Township 
one and one-half miles south of Wellsville. Prior 
to that time he had engaged in buying and ship- 
ping cattle, making his headquarters in Wells- 
ville. He now gives even more attention than 
previously to the stock business, making a spe- 
cialty of raising Polled-Angus cattle and Poland- 



56o 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



China hogs. While he farms one hundred and 
.sixty acres, the grain raised is not sufficient to 
provide feed for his stock, and each winter he is 
obliged to buy some. 

In Warren County, Ind., Mr. Simmons was 
born December 23, 1850. His father, Frank, a 
native of Ireland, was a .seafaring man and served 
on a British man-of-war. Upon coming to this 
country he settled in Indiana, where he became 
interested in farming and the stock business. In 
February, 1856, he established his home in Law- 
rence, Kans., and remained there, interested in 
the stock I)usiness, until his death. A stanch 
free-.soiler he was always loyal to the govern- 
ment, and in politics voted with the Republicans. 
He was twice married, both times in Ohio, and 
had thirteen children, four of whom were born in 
Indiana, the others in Kansas. Of these our 
subject was next to the eldest. He was five 
years of age when the family settled in Kansas. 
His mother died when he was a child, and when 
fourteen years of age he went to Texas, where 
he was employed as a cattle puncher on the trail 
from that time until he was twenty-one. In 1S71 
he returned to this locality and began to improve 
some land in Richmond Township, Miami Coun- 
ty. All the grain he rai.sed was used to feed his 
stock, as even at that time he was interested in 
the stock business. In 1875 he went to the 
Black Hills, but after a year returned to Wells- 
ville, where he remained until removing to his 
present farm. 

Active in the Democratic party Mr. Simmons 
attends all state and county conventions, and has 
served as a delegate to all of such meetings held 
since 1882. For six years he was chairman of 
the county central committee. In 1892 he was 
elected to fill a vacancy as register of deeds. The 
next year he was elected for a full term, being 
the only Democrat in his congre.ssional district 
who was successful in being elected. In 1896 he 
was elected to the legislature, receiving a major- 
ity of more than five hundred and forty, although 
the county is Republican. Under his influence 
the county was divided into two districts. While 
ill the house he served as member of the railroad, 
judiciary, congressional and judicial apportion- 



ment committees. During Cleveland's first ad- 
ministration he held the office of postmaster at 
Wellsville. He is a charter member of the 
Knights of Pythias, Ancient Order of United 
Workmen and vSelcct Knights at Wellsville, and 
is also connected with the Odd Fellows' lodge 
there. 

By his first wife, who bore the maiden name 
of Sarah A. Copeland, Mr. Simmons had one 
child, now deceased. September 7, 1881, he 
married Kate E. Nutt, by whom he has six 
children, namely: Mary Olive, John Francis, 
William Ross, Mattie L., Ida L. and Ray E. 



ILIJAM SPURGEON, who is an enter- 
jirising business man of Lawrence, is a 
descendant of an old ea.stern family. His 
father, Jasper Spurgeon, who was born in Indi- 
ana, removed from there to Jasper County, Mo., 
and engaged in agricultural pursuits. When the 
war broke out he found that his section of coun- 
try was in the thickest of the .secession region. 
He himself was a stanch Union man, yet he was 
so honorable in character and .so fair-minded that 
he retained the respect of his Confederate neigh- 
bors. Feeling, however, that his family would 
be safer elsewhere, he moved them to Fort Scott, 
Kans., and, after seeing that they were provided 
with needed comforts, .started back to his Mis- 
souri farm. While on the way he was attacked 
and killed by bushwhackers. He was then forty 
years of age. His wife, who bore the maiden 
name of Dorcas Foster, was born in Indiana, 
and descended, through her mother, from the 
Jackson family of North Carolina. She died in 
Jasper County a short time after the death of her 
husband, leaving five daughters and one son. 

Born in Greencastle, Ind., the subject of this 
.sketch was seven years of age when his father 
was killed. His mother being unable to continue 
the management of the two farms they owned, 
sold them immediately after the war, when prices 
were low. They have since become very valu- 
able, and on one of them, six miles southeast of 
Joplin, is a popular summer resort. At the close 
of the war our subject came from Fort Scott to 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



561 



Lawrence, where his sister, Mrs. Hj'att, made 
her home. He sta5'ed with her for a time, and 
was then taken into the home of his uncle, Mar- 
tin Sedgwick, who adopted him. There he grew 
to manhood. Early made familiar with agri- 
cultural pursuits he operated his uncle's farm of 
one hundred and sixty acres in Kanwaka Town- 
ship, to which in time he fell heir. In 1893 he 
sold the place and bought a livery barn at No. 
820 Vermont street, Lawrence, where he has 
improved and enlarged the building, now 40x108 
feet, two stories, and has since carried on a livery 
and feed business. He has a genial disposition 
that makes him popular among his patrons. 
Politically he is a Republican, and fraternally 
holds membership with the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen. 



(31 LDAMAR P. ELDER, president of the Ot- 
Ll tawa Foundry Company and president and 
/ I manager of the Ottawa Gas and Heating 
Company, is one of the most successful business 
men of Ottawa. He was born in Kenduskeag, 
Me., April 17, 1854, a son of Gov. P. P. Elder, 
of Ottawa, one of the most eminent men of Kan- 
sas. He was four years of age when the family 
came to Kansas, and his childhood j'ears were 
passed in Ohio City, Fort Scott and Baldwin 
City until 1S66, since which time he has made 
his home in Ottawa. From 1S71 to 1873 he con- 
ducted his studies in the University of Kansas. 
When the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad 
was completed he went to Texas and was em- 
ployed as clerk in the grocerj' house of Fuller & 
Hyatt at Denison. On returning to Ottawa in 
January, 1874, by special act of the legislature 
passed allowing him to exercise the rights of ma- 
jority, he bought the hardware stock of S. D. 
Smith, and engaged in the hardware business at 
No. 126 South Main street. In 1882, by consoli- 
dation with H. C. Bronson, the Bronson-Elder 
Hardware Company was formed, this being in- 
corporated with Mr. Bronson as president and 
Mr. Elder secretarj' and treasurer. The location 
of the business was at No. 216 South Main, and 
the trade built up was large and profitable. After 
some years the Ottawa Foundry Company was 



organized, with Mr. Elder as president. In the 
meantime Mr. Elder had acquired a controlling 
interest in the gas works and was made superin- 
tendent of that plant. 

A division of the hardware stock was made in 
1 888, when Mr. Elder took the plumbing and 
gas- fitting part of the business. For some years 
he remained at No. 220 South Main, but in 1895 
removed to No. 208 South Main, where he has 
three floors, 25x125. He carries all the leading 
lines of stoves and ranges in stock, and has put 
in one hundred and twenty-five furnaces in 
Franklin and adjoining counties. He has had 
the contracts for the finest plumbing, steam and 
gas- fitting in Ottawa, including that for the 
Rohrbaugh Opera House, Baptist Church, Peo- 
ple's National Bank, First National Bank, court 
house, count)' infirmary, the residences of H. A. 
Dunn, Lyman Reid and others. The contract 
for the residence of Lyman Reid was one of his 
latest and most important. In it the plumbing is 
complete and modern in every detail. A water 
motor in the basement, operated by city water 
pressure, forces soft cistern water automatically to 
the various fixtures throughout the house. Two 
lavatories, enameled laundry tubs, bath room 
with tiled floor, enameled sink in photographer's 
dark room, etc., render the house perfect as to 
plumbing; while the heating is by the hot water 
single pipe system, with large boiler and Zenith 
radiators of ornamental design. No residence in 
Kansas is more complete as to plumbing and 
heating than this, and Mr. Elder received num- 
erous congratulations upon the success of his 
work. 

In addition to his other business Mr. Elder 
handles bicycles, making a specialty of the Cres- 
cent, and he aLso sells windmills and pumps. He 
has enlarged the gas plant to a capacity of one 
hundred thousand feet, and has made the enter- 
prise a profitable one. He is secretary of the 
Master Plumbers' Association of the State of 
Kansas. For twenty-five years he has been a 
member of the fire department, of which he was 
chief for ten years. For two years he was a 
member of the school board. Politically he was 
formerly a Populist but is now a Democrat. He is 



562 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



connected with the blue lodge and chapter of 
Masonry, the Odd Fellows and Fraternal Aid. 
For two years he was president of the State Fire- 
men's Association, and served on its committee 
on legislation. He was the author of two laws 
now on the statute books of the state, one of 
which levies a tax of two per cent of gross pre- 
miums on fire insurance companies in cities 
where organized fire departments are maintained, 
this fund being for the relief of firemen injured in 
fires or for their families. 

In Ottawa, in 1876, Mr. Elder married Clara 
M., daughter of William H. Maxwell, formerly 
a prominent attorney of Jouesboro, Tenu., but 
later a practicing lawyer in Ottawa, and finally a 
resident of Paoli, where he died. Mrs. Elder 
was born in Jonesboro and received her educa- 
tion in the Ottawa University. To their marriage 
three children were born: Raymond E., P. P., 
Jr., and Clara D. The older son, who assisted 
his father in business, enlisted in May, 1898, in 
Company K, Twentieth Kansas Infantry, and 
served as corporal until honorably discharged at 
San Francisco in October of the same year. 



[~RED RUDER, a pioneer of 1857, is still en- 
JM gaged in business in Leavenworth. In July, 
I * 1884, he started a harness shop at No. 731 
Shawnee street, buying the property which then 
had an old frame liuilding on it. He continued 
in the same shop until 1895, when he built a 
two-story brick structure, which gives him a fine 
store room besides the rooms above. In addition 
to the harness manufactured he carries a large 
stock of saddles, and the trade is so large that he 
and his son are kept steadily employed, at times 
other assistance being required. The business is 
carried on under the firm name of Fred Ruder 
& Son. 

In Liverpool, Medina County, Ohio, Mr. 
Ruder was born May 28, 1835. His father, 
George, was born in Baden, Germany, and came 
to America in 1833, crossing in a sailing-vessel 
which was wrecked near the coast of Ireland. 
Upon reaching the new world he engaged in 
farming in Ohio. Our subject's educational ad- 



vantages were meagre, as he was able to attend 
school only three months in the year. His time 
was devoted principally to clearing the home farm. 
When fourteen years of age he began to work in 
Cleveland, and three years later he was appren- 
ticed to the harncssmaker's trade, at which he 
served until twenty-one. He then went to Chi- 
cago, and after a short time at his trade, in the 
spring of 1857 came to Kansas, arriving in Leav- 
enworth April 15. Here he was employed as a 
saddler in the government service. He made many 
trips to the west for the government, being gone 
from six months to two years at a time, and 
working at Forts Dodge and Lyon and on the Un- 
compahgre. Much of his time was given to the 
repairing of harness for trains. In 1869 he bought 
eighty acres of partly improved land in Leaven- 
worth County and established his family in the 
log cabin there, while he engaged in clearing up 
the land. During some of his longer trips for the 
government the family remained on the farm. 
During this time he made the equipments for the 
cavalry at the arsenal here and also worked at 
Rock Island. In February, 1884, he brought his 
family to Leavenworth. 

Though not active in politics, Mr. Ruder has 
served his party, the Republican, as delegate to 
conventions and has been a member of the school 
board. Reared a Lutheran, he inclines toward 
that faith. In 1862 he married Mary Helling, 
who was born in Cleveland, her father, Henry 
Helling, having at one time been a manufacturer 
there. The seven children comprising their fam- 
ily are Amelia (decea.sed), Fred W., Caroline 
M., Andrew G., Sarah J. (principal of the Ot- 
tawa street public school), Anna B., and Charles 
H., who works with his father. The second son 
is superintendent of a factory at the state peni- 
tentiary. The oldest son, who is his father's 
business partner, was born at Fort Leavenworth 
and has been a lifelong resident of this county. 
Having been carefully instructed in the harness 
business by his father, he is well fitted to engage 
successfully in the business. Since June, 1896, 
he has been in partnership with his father. He 
is a thorough workman and gives his time clo.sely 
to details of the business. He is connected with 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



563 



the Leavenworth Turn Verein and in politics is 
a Republican. His marriage took place Decem- 
ber 9, 1896, and united him with Ida Wettig, of 
this city. 

EHARLES BOSWORTH. Eleven miles east 
of Ottawa, and five miles south of Weils- 
ville, in the northeastern part of Peoria 
Township, Franklin County, lies one of the finest 
farms of this region. It is the property of Mr. 
Bosworth, and lies on sections 21, 22, 23, 26 and 
27. At the time he came here the land was raw 
prairie, but he has transformed it into a valuable 
farm. By various purchases he became the 
owner of three thousand acres, out of which he 
gave to each of his children a farm. He now 
conducts tweut3'-two hundred acres, of which one 
thousand acres are in Barber County, Kans. Of 
his propertj' fifteen hundred acres have been 
under the plow, but the land is now mostly in 
tame grass for the pasturage of stock, and the 
corn raised is also used for feed. He makes a 
specialty of Hereford cattle, of which he now 
owns three hundred head. Without doubt he is 
the largest land owner and heaviest stockman in 
the county. His farm bears all of the modern 
improvements. The residence is surrounded by 
large grounds, with shade trees that were set out 
by him. The farm buildings on Mr. Bosworth's 
property are the finest in Franklin County, and 
among the best and most attractive in the state 
of Kansas. It is a fact worthy of note that he 
has distributed more money in wages than any 
other farmer in Franklin County. 

The ancestry of the Bosworth family is traced 
back to Bosworth, England, a place associated 
with the celebrated battle of Bosworth Field, 
where, in August, 1485, was fought a battle that, 
with the death of Richard III., terminated the 
war of the Roses. Cyrus Bosworth, our subject's 
father, was born in Massachusetts, and immedi- 
ately after the breaking out of the war of 18 12 
migrated to Ohio. It had been his intention to 
engage in a seafaring life, but the boat he had in 
process of building was burned by the British, 
and he then abandoned the plan and went to 
Ohio, where he followed farming. In politics a 



Whig, he served as sheriff and representative. 
In religion he was a member of the Christian 
Church, in which he preached often. His death 
occurred about the time of the beginning of the 
Civil war. In his native county of Plymouth he 
married Sina Strowbridge, by whom he had 
fourteen children, but eight died in infancy, and 
only our subject and a sister survive. By a sec- 
ond marriage he had two children. 

Born in Trumbull County, Ohio, July 27, 1824, 
our subject was educated in common schools and 
Bethany College in West Virginia, which he at- 
tended for one term. At an early age he became 
familiar with the stock business. His father was 
one of the first to introduce fine stock into Trum- 
bull County. He also engaged in the lumber 
business with Granville W. Sears, furnishing the 
Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad Company with 
all the oak timber they used during a period of 
three and a-half years. Both during and imme- 
diately after the war he was successful in a finan- 
cial way. In July, 1869, he arrived in Kansas. 
His father-in-law, Mr. Sears, and the latter's 
two sons, had come herein 1857, ^^'^ ^^'^ taken 
up about ten quarter-sections of land, holding it 
until 1869, when our subject, who was in part- 
nership with Mr. Sears in the sawmill business, 
traded his interest in the sawmill and land for 
the Kansas land. On this property he settled, 
and to it he added from year to year until his 
possessions became very large and valuable. He 
votes with the Republicans, and in religion is 
identified with the Christian Church. 

In Ohio, January i, 1856, Mr. Bosworth mar- 
ried Mary E. Sears, whose father was born in 
New York and her mother in New Jersey. Of 
their seven children five are living, namely: 
Granville Sears, a farmer of Peoria Township; 
Frances E.; Mrs. Belle Moherman, of Peoria 
Township; Mrs. Clara Castle, whose husband is 
an instructor in Harvard College; and Laura. 

At the time of the sale of the lands in the 
Peoria Reservation in 1857, Mrs. Bosworth's 
father, Granville W. Sears, accompanied by his 
two sons, John M. and James M., came to Kan- 
sas, and secured, by purchase and locating of 
warrants, ten quarter-sections of land in Franklin 



564 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



and Miami Counties. This original acquisition 
subsequentlj' became the property of Mr. Bos- 
worth, who has added to it since that time by the 
purchase of six quarter-sections. Of the whole 
property he has in recent years deeded twelve 
hundred acres to his children. 



(Judge lewis S. Steele, of Lawrence, 
I came to Kansas June i, 1857, and located a 
Q) claim near Clinton, Douglas County. He 
was born in Ross County, Ohio, September 15, 
1833, a son of Col. J. C. and Elizabeth F. 
(McLean) Steele, natives respectively of Cliilli- 
cothe, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. His grand- 
father, Robert Steele, who was born in West- 
moreland County, Pa., and followed the carpen- 
ter's trade, was one of the first settlers of Chilli- 
cothe, having gone there prior to 1800, while it 
was still the capital of the territory. With lum- 
ber that he had sawed and nails that he manu- 
factured he engaged in making furniture in that 
cit3', and also followed general building, erecting 
the first capitol of Ohio at Chillicothe. Later he 
settled on a farm not far distant. He was of 
Presbyterian-Scotch ancestry. His death oc- 
curred when he was eighty-four. His wife was 
a daughter of Dr. Johnston, of Chillicothe. 

By trade Col. J. C. Steele was a carpenter, but 
he followed farming during much of his life. In 
1848 he settled at South Salem, Ohio. He aided 
in the construction of the Cincinnati & Marietta 
Railroad, in which he was a director. In 1857 
he brought his family to Kan.sas and settled on a 
claim at Bloomington, where he improved a farm 
and made his home until he died, in 1878, at the 
age of seventy-eight. Through his having. served 
as the commander of the Ohio state militia he 
was always known as Colonel. He was a mem- 
ber of the first anti-slavery society in the United 
States, joining it about 1833. He was a candi- 
date for congress in Ohio on the free-soil ticket, 
but was defeated with his party. While in the 
east he was a prominent temperance worker, as 
well as an advocate of abolition of slavery. In 
1854 a colony was formed for the purpose of lo- 
cating in Kansas, but complications arose and 



the men determined to locate in Iowa. He there- 
fore removed to Warren County, that state, when 
he pushed on to Kansas, and in March located a 
claim. From that time he worked to secure the 
admission of Kansas as a free state. He was a 
loyal patriot and gave five of his sons to the 
Union service. In religion he was a Presbyterian 
and served his church as an elder. 

October 5, 1826, Colonel Steele married a 
daughter of Alexander McLean, who was a na- 
tive of Scotland and a pioneer farmer of Ross 
County, Ohio. She had an uncle, D. V. Mc- 
Lean, D. D., of Princeton, N. J., who was one of 
the most famous preachers in this country. Her 
death occurred February 3, 1868. Of her chil- 
dren, Mary v., Mrs. R. A. Dean, resides in Law- 
rence. Robert, who was captain of a company 
that took part in driving Price out of the state, 
died in Belvoir, Douglas County, Kans., in 1898. 
Lewis S. was third in the family. Col. James M. , 
who was first the captain of Company E, Twelfth 
Kansas Infantry, later served as lieutenant-colonel 
of the One Hundred and Thirteenth United 
States Colored Troops, consisting of five compa- 
nies; he now re.sides at Emporia, Kans., and is 
cashier of the Emporia National Bank. Evaline 
is the widow of C. F. Woodward, of Boise City, 
Idaho. Araasa J., who was captain of the Ninth 
Kansas Infantry in the Civil war, died in Ross 
County, Ohio, February 11, 1874. Ira T., who 
took part in the Price raid, is postmaster and a 
merchant at Belvoir, Kans. , and a large farmer 
there. The youngest child, Marcus, died in in- 
fancy. 

The education of our subject was acquired 
mainly in Salem Academy, which his father had 
assisted in starting. After teaching one term of 
school, in 1854 he went to Omaha, Neb., and 
spent one winter there, later settling in Indian- 
ola, Iowa, where he studied law with R. W. Steele, 
an uncle. In 1856 he was admitted to the bar. 
The next year he came to Kansas and settled at 
Bloomington, Douglas County, where he took up 
a claim. In i860 he crossed the plains with 
oxen, following the Platte route, and arriving in 
Denver after a trip of forty days. From Denver 
he went to South Park, Buckskin Joe and Call- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



565 



fornia Gulch, after which he crossed the Suow}' 
range and mined in Washington Gulch. In the 
fall of 1862 he returned to the vicinity of Cali- 
fornia Gulch, thence went to Denver, where he 
enlisted as a private in Companj' C, Third Colo- 
rado Infantry, with which he marched to Leav- 
enworth and Iron Mountain. He took part in 
the capture of Camden Point and Liberty, the 
battles of the Blue, Independence, Mares Des- 
Cyne and Newtonia. At the consolidation of the 
Second and Third Colorado Infantries at Rolla, 
Mo., in December, 1863, he was assigned to 
Company K, Second Regiment, and remained in 
it until he was mustered out, September 25, 1865. 
From the close of the war until his discharge he 
was engaged on the plains in protecting militar}' 
posts, and during that time had several skirmishes 
with the Indians. 

After leaving the army he located at Clinton, 
Kans., where he engaged in the milling business 
until 1872. During that year he came to Law- 
rence and began to practice law, also embarked 
in the real-estate and abstract business, in which 
he has since continued. He has subdivided Earl's 
addition to the east of the city, has a complete 
abstract book of the count}', and has dealt in 
farm lands in this, Jefferson and Leavenworth 
Counties. From 1878 to 1880 he was police 
judge and justice of the peace, and the former 
office he held again from 189510 1897. A stanch 
Republican he assisted in organizing that party 
in Iowa in 1854, when its platform was far from 
popular. Fraternally he is a member of Law- 
rence Lodge No. 6, A. F. & A. M., and he is 
past master. He and his sister, Mrs. Dean, are 
the only survivors of the original members of the 
First Presbyterian Church in Lawrence, this be 
ing in 1858. For years he served as an elder 
and trustee of the church. In 1870 he became 
connected with the Grand Army and is now a 
member of Washington Post No. 12. 

The marriage of Judge Steele took place in 
Lawrence, February 8, 1866, and united him 
with Louisa A. Blakely, who was born in Mari- 
etta, Ohio, and died in Lawrence in 1896. Her 
father. Rev. A. Blakely, who descended from 
"Mayflower" stock, was a pioneer Presbyterian 



minister in Kansas, where he settled in 1864. 
He organized the new school Presbyterian Church 
at Lawrence, which is now consolidated with the 
Presbyterian Church, and of which he was pastor 
until he died. Two of his sons, Charles and 
John R. , were members of the Ninth Regiment 
New York Artillery. Charles was killed in the 
battle of Cold Harbor. John R., who was hon- 
orably discharged owing to physical disability, 
returned home and died there soon afterward. 
Judge and Mrs. Steele became the parents of four 
sons. Charles A., the eldest of the family, resides 
in Lawrence. John M., a newspaper correspond- 
ent, enlisted in Company H, Twentieth Kansas 
Infantry, and went to the Philippines, where he 
took part in various battles and has been editor 
of the Manila American. James L., a graduate 
of the University of Kansas in 1895, is a practic- 
ing lawyer of Lawrence. Horace E., the young- 
est son, while a student in Park College, Mo., 
left to enlist in the Spanish-American war, be- 
coming a member of Companj' B, Third Missouri 
Infantry, May 14, 1898. He was stationed at 
Camp Alger, but finding his regiment would not 
see active service, he secured a muster-out by 
special order, November 7, 1898. He then has- 
tened to San Francisco, intending to enlist in the 
Twentieth Kansas Infantry, but arrived there too 
late, the troops having just started for the Phil- 
ippines, so he returned to Park College. The 
sons are identified with the Sons of Veterans and 
are bright and promising young men, of whose 
future it is safe to predict that their father's 
hopes will be fully realized. 



(TOHN TUDHOPE. The life of this success- 
I ful farmer of Leavenworth County furnishes 
(2/ an example of what may be accomplished by 
persistence, determination and energy. The fact 
that, starting without means, he has attained a 
commendable success is an encouragement to 
every young man who starts now under similar 
circumstances. His farm in the Kaw River bot- 
tom is one of the finest in Sherman Township, 
and consists of five hundred and twenty-four and 
a-half acres. When he purchased the nucleus of 



566 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



his property, in 1869, the Delaware reserve land 
had just been placed on the market and he bought 
fifty-six acres, to which he has since added fre- 
quently. He is engaged in raising stock and 
cereals, but makes a specialty of growing pota- 
toes, to which he has planted from one hundred 
and fifty to two hundred and fifty acres per year. 

Our subject was born in Scotland April 10, 
1833, a son of Jacob and Esther (Alston) Tud- 
hope. His father, who carae to the United States 
about 1848, settled in Pittsburgh, Pa., and en- 
gaged in railroad contracting. About 1854 he 
removed to Ohio and there remained until his 
death, at .seventy-six years. During the Rebel- 
lion he enlisted from Allegheny City in the Sev- 
enty-seventh Pennsylvania Infantry, and contin- 
ued at the front until the close of the war, after 
which he accompanied his regiment to Texas to 
investigate the Mexican affairs. When mustered 
out he held the rank of sergeant. Returning to 
his Ohio farm he resumed agricultural pursuits, 
in which he continued uninterruptedly until his 
retirement. In politics he voted the Republican 
ticket. His wife died in Ohio when eighty-two 
years of age. They were the parents of six chil- 
dren, five of whom are living, namely: John; 
James, who was killed in the battle of Gettys- 
burg; William, now of Oregon, who enlisted in 
Pennsylvania under Johnson to fight the Mor- 
mons, and also took part in the Civil war as a 
member of the Fourth United States Cavalry; 
Margaret, Jane and Marion. 

At the time the family came to America the 
subject of this sketch was fifteen years of age. 
About 1852 he secured employment at track-lay- 
ing on the Pennsylvania Railroad near Alle- 
gheny City, and afterward for many years he was 
interested in railroad work. For sixteen years 
he made his home in Nevada, Wyandot County, 
Ohio, meantime engaging in construction and re- 
pair work on railroads. In 1867 he came to 
Kansas and settled at what is now Linwood. 
From that time until 1893 he was employed on 
the Union Pacific Road and had charge of repairs 
of the tracks as roadmaster from Kansas City to 
Junction City. Since 1893 he has given his at- 
tention wholly to agricultural pursuits. In poli- 



tics he is a stanch Republican. His first voto 
was cast for S. P. Chase, governor of Ohio, and 
his first presidential ballot for John C. Fremont. 
For twenty-nine years he has been a member of 
the school board, meantime taking a very active 
part in educational matters; but, while willing to 
accept this position, he has always refused polit- 
ical offices. Since 1854 ^^ ^^s been a Mason. 
He is a member of Lawrence Lodge No. 6, A. F. 
& A. M. ; De Molay Commandery No. 4, K. T., 
and Lawrence Chapter No. 4 at Lawrence. He 
has taken the twentieth degree in Scottish Rite. 
He is also connected with the Knights of Honor. 
While in Ohio he was connected with the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows. In the Congre- 
gational Church, of which he is a member, he 
serves as trustee and is an active worker. 

The marriage of our subject took place July 
24, 1854, ^"<^ united him with Miss Mary Will- 
iamson, of Ohio, member of a Quaker family of 
that state. They were the parents of six chil- 
dren, four of whom are living, namely: John; 
Sarah Esther, who is the wife of Hugh Perry; 
Mary, Mrs. D. C. Harbaugh; and James. 



REV. JOHN M. SULLIVAN, a retired Meth- 
odist Episcopal minister residing in Bald- 
win, Douglas County, was born in Fayet- 
teville. Brown Countj', Ohio, Decembers, 1827. 
His father, John, a native of Kentucky, removed 
to Ohio with his parents in boyhood and spent 
the remainder of his life in that state, where he 
engaged in farming and died at fortj--seven years. 
He married Sarah Hull, who was born in Ohio 
and died there at thirty-two years. She was a 
daughter of John Hull, probably an emigrant 
from Germany to this countrj-, where he became 
a man of influence and served under Washington 
in the Revolutionarj' war. In religion she was 
identified with the United Brethren Church. At 
her death she left three children, the eldest being 
John M. The second son, Peter, who was a 
blacksmith by trade, served in the Seventh Illi- 
nois Infantry during the Civil war, and there 
contracted the disease that ultimately caused his 
death. He was very popular among the jieople 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



567 



of Pittsfield, 111., where he resided. A stanch 
Democrat, he was elected on the part}' ticket to 
various town and count}' offices, all of which he 
filled with credit to himself. The only daughter 
in the family is Elizabeth, widow of Joseph Baer 
and a resident of Georgetown, Ohio. The pater- 
nal grandfather of our subject, Patrick O. Sulli- 
van, was born near Dublin, Ireland, and in boy- 
hood ran away from home to become a sailor. 
After some years he abandoned his seafaring life 
and settled in Kentucky, where he followed farm- 
ing. His last years were spent upon a farm in 
Ohio, where he died, of paralysis, at the age of 
sixty-five years. He married Miss Rachael Fritz, 
who was born in Pennsylvania, of German ex- 
traction, and died in Ohio at the age of seventy 
years, leaving seven children. She was a mem- 
ber of the Baptist Church. 

At the time of his mother's death our subject 
was fifteen years of age. He learned the shoe- 
maker's trade afterward and followed it for a 
time. At the opening of the Mexican war he en- 
listed as a private in Company C, Second Ohio 
Infantry, and in a short time was made a non- 
commissioned officer. After serving for a year 
he was honorably discharged from the armj', and 
returned to Ohio. Later he attended Oberlin 
College, then taught a district school for two 
years and for a similar period was principal of 
the Fayetteville graded schools. Meantime he 
had determined to enter the ministry. With this 
object in view he secured admission to the Cin- 
cinnati conference, and was assigned as junior 
preacher on the East White Oak circuit for a 
year. His first charge was in Mount Washing- 
ton, Ohio. He continued in that state until the 
spring of 1870, when he came to Kansas and for 
two years was stationed in Manhattan, for two 
years at Waterville, three years at Holton and 
four years in the Leavenworth district. In 1877 
he moved his family to Baldwin, where he has 
since made his home. 

During the war Mr. Sullivan was for two years 
chaplain of the Seventieth Ohio Infantry, and 
he still has in his possession a splendid letter of 
recommendation received from the colonel of the 
regiment. After serving as chaplain for two 



years the condition of his health forced him to 
resign. For two years he was chaplain of the 
house of representatives in Kansas. For more 
than a quarter of a century he has been a trustee 
of Baker University, being, with the exception 
of Dr. Dennison, of Topeka, Kans. , the only 
trustee who has served for so long a period. In 
1 88 1 he received the appointment of agent for the 
university and had charge of the financial manage- 
ment of the institution, raising $10,000 with 
which to pay its indebtedness. Since 188 1 he 
has also been a trustee of the Chautauqua as- 
sembly at Ottawa, Kans. For several years he 
was president of the State Methodist Episcopal 
Educational Association, and while at Holton he 
was a member of the board of examiners and also 
taught in the teachers' institute. Since his re- 
tirement from the ministry he has had leisure for 
participation in public afiairs and has been active 
in the Republican party. 

July 21, 1853, Mr. Sullivan married Lucy M. 
Sweet, who was born in Kentucky, but reared in 
Ohio, and is a lady of intelligence, amiable dis- 
position and refinement of character. They are 
the parents of four children now living, namely: 
Benjamin M., a carpenter and builder in Topeka, 
Kans.; Emma S., wife of Henry Siegrist, cashier 
of a wholesale house in Kansas City, Mo. ; Sadie, 
wife of Rev. John S. Colt, who graduated from 
Baker University and is now a prominent minister 
of Allegheny, Pa.; and Lyman, who graduated 
from the business department of Baker Uni- 
versity and is employed in a store in Baldwin. 



W. ELDRIDGE, M. D., city physician of 
^ Lawrence, is a graduate of the Cincinnati 
^ College of Medicine and Surgery, from 
which he received the degree of M. D., in Febru- 
ary, 1879. For a year afterward he was em- 
ployed as interne in the Cincinnati hospital, after 
which he returned to his native county of Elk- 
hart, Ind. In 188 1 he opened an office at Alma, 
Wabaunsee County, Kans., where, in addition 
to his general practice, he served as county coro- 
ner for two terms and as county health officer for 
five years, also as local surgeon to the Rock 



568 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Island Railroad for six j-ears, county phj-sician 
for one jear, and member of the board of pension 
examiners for two terms, under Presidents Har- 
rison and Cleveland. In 1891 he removed to 
Alta Vista, and from there, in April, 1897, came 
to Lawrence, where he has his office at the cor- 
ner of Massachusetts and Henry streets. In May, 
1898, he was appointed by Mayor Gould to the 
oflBce of city physician. 

Dr. Eldridge was born in Elkhart County, 
Ind., March 19, 1854, and is a son of Joseph W. 
and Jerusha (Walker) Eldridge, natives of Ohio 
and Vermont respectively. His paternal grand- 
father, Walter Eldridge, was born in Vermont, 
whence he removed to Ohio, and in 1837 settled 
in Indiana, where he died. The maternal grand- 
father, Lucius Walker, also settled upon an 
Indiana farm in 1837; he was a son of Elijah 
Walker, a Revolutionary soldier who died in 
Vermont and whose ancestors, of English origin, 
had removed from Connecticut to Vermont in an 
early day. Joseph W. Eldridge was a carpenter 
and cabinet-maker by trade. He removed from 
Indiana to Iowa, thence to Kansas, and assisted 
in building all of the depots on the Rock Island 
Railroad we.st of the Missouri. He is now living 
retired at Fremont, Neb. His wife died in 1854, 
when their younger sou was an infant, and left 
two children, the elder of whom, Noble, is a 
contractor in Council Bluffs, Iowa. 

The boyhood days of Dr. Eldridge were spent 
with his grandparents Walker on a farm. He 
received his education in the high school at 
Goshen, Ind., after which he engaged in school 
teaching for four years. The study of medicine 
he commenced under Dr. F. M. Aitken, of Elkhart, 
Ind., and later carried it on in one of the best 
medical colleges of that time. He gives careful 
thought to every development made in the sci- 
ence which he has selected for his life work and 
keeps in touch with the latest discoveries in ther- 
apeutics. He is a member of the Douglas Coun- 
ty and State Medical Societies, in the work of 
which he takes an interest. Politically he ad- 
heres to Republican principles, and in religion is 
a Methodist, while fraternally he is connected 
with the Modern Woodmen, Independent Order 



of Odd Fellows and Knights and Ladies of Se- 
curity, of which he is examiner. While living 
in Wabaunsee County he married Miss Lena 
Moggie, who was born and reared there, and by 
whom he has two children, Jessie and Ferris. 



0EORGE C. APPLETON, recorder of deeds 
I— of Franklin County, was appointed by the 
\J^ board of county commissioners to fill a va- 
cancy in this office, cau.sed by the death of his 
father, G. F. Appleton, the former incumbent. 
While he had previously been devoting himself 
to an entirely different line of business, he has 
nevertheless discharged the duties of his office 
systematically and satisfactorily, and has proved 
himself a capable official. In disposition he is 
genial and affable, and these qualities have won 
for him friends among the best people of his 
count}'. 

The Appleton family removed from Massachu- 
setts to New Hampshire at an early day. S. S. 
Appleton, a native of New Hampshire, was for 
years general agent of the Vermont Central 
Railroad at Burlington, Vt., where he died. His 
son, G. F. , was with the Vermont Central, first 
as city ticket agent in Burlington and later as a 
passenger conductor. During the Civil war he 
served for almost three years as captain of Com- 
pany D, Tenth Vermont Infantry, assigned to 
the Army of the Potomac, but on account of 
physical disability he was discharged before the 
close of the war. In 1873 he came to Kansas, 
settling on a farm near Williamsburg, where he 
engaged in farming and raising horses of the 
Hambletonian strand. His horses he brought 
from the east and some of them were very fine. 
On his place of six hundred and twentj- acres he 
had a race track, where he trained his horses for 
the turf. On finally abandoning the hor.se busi- 
ness he became a conductor on the Missouri Pa- 
cific Railroad between Kansas Cit}' and Sedalia, 
where he continued for .some years. He then re- 
turned to his farm and was living there when in 
1895 he was elected register of deeds on the fu- 
sion ticket. Two years later he was re-elected 
by a large majority. He took the oath of office 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



569 



January 6, 1896, and continued in office until he 
died, April 12, 1899. He was a man whose 
friends were as numerous as his acquaintances. 
Seen under whatever circumstances he might be, 
he always proved himself a gentleman. Frank- 
lin County had few men more popular or better 
known than he, and his death was universally 
regretted. 

The marriage of G. F. Appleton united him 
with Miss Jennie Abernathy, who was born in 
New York City, of English and Scotch descent, 
and is now living in Ottawa, making her home 
with her only living child, having lost her 
daughter Jennie in 1897. The subject of this 
sketch was born in Burlington, Vt., May 17, 
1 87 1, and was reared in Ottawa, where he at- 
tended the public schools. At eighteen years of 
age he secured a clerkship with Baldwin & Stone, 
after which he became interested in railroading, 
being employed with the Illinois Central, Rock 
Island and St. Paul roads, both in the yard and 
the train service. In January, 1899, he returned 
to Ottawa and entered the register's office as 
clerk. Upon the death of his father he succeeded 
to the office, to serve until January, 1900. 



|7|HARLES HEMAN CHAPIN. Adjoining 
1 1 the village of Springdale, in Alexandria 
Vj Township, Leavenworth County, lies the 
farm where for years Mr. Chapin made his home. 
He was a man who stood foremost among the 
citizens of his county and also wielded consider- 
able influence throughout Kansas, of which he 
was a pioneer. Born in Bloomfield, N. Y., March 
17, 1822, he was a son of Heman Chapin, who 
engaged in various pursuits, but made agriculture 
his chief occupation in life. After completing 
his education in Canandaigua, N. Y. , he entered a 
bank at Ellicottville, that state, and continued in 
the same concern until 1856, when he resigned a 
lucrative position in order to come west for the 
purpose of identifying himself with the free-state 
movement in Kansas. 

During the troubles before the admission of 
Kansas as a state Mr. Chapin was associated 
with Gov. Charles H. Robinson and other men 



of prominence. Upon the breaking out of the 
Civil war he enlisted in the First Kansas In- 
fantry, and was conmissioned quartermaster by 
Governor Robinson. This position he held until 
the disastrous battle of Wilson's Creek, Mo., 
September 11, 1861. In that engagement, when 
General Lyon was shot, he was carried under a 
tree and left there until the battle was ended. 
Upon the withdrawal of the Union and Con- 
federate forces Mr. Chapin returned to the battle- 
field with his ambulances, in order to gather the 
wounded. He found that the body of General 
Lyon had been put in an ambulance, but as he 
did not have room for the dead and the wounded 
both, he gave orders that the wounded be cared 
for first, hoping thus to save many lives. One of 
the men exclaimed, "But this is General Lyon." 
His reply was, ' 'A live soldier is better than a 
dead general." Afterward, when the wounded 
had been removed, he carried the body of the 
general from the field. 

Owing to ill health Mr. Chapin resigned his 
commission and returned home. He engaged in 
general farming and stock-raising and was one of 
the first to inaugurate the growing of fruit in this 
locality. He took a special interest in horticult- 
ure. In 1869-70 he was chairman of the board 
of commissioners, to which board he was elected 
on the Democratic ticket. Under Major Howell, 
of the United States Engineers, he was employed 
by the government in the dredging of the mouth 
of the Mississippi River in 1874-75. After his 
return to Leavenworth County he became an ex- 
tensive contractor in the erection of bridges. He 
was intimately associated with the growth of his 
county and was a man of great public spirit. 

The first marriage of Mr. Chapin united him 
with Miss Abbie Clark, who died, leaving a son, 
Staley N. Chapin, now a physician in Chicago. 
August 30, 1864, he married Jennie L. Day, by 
whom he had three children, namely: Oliver C, 
who is a civil engineer and also has charge of 
the home estate; Charles R. , who is in the elec- 
trical business; and Mary C. , who is a graduate 
in pharmacy. Mrs. Chapin was born in Erie 
County, N. Y., and in early childhood was taken 
to Wisconsin by her parents, Stephen and Lucy 



570 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



(Wilder) Day. Since her husband's death she 
has continued to reside on the old homestead, 
which comprises a half-section of land directly 
west of Springdale. The property is managed 
by her son, Oliver, a man of business enterprise, 
who has leased land in the Osage Lands, I. T., 
and expects to embark extensively in stock-rais- 
ing. 

After many years devoted to farming and 
bridge-building, Mr. Chapin died suddenly, of 
heart trouble, October 28, 1889. At the time of 
his death many testimonials of his worth were 
given to his family. Citizens united in admiring 
his character and upright life. As a soldier he 
was faithful to every duty; as a business man 
conservative and judicious; and as a citizen pro- 
gressive. 

(ejAMUEL W. ABERNATHY, who is one of 
2\ the most enterprising business men of Otta- 
v£/ wa, was born in Morrow, Warren County, 
Ohio, December 8, 1857, a son of James W. and 
Abigail (Thompson) Abernathy, natives respec- 
tively of Brown and Union Counties, Ohio. His 
maternal grandfather. Rev. William Thompson, 
was a minister in the Christian Church, while 
his paternal grandfather, Samuel Abernathy, a 
native of the north of Ireland, engaged in farm- 
ing in Brown County. From Warren County, 
where he had owned a farm, James W. Abernathy 
moved to Clermont County, Ohio, and there he 
still resides. His wife died in 1891. Of their 
eleven children five are now living. 

At the time the family settled in Clermont 
County the subject of this sketch was eight years 
of age. He received public school advantages 
and remained at home until seventeen years of 
age, when he secured work as a clerk. After- 
ward he was employed as street car conductor in 
Cincinnati for several years. In 1882 he came to 
Ottawa, Kans., and began in business as collector 
for the Singer Sewing Machine Company. After 
nine months he went to Lawrence, where he was 
first connected with a piano house and later with 
a sewing machine firm. He remained in Law- 
rence from June, 1883 to 1885, when he returned 
to Ottawa and began in the sewing machine 



business for himself on Main street. Gradually 
his trade increased and he began to handle differ- 
ent articles. In 1887 he bought a stock of mu- 
sical instruments. This proved so profitable and 
the business became so large that he finally 
turned his whole attention to it, and is now sole 
proprietor of the Abernathy Music Company', 
which has several branch agencies and employs 
from eight to ten traveling salesmen in south- 
eastern Kansas. The original location of the 
business was No. 218 Main street, but after four 
years, in Maj^ 1891, the headquarters were 
changed to No. 221 Main street. The success of 
this enterprise is due almost wholly to the energy 
of its founder, who is a man of business ability 
and manages everj' detail of the business with a 
keen eye and quick mind. His purchases of 
pianos and organs are made in the factory and 
the}' are shipped to Ottawa in carload lots, thence 
reshipped to different points as ordered. In stock 
are carried not only pianos and organs of the 
principal makes, but also mandolins, guitars, vio- 
lins and other popular instruments. 

Fraternally Mr. Abernathy is connected with 
the uniform rank of Knights of Pythias. In pol- 
itics he is a Democrat. He was married in Otta- 
wa to Prudence S. Grant, who was born in Cler- 
mont County, Ohio, a daughter of James Harris 
Grant. They are the parents of six children, 
Blanche B., Ella F., Francis F., Abbie E., Pru- 
dence M. and Samuel G. 



HENRY T. DIESTELHORST, who is en- 
gaged in the furniture and undertaking 
business in Williamsburg, Franklin Coun- 
ty, was born at Polle-Adwah, province of Han- 
over, Germany, in 1851. At the age of fifteen 
years, leaving school, he began to learn the trade 
of a cabinetmaker, at which he served for three 
years, and afterward followed the trade as a jour- 
neyman. When twenty-one years old he came 
to the United States, and after a voyage of four- 
teen days on the steamship "Wehser," of the 
Star line, he landed in New York September 14, 
1852. After landing he proceeded to Hamilton, 
Mo., where his older brother was engaged in the 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



571 



furniture business. Soon afterward he went to 
St. Joe, Mo., where he secured employment in the 
furniture factory of Louis Hex. His next loca- 
tion was in Gallatin, Mo., where he remained for 
a few months with an uncle. 

Coming to Kansas in the spring of 1873, Mr. 
Diestelhorst worked in a furniture factory at 
Leavenworth for a short time. In the fall of the 
same year he removed to Ottawa, where for five 
years he followed his trade. The year 1877 
found him in Williamsburg, which was then a 
small village. He purchased the furniture busi- 
ness owned by John Boston, and at once began to 
enlarge his trade, carrying a full line of furniture 
and manufacturing much that he sold. Since 
then he has added an undertaking business, and 
in both lines is well and favorably known through 
the southern part of Franklin County. In 1889 
he erected on Main street the business block 
which he has since occupied, and he has also 
built another block and a residence in the town. 

For several years Mr. Diestelhorst served as 
township treasurer, having been elected to the 
office on the Democratic ticket. He is active and 
interested in local matters, and is loyal in every 
respect to his adopted country. He is connected 
with the Knights of Pythias and the Fraternal 
Aid As.sociation. In 1879 he married Matilda 
Reiner, of Lawrence, and they are the parents of 
five children: Ernest T., Ethel A., Herman, 
Luther and Mary H. 



Gl UGUST L. SELIG, ex-mayor of Lawrence, 
LI has been engaged in the insurance business in 
I I this city since 1874. He aided in the organi- 
zation of the Kansas Building and Loan Associa- 
tion, of which he has been secretary from the 
first, and which occupies offices in the Selig 
building, a two-story brick structure erected 
in 1885. For three years he was state agent in 
Kan.sas and Colorado for the New York Under- 
writers' Association, and in the discharge of his 
duties traveled all through these states. He rep- 
resents twenty-two of the strongest old-line com- 
panies in fire insurance, also the Mutual Benefit 
Life Insurance Company ]^of New Jersey, and 



places insurance on plate glass, steam boilers, 
besides representing an accident and a fidelity 
and casualty insurance company. 

Mr. Selig was born in Hamburg, Germany, 
August 6, 1846, a son of W. H. and Elizabeth 
(Mackenthum) Selig, natives of Hanover and 
Hamburg. His father, who was a builder in the 
latter city, came to America in 1858 and settled 
in Douglas County, Kans. In the summer of 
1 86 1 he enlisted in Company F, Second Kansas 
Cavalry. He was wounded at Poison Springs, 
Ark., and taken prisoner. The Confederates started 
for Tyler, Tex. , but on the way he became so ex- 
hausted from his wound that he could proceed 
no further. A guard was left with him to bring 
him up to the camp as soou as able, but the 
guard shot him, and no one knows his burial 
place. His wife died in Germany in 1852, leav- 
ing four children: Bertha, Mrs. Lahmer, of Law- 
rence> A. L-; Charles, who at thirteen years 
enlisted as a bugler in Company F, Second Kan- 
sas Cavalry, and served until the close of the war, 
since which he has made his home in Kansas; 
and Mrs. Minnie Gardner, of Lawrence. 

The early boyhood years of our subject's life 
were spent in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein, 
then a part of Denmark, where his father had a 
large brick 5'ard and exported brick to the United 
States. In 1858 he and his father left Hamburg 
on the "Harmonia" and after a voyage of two 
weeks, during which time they touched at South- 
ampton, England, they landed at Castle Garden. 
In September they reached Leavenworth, and in 
the spring of 1859 came to Lawrence, where the 
other children joined them. During that year 
he went to Belleville, 111., where he secured 
work on a farm. In September, 1861, he wrote 
home to say that he had volunteered in the Union 
army and received word in reply that his father 
and brother had also enlisted. He became a mem- 
ber of Company E, Forty-ninth Illinois Infantry, 
under Col. W. R. Morrison, and was mustered 
in at Camp Butler. February 16, 1862, he was 
in the battle of Fort Donelson, where the Union 
forces gained their first decisive victory. He 
was also at Shiloh, the siege of Corinth, the tak- 
ing of Little Rock, Ark., and the battle of Pleas- 



572 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



ant Hill, La. During the Red River expedi- 
tion the first and second divisions were detached at 
\'icksburg from the sixteenth army corps, of which 
his regiment formed a part, and went to assist Gen- 
eral Banks, arriving in time to save his army from 
annihilation. Later, going to Memphis, the com- 
mand was sent into Mississippi, in the fall of 
1864, to destroy railroad lines, and drove Price 
out of Missouri. Returning to Nashville, they 
arrived there the morning afterthebattle of Frank- 
lin had been fought. It had been a race between 
General Schofield and General Hood as to which 
should reach Nashville first, and the two divis- 
ions to which our subject belonged were thrown 
across Hood's front to check his progress. Two 
weeks later the battle of Nashville was fought, 
where Hood's army was completely routed. 
During much of his service in war Mr. Selig 
was with the first and third divisions (known as 
the"Flying Detachments"of the Sixteenth Army 
Corps, which formed under Gen. A. J. Smith 
after leaving Vicksburg. He was never wounded 
nor off duty until the close of the war, when an 
attack of fever confined him in a hospital at Pa- 
ducah, Ky. He soon recovered and was made 
ho.spital steward. He had veteranized at Mem- 
phis in 1864 and was mustered out as first cor- 
poral in September, 1865, after a service of four 
years lacking fourteen days. While in the army 
he had studied under a Scotch-Irishman, his text 
book being the Mi.ssouri Dfmocrat (now the St. 
Louis Globe Deiiiocrat) . With the help of his 
friend he was able in two years to keep the 
company's books. 

On leaving the army and returning to Law- 
rence Mr. Selig served for three years at the tin- 
ner's trade, and then opened a hardware store in 
Xenia, Kans. After two and one-half years he 
returned to Lawrence and resumed work, but 
meantime continued his studies until he had ac- 
quired, by self-application, a good education. 
He has since been a prosperous business man of 
this city. Here he married Miss Mary F. Park, 
who was born in Mitchell, Ind., and in 1S66 
came to Lawrence, with her father, John Park. 
The latter had been sergeant in an Ohio regi- 
ment and on coming to Lawrence started the in- 



surance business which Mr. Selig now conducts. 
Louis F., the olde.st-sonof Mr. Selig, is interested 
in business with his father. John E. , the second 
son, is in charge of the city trade of the Theodore 
Poehler Mercantile Company. Ernest T., who 
was a member of the class of 1901 , University of 
Kansas, is now electrician at the Insane Asylum 
atTopeka, Kans. Harry Garfield left the Law- 
rence Business College to enli.st in Company H, 
Twentieth Kansas Infantry, which he accom- 
panied to Manila, taking part in battles there. 
The youngest son, George A., is with his parents. 
From 1890 to 1891, inclusive, Mr. Selig served 
in the city council. During his second year as 
councilman he was nominated for the mayor's 
office, on the Republican ticket, and was elected 
without opposition. In 1895 was again elected 
without opposition, serving until May, 1S97. 
During his first term he was instrumental in se- 
curing a sewer system in Lawrence, the benefits 
of which, though not at first appreciated, have 
since been fully recognized. During his .second 
term he inaugurated street improvements that are 
being continued. He is a member of Washington 
Pest No. 12, G. A. R., and aided in organizing 
the Sons of Veterans in Lawrence, with whom 
he was formerly connected. Fraternally he is 
senior warden of Acacia Lodge No. 9, A. F. & 
A. M.; past high priest of Lawrence Chapter No. 
4, R. A. M., and past eminent commander of 
De Molay Commandery No. 4, K. T. He is a 
member of the board of trustees of the First Pres- 
byterian Church and takes a warm interest in the 
work of this denomination. 



IJ^ELSON M. CHANDLER, a pioneer of 
ry Franklin County, has been identified with 
I /j the history of this part of Kansas for many 
years, and has been especially active in Harrison 
Township, where he owns eightj- acres of good 
land. A careful and close observer of public 
events and^national cri.ses, he has always been 
independent in his views, supporting men rather 
than parties. He was an admirer of Andrew 
Jackson, Abraham Lincoln and, later, of William 
Jennings Bryan. Educational work has been 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



573 



given his constant assistance, while as clerk of 
the district for four years and as school director 
for some time he was able to be especially help- 
ful to the local schools. For seven years he was 
township clerk, for one year served as township 
trustee, and for some years he has held the office 
of township treasurer. 

A son of John and Waitstill (Shaw) Chandler, 
our subject was born at Potsdam, St. Lawrence 
County, N. Y., and was one of four children, of 
whom one besides himself survives, the other be- 
ing Naomi S., wife of J. P. Perro, of California. 
His father, who was born at Barre, Mass. , April 
9, 1783, accompanied his parents from that place 
to Potsdam, N. Y., in 1813, and there the re- 
mainder of his life was devoted to farm work. 
For several years he served as highway commis- 
sioner and supervisor, and he also did considera- 
ble to aid in the development of the schools of his 
district. He was a public-spirited man, ambi- 
tious not only for his own advancement but also 
for the prosperity of his community. In the work 
of the Presbyterian Church he was quite active. 
Politically he voted with the Democrats. 

Stephen, father of John Chandler, was born 
August 23, 1753, and settled in New York in 
18 1 3, his later years being spent in that state. 
During the entire period of the Revolutionary 
war he served as a member of Washington's 
army. He was asonof Josiah Chandler, born at 
Pomfret, Conn., August 2, 1724, and a lifelong 
resident of Connecticut, where he engaged in 
farming. Joseph, father of Josiah, was born in 
Roxbury, Mass., June 4, 1683, and in early life 
removed to Pomfret, Conn., where he married 
and afterward resided. His father, John, who 
was born in England in 1636, was only one year 
old when he was brought across the ocean by his 
father, William Chandler (born in England in 
1598), whosettled in Roxbury, Mass. 

The mother of our subject was born in Middle- 
borough, Mass., March 12, 1786, a daughter of 
Daniel Shaw, who was justice of the peace in his 
town for years and was active in the Episcopal 
Church. When a young man our subject taught 
several terms in Potsdam, N. Y. In 1838 he 
went to Lenawee County, Mich., and worked by 



the month on a farm, also secured employment 
as engineer in a sawmill, and later operated a 
mill. In 1841 he returned to Potsdam and learned 
the carpenter's trade, remaining there until 1869. 
In May of the latter year he arrived in Ottawa, 
Kans., where he soon purchased the farm he still 
owns and occupies. During a portion of the time 
that has since elapsed he has followed his trade 
in Ottawa and Topeka, but his later years have 
been spent quietly on his farm. He is interested 
in religious movements and supports them when 
possible to do so. 

December 29, 1852, Mr. Chandler married Miss 
Harriet E. Wilkinson, daughter of George Lee 
Wilkinson, a native of England, born in Sheffield 
in 1779. In his own country he learned the sil- 
versmith's trade, and being a man of inventive 
ability and with a thorough knowledge of his oc- 
cupation, he made numerous improvements, 
among other things inventing the German silver 
process. He came to America and remained in 
this country until his death, in 1842. Mr. and 
Mrs. Chandler had five children, but two are de- 
ceased. Three sons are living: Edwin W., of 
Chicago; John Lee, at home; and William W., a 
skilled mechanic living in Chicago Heights, 111. 



I EWIS M. THOMPSON. The family repre- 

I I sented by this gentleman originated in Scot- 
\ J land, whence Gideon Thompson emigrated 
to America at the age of seventeen years. After 
settling in Philadelphia he enlisted in the colo- 
nial army under General Morgan, whose daugh- 
ter he afterwards married. When the war was 
over he established his home in Pennsylvania, 
at a point not definitely known. From that state 
his son, Enos, migrated to Ohio in an early day. 
Andrew H., son of Enos, was born in Athens 
County, Ohio, and grew to manhood upon a farm 
there. Some years after his marriage he sought 
a home in Illinois, settling in Adams County in 
1830 and purchasing a tract of farm land there. 
He witnessed the early growth of that section of 
the state, which in later days has become one of 
the most prosperous farming regions in Illinois. 
In 1856 he removed from that county to Mis- 



574 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



souri and settled in Harrison Count}-, where 
he bought a section of land. For about ten 
years he made his home in the southern part 
of Missouri. In 1885 he came to Kansas and 
spent his last days in Linwood, where he died at 
the age of ninety-eight years. The only occupa- 
tion which he followed in life, aside from that of 
farming, was the trade of a millwright. By his 
marriage to Elizabeth Stewart, who died in Illi- 
nois in 1847, he had eight children, of whom 
Lewis M. lives one mile and a-half south of Lin- 
wood, and Enos lives in Linwood. 

When a boy our subject learned the miller's 
trade, which he followed for some years in Illi- 
nois. Born in Athens County, Ohio, October 
23, 1828, he was only two years of age when the 
family .settled in Illinois, and in that state he 
made his home until 1856. He then moved to 
Davis County, Mo., where he engaged in farm- 
ing for twenty-two years, meeting with fair suc- 
cess during that time. The year 1878 found 
him in Leavenworth County, where he bought 
one hundred and ten acres in the Delaware reser- 
vation, in the Kaw River bottom. To this he 
has added, and now owns one hundred andsixtj-- 
five acres, upon which he has engaged in general 
farm pursuits. 

Agriculture, however, has not represented the 
limit of Mr. Thompson's activities. For ten 
years he operated a corn mill at Linwood, where 
he ground corn meal. For seventeen years he 
ran a ferry over the Kaw River between Leaven- 
worth and Johnson Counties, and for .several 
years he carried on a sawmill, sawing the timber 
which he cut from his farm, also carried on the farm 
and mills at the same time. He also conducted a 
drug store in Linwood for five years. These va- 
rious enterprises he conducted with energy and 
discretion, winning the confidence of the people 
as an intelligent and judicious business man. Be- 
sides his farm he is the owner of three lots and 
houses in Linwood. What he now has repre- 
sents years of industrious application and has 
been acquired solely by his personal efforts. He 
has never allied himself with any political party, 
but at elections votes for the men whom he con- 
siders best qualified to represent the people. 



While living in Missouri he was elected to vari- 
ous township offices and also served as justice of 
the peace. In 1867 he was made a Mason, and 
now belongs to Linwood Lodge No. 241, A. F. & 
A. M. His marriage September 13, 1867, united 
him with Miss Isabel Plily, who died May 25, 
1896, leaving four sons: John, who is principal 
of the high school at Columbus, Iowa; Douglas; 
Enos, who is a farmer and operates a sawmill in 
Sherman Township; and Samuel G. 



~DWARD SHIVELY, a member of one of 
^ Douglas County's pioneer families, is a son 
^ of Joseph M. and Mary (Ulrich) Shively, to 
whose sketch upon another page the reader is 
referred for the family history. He was born in 
this county September 9, 1867, and grew to man- 
hood on the home farm, acquiring his education 
in the common schools. Early made familiar 
with agriculture, it was not strange that he 
should select this occupation for his life calling, 
and the success with which he is meeting proves 
the wisdom of his choice. May 6, 1889, he was 
united in marriage with Miss Ella Stutsman, a 
native of this count}-. Her father, the late John 
Stutsman, came from Indiana to Kansas about 
i860 and settled in Marion Township, where he 
engaged in farm pursuits until his death. 

After his marriage Mr. Shively purchased one 
hundred and sixty acres of land adjoining his 
boyhood's home in Marion Township, this tract 
being a portion of his father's property. Here 
he began farming and stock-raising. His in- 
dustry and good management caused him to pros- 
per. In 1898 he purchased an additional sev- 
enty acres, making his present farm one of two 
hundred and thirty acres. In addition to his 
work as a farmer he has assisted his father in 
inventing and patenting a corn harvesting ma- 
chine, which in mechanical arrangement presents 
many remarkable features capable of construc- 
tion only bj' an inventive genius. The patent has 
been purchased by the Deering Harvester Com- 
pany, by whom the machine is now in process of 
construction, and one is now on exhibition at 
Mr. Shively's home. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



575 



Politically Mr. Shively has never identified 
himself with any organization, but votes inde- 
pendently and for the men whom he considers 
best qualified for office. He is a member of the 
German Baptist Church and a contributor to its 
various enterprises. He and his wife are the 
parents of five children, Myrtle R., Ivy M., 
Clyde E. , Mary Elizabeth and Floyd H. 



GlUGUST ZIESENIS, who follows farming 
LI just outside the limits of Eudora, Douglas 
/ I County, was born in Hanover, Germany, 
November 22, 1829. His parents died when he 
was a child. In youth he served for four years 
at the cabinet-maker's trade and at twenty he 
was drafted into the German army, but, not being 
willing to serve, he ran away and came to the 
United States without passport or papers of any 
kind. After a voyage of thirty-five days he 
landed in New York, in May, 1850. Proceeding 
to Chicago he worked at his trade. From 1853 
to 1855 he was employed in Cincinnati, Ohio. 
He then became connected with the quartermas- 
ter's department of the regular army as a capen- 
ter and accompanied General Kearney's expedi- 
tion to Pierce, Neb. After continuing in the 
government employ for a few months he went to 
Chicago and resumed work at his trade. 

In 1857 Mr. Ziesenis accompanied the original 
town company to Eudora, Kan s., and built the 
first house in the village, purchased some lots and 
assisted in laying out the town. Several of the 
early houses and stores were erected under his 
supervision. About 1857 he bought twenty-nine 
acres of land in the Shawnee reservation and 
built a small cabin on the site of his present home. 
At the time of coming to Kansas the days of the 
border ruffianism were drawing to a close, but he 
took his part in bringing them to an end, al- 
though of course not participating in the advent- 
ures of earlier days. He was in Lawrence when 
the governor sent the border ruffians to control 
the election and he was one of the party that cap- 
tured them. At this writing he has in his posses- 
sion an old musket captured during the melee. 
In 1862 he enlisted in Company E, Twelfth Kan- 

25 



sas Infantry, in which he served for three years, 
being promoted to the rank of corporal in recog- 
nition of his ability and faithfulness to duty. 
During the entire time of his service he was with 
the frontier department of the army under Gen- 
eral Banks, and did considerable fighting with 
the Indians. On his return to Eudora, in 1865, 
he resumed agricultural pursuits, becoming the 
owner of a large stock farm , but he sold the most 
of the property in 1887, when the mineral spring 
was discovered on his land. 

November 27, 1855, he married Johanna 
Franken. They have three children living: 
Minnie, widow of Thomas Gray, of Oklahoma; 
Augusta; and Charles, who lives in Lawrence. 
For several years our subject served as a member 
of the school board. During territorial days he 
was appointed road overseer by the governor, 
and holds a commission as constable under Secre- 
tary Welch, of the territory. He is a member of 
Eudora Post No. 333, G.A.R., and has served 
as post commander. In addition to his home 
farm he owns a farm on the Kaw bottom in Leav- 
enworth County, where he is introducing a sys- 
tem of irrigation by means of water from the 
Kaw River. 



KA ARTIN P. HAYS. During the twenty years 
y of his residence in Kansas Mr. Hays be- 
. \S came known as one of the most energetic 
and capable farmers and stock-raisers of Douglas 
County. On coming to this county in the spring 
of 1869 he purchased farm property in Palmyra 
Township, and at once turned his attention to the 
improvement of the property. In time he became 
the owner of land in township 15, range 21, as 
follows: section 5, one hundred and six acres; 
section 6, one hundred and sixty ; section 7, one 
hundred and sixty; section 14, eighty; making 
a total of five hundred and six acres. This was 
improved by a substantial residence, several 
barns and granaries, and seven miles of hedge 
fencing. One hundred and fifty acres of the 
place he brought under cultivation, a still larger 
acreage was used as a pasture for stock, while 
on the remainder two thousand fruit trees were 
planted. He made a specialty of raising Norman 



576 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



horses, and one of his finest stallions was the im- 
ported thoroughbred "Condor." At the time of 
his death, which occurred October 19, 1888, he 
was one of the wealthiest men in his township. 

Near Whitestown, Butler County, Pa., Mr. 
Hays was born November 30, 1838. He was 
reared on a farm and received a common school 
education. His father, who was a native of Penn- 
sylvania, married a lady from Ireland, and after- 
ward cultivated a farm in Butler County. About 
1878 he removed to Kansas, where he died at 
seventy years of age. At the opening of the 
Civil war our subject enlisted in Company H, 
Thirteenth Pennsylvania Infantry, and served for 
three years, participating in a number of impor- 
tant battles, in one of which he was wounded by 
a gunshot in the thigh. January 11, 1866, he 
married Miss Elizabeth Myers, daughter of John 
and Catherine (Beigley) Myers, and a native of 
Butler County, Pa. Her father, who was a life- 
long farmer and an active Republican, died at 
eighty-seven years. While Mrs. Hays was visit- 
ing her old home her mother died, September 27, 
1899, aged ninety-three years, five months and 
seventeen days. Both were members of the 
Lutheran Church. The five children of Mr. and 
Mrs. Hays are named as follows: Harry H., who 
since his father's death has had charge of the home 
farm; Frank D., whose home is in Lawrence; 
John L., Veda Grace and Bessie B., at home. 
The family occupy the homestead, which is one 
of the most desirable properties in the township, 
comprising about seven hundred acres. In re- 
ligion they are adherents of the Presbyterian 
faith. 



yyilCHAEL CONLEY, who is engaged in 
y farming and stock-raising on .section 28, 
a Ottawa Township, Franklin County, is a 
veteran of the Civil war who, though .severely 
wounded in the battle of Corinth, is still actively 
engaged in conducting his farm. He was born 
in Carroll County, Ohio, July i, 1837, a son of 
Charles and Margaret (Bose) Conley, the former 
a millwright by trade, a Democrat in politics and 
a Lutheran in religion. About 1838 he remo\ed 
to Stark County. There were three children in 



the family: Lydia Ann, decea.sed; Michael; and 
Hiram, who resides in Greenwood County, Kans. 
After the father's death Mrs. Conley was again 
married, becoming the wife of Barnard Brinkman, 
and she continued to reside in Ohio until her 
death. She was a daughter of Michael Bose, a 
native of Maryland and a cabinet-maker and 
farmer, who retained his activitj' and physical 
faculties until past eighty years of age. 

With the exception of four years devoted to the 
lumber bu.siness at Ligonier, Noble Coimty, Ind., 
our subject has spent his entire active life in 
farming. September 7, 1861, he enlisted in 
Company F, Nineteenth Ohio Infantry, with 
which he went to the front. Among the en- 
gagements in which he participated were those 
at Pittsburg Landing, Shiloh and Corinth. After 
the latter battle he was confined to the hospital 
for three weeks and then was sent home to Mas- 
sillon, Ohio, in company with two comrades who 
had been wounded by the same gunshot. 
Twice he was placed on furlough and when he 
reported the last time he was di.scharged for dis- 
ability. 

After the war Mr. Conley spent several j'ears 
in Indiana. In 1869 he started west, going 
through to San Francisco on the Union Pacific 
and investigating the country through which he 
passed. Concluding that Kansas presented the 
most favorable opening he returned to this state 
and bought eighty acres where he now resides. 
The land was all prairie and he at once began 
the task of breaking it and making improvements. 
In 1883 he erected the substantial residence and 
in 1898 built a large barn. His principal bu.si- 
ness is the stock industry, and the grain which 
he raises is used exclusively for feed. He keeps 
on his place a fine grade of cattle, making a spec- 
ialty of Shorthorns, and he also raises Poland- 
China hogs. 

As road overseer and as member of the school 
board Mr. Conley has endeavored to promote in- 
terests advantageous to his fellow-citizens. In 
politics he is a Republican. During his residence 
in the east he was identified with the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows, but since coming to 
Kansas he has allowed his membership to lapse. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



577 



September i8, 1879, he married Alice Gard, 
daughter of Levi and Barbara (Miller) Gard, by 
whom he has five children now living, namely: 
Algy, Lelaud, Cora, Howard and Harold, all at 
home. 



LIVER MERO, who has made Leavenworth 
his home since 1857, is a successful contrac- 
tor and builder of this city. Among the 
buildings with the erection of which he has been 
connected may be mentioned the Cathedral, St. 
Mary's Academy, Union and Santa Fe depots 
(all in this city), Omaha College, Clayton Col- 
lege, Denver depot, the general offices of the Fort 
Scott & Gulf Railroad in Kansas City, the gen- 
eral offices of the Santa Fe in Topeka, one wing 
of the capitol in Topeka, and man}' residences in 
Leavenworth and elsewhere. 

The Mero family is of Canadian-French line 
age. The parents of our subject were Frank and 
Margaret (Peiro) Mero, who were born at Mont- 
real, Canada, and their two daughters and four 
sons were natives of the same city. Oliver, who 
was the third of the sons, was born about 1832 
and spent his boyhood days on the home place. 
At fifteen years of age he went to Cohoes, N. Y., 
where he served an apprenticeship to the carpen- 
ter's trade. After the expiration of his time he 
continued to work in the same place. From there 
he went to Detroit, Mich., where he found em- 
ployment as a carpenter. While in that city, in 
1856, he heard "Jim" Lane deliver a lecture 
concerning Kansas, in which he earnestly asked 
the free-state supporters to cast in their fortunes 
with the state that was in the midst of its strug- 
gle against the slavery movement. He was so 
interested and aroused that he determined to 
come west and help to make Kansas a free state. 
In 1857 ^^ established his home in Leavenworth, 
where he had considerable experience in fighting 
the border ruffians and in guarding the town at 
night. From the first he was a free-state man 
and a Union Democrat, and he assisted to vote 
Kansas in as a free state. 

The first carpentering secured by Mr. Mero in 
Leavenworth was in the building of William Rus- 
sell's house. He became head foreman of car- 



pentering for James A. McGonigle, in which po- 
sition he continued for thirty-four years, mean- 
time having charge of jobs in different parts of 
Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Colorado. In 
1888 he began contracting for himself, and in 
1896 took his son Frank as a partner, since 
which time the firm of Mero & Son has constant- 
ly engaged in contracting. His residence, which 
he built, stands on the corner of Middle street 
and Second avenue. He is an active member of 
the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church and the 
Catholic Mutual Benefit Association. 

The marriage of Mr. Mero to Miss Sarah La- 
barta, a native of Detroit, Mich., took place in 
Leavenworth in 1859. The eleven children born 
of their union are named as follows: Mrs. Amy 
Thompson, of Leavenworth; Frank, who is his 
father's partner; Mrs. Mary Peters and Oliver, 
both of Leavenworth; Mrs. Annie Schmelzer and 
Sophia, who live in Omaha; Ellen, who resides 
with her parents; Theodore, living in Omaha; 
James, William and Florence, of Leavenworth. 



EALEB M. LUTHER is one of the well-known 
florists of Lawrence. About 1890 his wife, 
who has always been a lover of flowers, 
became interested in raising them upon a larger 
scale than before and built a small stone green- 
house. Less with a desire to make money than 
to gratify her taste for the beautiful, she gave 
considerable time to her work, and finally the 
business grew so large that he disposed of his 
grocery in 1892 in order that he might assist her 
in its management. Each year a greenhouse has 
been erected, until their space now includes 
nearly eight thousand feet of glass, their location 
being at No. 1447 Massachusetts street, where 
they have nine greenhouses fifty-five feet in 
length. In the spring of 1899 they established 
an uptown office near the Eldridge house on 
Massachusetts street, where orders are received 
and filled, and all kinds of cut flowers are kept 
on sale. A special feature is also made of floral 
decorations, in which line they have been very 
successful. 

Born in Beckmantown, Clinton County, N.Y., 



578 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



April II, 1847, Mr. Luther i.s a son of the Rev. 
Z. M. P. and CaroHue (Groves) Luther, natives 
respectively of New Hampshire and Schuyler 
Falls, N. Y. His father, who was orphaned at 
an early age, removed to Cha/.y, Clinton County, 
N. Y., near where he held pastorates in Presby- 
terian churches for some years. Finally, owing 
to impaired health, he retired from the ministry 
and went to Elmer, Salem County, where he 
died in 1865, at fiftytwo years. He married a 
daughter of Harry Groves, a professional man, 
and a deacon in the Presbyterian Church at 
Schuyler Falls. Mrs. Caroline Luther died at 
Stoughton, Mass., when seventy-two years of 
age. Of her children, Charlotte died in Vir- 
ginia. Amos, who enlisted as a private in Com- 
pany H, Sixtieth New York Infantry, was 
promoted to be a lieutenant and ser\'ed for four 
years. He died in Washington, D. C. Henrj- 
died in Virginia City, Nev. Mrs. Helen C. 
Hathaway lives in Stoughton, Mass.; and Alice 
died in Kansas City. 

The fourth among the children was the subject 
of this sketch. He was fourteen when the fam- 
ily moved from Clinton County, N.Y., to Salem, 
N. J. , and for five 3'ears he lived upon a farm 
near the latter city. In the spring of 1870 he 
came to Lawrence and worked for his brother 
Henry for a few months, after which he clerked 
in a grocery and then started for himself. From 
1885 to 1892 he was proprietor of a store 011 
Massachusetts street, but sold out during the 
latter year in order to give his attention to flori- 
culture. He was a member of the American 
Florists' Association, and takes an interest in 
everything pertaining to this occupation. In 
politics he is a Republican, in religion a Congre- 
gationalist, and also holds membership in the 
Fraternal Aid Association. 

In Elmer, N. J., December 31, 1868, Mr. 
Luther married Sarah E. Lawrence, who was 
born in Waterloo, Canada. Her father, Leander, 
was a son of Zephaniah Lawrence, who was a 
member of an old Massachusetts family, but 
spent his life as a farmer in Canada, where 
Leander was born. At the close of the Civil 
war the latter removed to New Jersey, where he 



followed the cabinet-maker's business, and also 
cultivated a small farm. He died February 23, 
1888, in that state, aged seventy-one years. He 
had married Sarah Bowker, who was born in 
Canada, and died in New Jersej'. She was a 
daughter of Griffin Bowker, an owner of a saw and 
grist mill in Canada. Her mother was descended 
from the Van Dorn family, who were among the 
old and influential residents of Vermont. Leander 
and Sarah Lawrence had three children: Sarah 
E. ; Alice, who is a widow and lives in Vineland, 
N. J.; and Abbott, a farmer in Salem County, 
N. J. Mrs. Luther was educated in private 
schools and an academy, from which she gradu- 
ated. She came from New Jersey to Kansaswith 
her husband in 1870, and has since resided in' 
this city. Thej' have three children: Winnifred 
H. , a student in the University of Kansas; Ethel 
M., who is aLso attending that institution; and 
Herbert L. 



Gl NDREW S. BALDWIN. During the long 
Ll period that has elapsed since he came to 
/ I Kansas Mr. Baldwin has made Douglas 
County his home. He arrived here in May, 1855, 
and took up a claim at the head of Rock Creek, 
in what is now Marion Township. Immediately 
he began the work of improving the claim and 
bringing the land under cultivation. In the fall 
of 1856 he sold the property, with the intention 
of leaving this section of country, but the Wak- 
arusa war had broken out, and being unable to 
get away, he remained until the spring of the 
following year. In the meantime he took up his 
present home farm, and the prospects being good, 
he decided to make this his home. Going back 
to the east, he was married and on the 3d of 
April, 1857, returned to his land and began 
housekeeping on this place, where he has since 
resided. During the early days he passed through 
all the e.Kciting experiences of border warfare, 
when life itself was in danger and property was 
constantly being destroyed or laid waste. At the 
time of the Civil war he was a member of Com- 
pany I, Third Kansas State Militia, under 
General Curtis, and took part in various engage- 
ments, the most important being Westport. In 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



579 



politics he is a pronounced Republican. For ten 
years he held the office of justice of the peace, and 
since 1876 he has been a member of the school 
board, being treasurer of the school district at 
this writing. For more than thirty years he has 
been an ofiBcer in the Presbyterian Church, to 
the support of which he has ever been a liberal 
contributor. Fraternally he is connected with 
General Lane Post No. 450, G. A. R. 

In Harwinton, Conn., Mr. Baldwin was born 
June 23, 1829, a son of Joseph and Polly (Smith) 
Baldwin. He was one of ten children, six of 
whom are living, viz.: Luther, a retired farmer 
of Lee County, 111.; Miner, a farmer who lives at 
Harwinton, Conn.; Henry L. , a retired business 
man of Denver, Colo. ; Andrew S. ; Charles O. , a 
farmer of Harwinton; and Mary E., of Litchfield 
County, Conn. The father, a native of Branford, 
Conn., born June 16, 1797, was a son of Capt. 
Joseph Baldwin, an officer in the Revolutionary 
war. He grew to manhood in his native county. 
New Haven. On reaching manhood he removed 
to Litchfield County, Conn., and there he resided 
until his death, which occurred February 11, 
1856. September 20, 18 19, he married Miss 
Smith,who was born in Woodbury, Conn., June 5, 
1796, and died November 19, 1899. Both were 
consistent members of the Congregational Church 
and were highly esteemed for the integrity of 
their lives and their kindness of heart. 

At eighteen years of age our subject .secured 
employment as a farm hand, working by the 
month for wages. January 24, 1857, he married 
Miss Mary Burr, daughter of Urial and Esther 
(Curtis) Burr, natives of Torringford, Litchfield 
County, Conn., the father born May 19, 1795, the 
mother September 13, 1797. The father, who 
was a son of Reuben and Martha (Wilson) Burr, 
was a man highly respected in his community 
and took an active part in the work of the 
Methodist Church. He married Miss Curtis 
December 13, 1820, and for almost thirty-nine 
years they lived together in happy wedded life, 
until her death, October 16, 1859. He survived 
her for many years and passed away June 29, 1882. 

Upon the claim in Clinton Town.ship, where he 
settled in the fall of 1856, Mr. Baldwin has since 



made his home. He and his family stand high 
among the people of this township and have 
many friends among the best people of their 
neighborhood. They have had eight children, 
but only four are now living. Alice May, who 
was bom August 22, 1858, married Adolphus G. 
Hulce, a farmer of Leavenworth County, Kans., 
by whom she has four children: Nellie, C. Irvin, 
Bessie J. and Earl S. Cora A., who was born 
October 30, i860, became the wife of G. W. Hood, 
by whom she had a son, Harry I. ; she died Nov- 
ember 21, 1893. Hattie, who was born March 
4, 1862, married A.J. Hutcheson, by whom she 
had four children: Maude M., Grace E., Alberts, 
and O. Pearl; she died February 20, 1896. Fisher 
G. was born February 4, 1864, and died January 
27, 1866. Chester U., who was born July 3, 1866, 
married Rose W. Anderson, and has one son, 
Fred M. Edith A., who was born February 12, 
1869, is the widow of Tanner Price, and resides 
with her parents. Frederick A. was born March 
15' i873> and died November 17, 1874. Mary G., 
who was born October 28, 1877, is with her 
parents. 

OAPT. O. C. McNARY, first assistant sur- 
1 1 geon at the western branch of the National 
vj Military Home, in Leavenworth, was born 
in Washington, Pa., in 1853, and is a son of 
Oliver R. and Eleanor (Grove) NcNary. His 
father, who was a native of Pennsylvania, en- 
gaged in the mercantile business and also had 
large real-estate interests in that state. At the 
opening of the Civil war he enlisted in the 
Twelfth Pennsylvania Infantry for three months 
and was made first sergeant of his company. At 
the expiration of his term of service he became 
connected with the One Hundred and Third 
Pennsylvania Infantry, of which he was com- 
missioned quartermaster. Later he was chief 
quartermaster on the staff of Generals Hunt and 
Wessells, with the rank of captain, and as such 
served until the close of the Rebellion. He was 
connected with the army from April 21, 1861, 
until peace was re.stored. While fighting the 
enemy at Plymouth, N. C, he was wounded in 
the left leg and was taken prisoner by Confederate 



58o 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



soldiers, who convej'ed him to Andersonville and 
confined him in that dreaded southern prison. 
He was also in prison at Macon, Savannah and 
Charleston, and, while in the jail j-ard in the lat- 
ter city, he and other prisoners were put under 
fire during the bombardment of Charleston. 
During his eleven months of prison life he three 
times effected an escape, but each time he was 
recaptured by the enemy, once when in sight of 
the stars and stripes. Finally, by exchange, he 
secured a release, after which he was ill in the 
hospital at Annapolis for several months. Upon 
recovering his strength he was on duty for a 
time at draft rendezvous at Madison, Wis., then 
rejoined his regiment, with which he continued 
until the war closed. 

Shortly after his discharge from the army 
Capt. O. R. McNary came to Leavenworth, 
Kans. , and embarked in the insurance and real- 
estate business, in which he was extensively in- 
terested. Owing to ill health he was finally 
obliged to retire from active business cares, and 
during the last three years of his life he made his 
home with his son, our subject. He was a mem- 
ber of the Loyal Legion and Custer Post No. 
I20, G. A. R., of Leavenworth, of which he was 
twice elected commander, and at the time of his 
death he was serving as registrar of the Loyal 
Legion. His long and varied experience in south- 
ern prisons gave him a vast amount of useful 
knowledge, which he compiled in a work on 
prison life, and his MSS. is now in the hands of 
the National Association of ex-Prisoners of War, 
for publication in book form. He died April 5, 
1895, at the age of seventy-three. His wife is 
still living and makes her home with her son. 
The ancestors of the McNary family were Scotch 
people, who settled among the pioneers of Lan- 
caster County, Pa., and afterward became promi- 
nent in Washington County. They were people 
of upright characters, whose long lives were de- 
voted to the welfare of their fellowmen. 

The subject of this sketch was one of six chil- 
dren, of whom five are living. His sisters are: 
Matilda J., wife of Rev. W. C. Williamson, of 
Keokuk, Iowa; Eleanor, wife of R. L. Munce, 
of Washington County, Pa.; Maria J. and Hettie. 



He was reared in Washington County and edu- 
cated in common schools and Washington and 
Jefferson College. In 1870 he came to Leaven- 
worth, Kans., and studied medicine with Tiffin 
Sinks, M. D., but later entered the Jefferson 
Medical College of Philadelphia, from which he 
graduated in March, 1882. Entering the regular 
array he served as acting assistant surgeon for 
two years at Fort Leavenworth and for two years 
at Fort Reno, I. T. , after which he was ap- 
pointed assi.stant surgeon at the western branch 
of the National Military Home, reporting for duty 
in Januarj^, 1887. This position he has since 
held, devoting to it his entire attention and 
discharging its duties with efficiency. In 1894 
he married Laura L. Kelly, daughter of W. D. 
Kelly, an old settler of Leavenworth. They 
have one child, Clarkson D. 

Through his descent from Revolutionary an- 
cestors Captain McNary is eligible to member- 
ship in the Sons of the Revolution. He is a 
member of the Loyal Legion, and Leavenworth 
Camp Sons of Veterans; also belongs to the 
American Medical Association, Kansas State and 
Eastern District Medical Societies, and is vice- 
president of the Leavenworth County Medical 
Society. 

r^ETER LAPTAD, who resides upon a valua- 
L/^ ble farm in Grant Township, Douglas County, 
f^ was born in Vermont September 25, 1842, a 
son of Joseph and Margaret (Lareau) Laptad. 
His father, who was a native of France, was ed- 
ucated in that country. At the time of the polit- 
ical troubles there, he, holding views different 
from those of his kindred, disagreed with them to 
such an extent that he determined to seek a home 
elsewhere, and in 1810 he settled in Canada. 
There he married and engaged in cultivating a 
farm as well as teaching school, the two occupa- 
tions bringing him a good income. However, 
there, as in his native land, he became involved 
in political troubles and was obliged to leave. 
Cro.ssiug the line into Vermont, he opened up a 
farm there, but worked under great disadvan- 
tage, for he had lost all in leaving Canada and, 
besides, he was not familiar with the English 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



5^1 



language. His last years were spent in retire- 
ment in Vermont. Of his three daughters and 
four sons our subject is the fourth in order of 
birth, and he and his brother Joseph (a farmer 
of Grant Township) are the sole survivors. 

The family being limited as to means, our sub- 
ject had no advantages when a boy. In 1861 he 
enlisted in the Fourteenth Vermont Infantry, 
and at the expiration of his time he again enlisted, 
this time in the Second Vermont Battery. Dur- 
ing the campaign at Gettysburg he was for three 
days on the advance line, where the danger was 
greatest, but escaped uninjured. He also took 
part in several small engagements. At the close 
of the war he was honorably discharged and re- 
turned home, bearing a commission as sergeant- 
major of artillery. Thinking the prospect better 
in the west, he came to Kansas and settled in 
North Lawrence, where he carried on a grocery 
in the building now occupied by Hughes & Pines. 
Later he put up a stone and brick building at No. 
21 Bridge street and, taking a partner, carried on 
a general mercantile establishment. In 1885 he 
closed out the business and settled upon the farm 
in Grant Township which he had purchased ten 
years previous and which he has operated since 
by hired help. He now controls one hundred 
and eighty acres of good bottom land, and besides 
general farming has a number of Hereford cattle 
and Poland-China hogs, it being his intention to 
devote considerable attention to the stock busi- 
ness. 

In politics a Republican, Mr. Laptad has served 
as township trustee and assessor and as a member 
of the city council. As assessor he carried the 
township through on an assessment of one mill, 
which was the cheapest rate in any of the town- 
ships. While in town he was active in the Grand 
Army, but since removing to his farm has been 
unable to attend the meetings of the post. He 
has also been prominent in the Masonic blue 
lodge. While engaged in the mercantile busi- 
ness he and his partner started a store in Lin- 
wood, which then had a station but no agent, and 
this they conducted until a short time before clos- 
ing out the Lawrence business. 

lu Lawrence, February 3, 1867, Mr. Laptad 



married Agnes Petrie, and they have five chil- 
dren: Opal, wife of J. E. Hutt, who is an auditor 
of the Santa Fe Railroad in Chicago; Pearl; Paul, 
who is in the emploj- of the building and bridge 
department of the Santa Fe road; Coskrie and 
Evadne. 



EHARLES W. McFARLAND, an enterpris- 
ing young business man of Lawrence, is the 
junior member of the McFarland Planing 
Mill Company, proprietors of a planing mill on 
Berkeley near Delaware street, and manufacturers 
of sash, doors and blinds. The mill was started 
in 1887, with a plant 70x50, besides a boiler 
house, with a thirty-five horse-power engine. 
Building material of all kinds is turned out and a 
large trade has been built up in the firm's special 
line. 

The record of the McFarland family appears in 
the sketch of Robert S. McFarland. Our sub- 
ject's great-grandfather, Robert, was born in Vir- 
ginia, and about 1824 moved to Ohio. His son, 
John, a native of Virginia, engaged in farming 
near Mansfield, Ohio, and died there in 1898, 
aged about ninety-four years. J. N.,son of John, 
was born in Mansfield, Ohio, in 1833, and estab- 
lished his home in Oskaloosa, Jefferson Countj% 
Kans., in 1857, where he engaged in the build- 
ing business. In the fall of 1863 he came to Law- 
rence, Kans. , where he engaged in contracting 
and building until 1887, and then started a plan- 
ing mill with his son. He was a member of the 
Third Kansas Militia that was mustered into 
service during the Price raid. He married Sa- 
mantha J. Barnes, who was born near Mansfield, 
Ohio, a daughter of Wesley Barnes, and a mem- 
ber of a family to which reference is made in the 
sketch of Robert S. McFarland. She died Feb- 
ruary 6, 1899, leaving three children: Charles 
W. ; Hattie, wife of O. C. LeSuer, of Lawrence; 
and Nellie, at home. 

At Kirksville, Iowa, the subject of this sketch 
was born June i, 1856. He was reared princi- 
pally in Lawrence, where he attended the gram- 
mar and high schools. From 1873 to 1876 he 
clerked for D. C. Haskell in the shoe business, 
remaining there until Mr. Haskell was elected to 



582 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



congress. From boj-hood he was familiar with 
and interested in carpentering, and at the age of 
tvventj^-one he became his father's partner in the 
building business. The two have since contin- 
ued together, either as builders or as manufac- 
turers of building materials. Both are keen, en- 
ergetic and capable business men and give close 
attention to the conduct of their mill. In politics 
they are Republicans, but their interest in public 
affairs, while constant, has never led them into 
political prominence nor caused them to seek 
public office. Fraternally the father is identified 
with the Masons. In religion both are believers 
in the doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church and contributors to this denomination in 
Lawrence, the son serving as a member of the 
board of stewards in the same. 



61 LBERT H. KING, superintendent of public 
LI instruction for Douglas County, is descended 
/ I from a pioneer family of Kentucky. His 
grandfather, J. W. King, who was born in that 
state in 1805, grew to manhood upon a farm , mar- 
ried, and in 1843 removed to Indiana, settling 
near Greencastle and engaging in agricultural 
pursuits. When advanced in years he retired 
from active farm cares. He is now ninety-four 
years of age, but is unusuallj' vigorous for one so 
advanced in life. His home is in Roachdale, 
Ind. In religion he has for years been a faithful 
member of the Baptist Church. He married a 
Miss Hendricks, who was born in Kentucky, of 
Pennsylvanian descent, and she, too, is still living. 
The father of our subject, George William 
King, was born near Lexington, Ky., in Feb- 
ruary, 1835. When about eight years of age he 
was taken to Indiana by his parents and was 
reared upon a farm there. During the Civil war 
he enlisted in Companj' I, One Hundred and 
Tenth Indiana Infantry, and was assigned to the 
Army of the Cumberland, with which he re- 
mained until the expiration of his term of service. 
Coming west in 1868, he settled in Bourbon 
County, Kans., purchasing a farm near Xeuia, 
and carrying on general agricultural pursuits. 
He is now making his home upon his farm near 



Baldwin, Kans. He is a member of the Grand 
Army of the Republic and in politics affiliates 
with the Republicans. In Indiana he married 
Nancy, daughter of Rev. Thomas Job, who was 
born in North Carolina in 1S12 and is living at 
New Maysville, Ind. He was a pioneer Methodist 
Episcopal minister in his section of Indiana and 
has accomplished much good for the cause of 
religion. 

The subject of this sketch was third among 
seven children, the others of whom are named as 
follows: John S. , agent for the Santa Fe Railroad 
at Yates Center, Kans. ; Wallace, who is engaged 
in farming in Republic County, Kans. ; Mrs. Alice 
Ulrich, of Douglas Count}'; Nettie, who is 
with her parents; Edward, a teacher in Douglas 
County, and Florence. 

Born at New Maysville, Ind., May 9, 1866, 
Mr. King was only two years of age when the 
familj- removed to Kansas; hence he knows no 
other home than this state. He was reared on a 
farm until seventeen years of age, when the fam- 
ily settled in Baldwin. In 1887 he entered Baker 
University, and during the years that followed he 
alternated teaching with attendance at the uni- 
versity, from wliich he graduated in 1896. For 
six years he taught in Douglas County, where he 
won a record for proficiencj- as an instructor and 
success as a disciplinarian. He rose to such 
prominence among the teachersof the county that 
he was selected as a fitting person for the office of 
superintendent of public instruction. In 1898 he 
was nominated for this office on the Republican 
ticket and received a majority of twelve hundred 
and fifty. January 9, 1899, he took the oath of 
office for a term of two years. He has since given 
his attention to the discharge of his duties as super- 
intendent and has maintained a careful oversight 
of the schools of the count}', favoring all plans for 
the promotion of their interests and the advance- 
ment of the grade of scholarship. He has been 
deeply interested in normal work, which he be- 
lieves a most helpful auxiliary in preparing teach- 
ers for successful careers in the schoolroom. By 
virtue of his office he is ex-officio president of 
the Douglas County Teachers' Association and 
he has also been a member of the State Teachers' 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



583 



Association for some years. He is connected with 
the Methodist Episcopal Church of Lawrence and 
contributes to its maintenance, as well as to other 
worthy enterprises. Fraternallj^ he is past grand 
of Baldwin Lodge No. 30, I. O. O. F., and is 
now district deputy grand master, belonging to 
the encampment at Lawrence. 



EHARLEs B. McClelland, d. v. s., of 
Lawrence, was born at Williamsville, San- 
gamon County, 111., July 22, 1867, a son of 
T. L. and Nancy J. (Jones) McClelland. His 
grandfather, James McClelland, was the son of a 
Scotchman and was born in Pennsj'lvania, but 
settled in Illinois at an early age. Several of 
his brothers took part in the Blackhawk war. 
T. L. McClelland, a native of Sangamon County 
and a farmer by occupation, settled in Chase 
County, Kans. , in 1887, and became the owner 
of a large stock farm there. In 1892 he settled 
upon a large farm near Sibley, Douglas County. 
During the Civil war he enlisted in the One Hun- 
dred and Fourteenth Illinois Infantry and was 
captured at Guntown, Miss., from which place 
he was taken to Andersonville. After being con- 
fined there for six months he was exchanged 
and returned to his regiment, remaining in the 
service until the close of the war. He is active 
in the work of the Grand Army and is also iden- 
tified with the Masonic fraternity. He married 
a daughter of David G. Jones, who was born in 
Ohio and about 1854 settled in Sangamon Coun- 
ty, 111., where he died; his father was born in 
Virginia and was the son of an Englishman who 
settled in the Old Dominion. 

Our subject was one of three sons, the others 
being, N. F., a stockman at Giltner, Neb.; and 
I. S. , at home. He was reared in Illinois and 
graduated from the high school at Farmer City, 
as salutatorian of his class. Afterward he taught 
school for one year in Illinois. In 1887 he came 
to Kansas, and for three years engaged in teach- 
ing, being principal of the school at Clements. 
In 1890 he entered the Chicago Veterinary Col- 
lege, from which he graduated in 1892, with the 
degree of D. V. S. Coming to Lawrence he has 



since engaged in practice in Douglas and adjoin- 
ing counties. He is the only graduated veterin- 
nary in this city and has become known as a 
reliable and well-informed man, to whose natural 
ability has been added the benefit of thorough 
study. He has his office at No. 812 Vermont 
street. He is a member of the Alumni Associa- 
tion of the Chicago Veterinary College, the Mis- 
souri Valley Veterinary Association (before 
which he has read a number of papers) and the 
American Veterinary Association. 

In politics our subject is a Republican. He is 
connected with the Sons of Veterans, the Modern 
Woodmen, the Order of Pyramids, and the 
Alumni Association of the Farmer City high 
school. He was married in Chase County, 
Kans., in 1893, to Miss Maude Crook, who was 
born nearSaffordville, that county, the daughter 
of John Crook, a pioneer farmer of Chase County 
and a soldier in an Illinois regiment during the 
Civil war. They are the parents of two daugh- 
ters. May and Vera, who with them reside at 
No. 828 Mississippi street. 



QETER H. WEEKS. Shortly after the close 
L/' of the Civil war, in which he had borne arms 
fS for the government, Mr. Weeks came to 
Kansas and purchased the farm in Douglas 
County which he has since occupied. He has de- 
voted himself assiduously to agricultural pur- 
suits and has become known as one of the ener- 
getic, efficient farmers of Palmyra Township. 
His landed possessions now aggregate two hun- 
dred and ten acres in Douglas County, one hun- 
dred and sixty in Logan County, this state, and 
four hundred and eighty in eastern Colorado. Of 
recent years he has given considerable attention 
to the breeding of Durham cattle, and it is his 
intention to use much of his land for ranching 
purposes. While in the army he saved $800, 
which, with money received by inheritance, 
formed the nucleus of his present property. 

Mr. Weeks was born in Peekskill, N. Y., April 
29, 1842. His father, Samuel, was born and 
reared in the same state, and in early life was 
clerk on a steamboat and also teacher of the offi- 



584 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



cers' children at West Point, but resigned the 
latter position in order to enter the ministry. 
From 1848 to 1856 he was engaged as a Methodist 
Episcopal preacher in Indiana, after which he 
spent one year in Winter.set, Iowa, thence went 
to Mount Ayr, Iowa, where he cultivated a farm 
and also carried on a general mercantile store. 
In the fall of 1865 he sold out there and moved to 
Pleasant Hill, Mo., where he engaged in mer- 
chandising for a year. Next he .settled in Baldwin, 
Kans., where he was proprietor of a general store 
and also preached occasionally. In 1875 he sold 
out here and returned to JefFersonville, Ind. , 
where he died at eighty-four years of age. Po- 
litically he was a Republican. He was a son of 
Jesse Weeks, a farmer of New York, whose 
father, Thomas, was also a native of that state. 
The marriage of Samuel Weeks united him with 
Sarah Parks, who was born in New York and 
died in Baldwin, Kans., October i, 1875, at 
sixty -five years of age. She was connected with 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of her three 
childrc!!, Mary is a widow and Lyman is a painter 
residing in Salida, Colo. The eldest of the 
family, our subject, was educated in public 
schools. In April, 1862, he enlisted in Company 
I, Fifth Missouri Cavalry, and was mustered in 
at St. Joe for three years. For a time he was 
stationed on the border and took part in skir- 
mishes with the bushwhackers and with Quan- 
trell's men. He was mustered out at the end of 
fourteen months. August 22, 1863, he enlisted 
a second time, becoming a member of Company 
D, Eighth Iowa Cavalry, at Davenport. With 
his regiment he marched to Nashville, Tenn., 
and spent the winter in that city, going from there 
to Cleveland, the same state, and thence to the 
Atlanta campaign. During his service he had 
several narrow escapes but was never wounded nor 
taken prisoner. He was mustered out at Macon, 
Ga., in August, 1865. 

Returning home our subject remained there 
for a short time, then came to Kansas and settled 
in Douglas County, with the subsequent develop- 
ment of which he has been identified. He is a 
member of Seth Kelley Post No. 410, G. A. R., 
at Viuland, also belongs to Palmyra Lodge No. 



23, A. F. & A. M., of Baldwin. His family are 
connected with the Methodist Church, and he is 
in sympathy with, and contributes to, its main- 
tenance, tut is not identified with the congrega- 
tion. By his marriage to Miss Julia Snyder, of 
Utica, Ind., he had eight children, namely: 
Elizabeth, wife of H. E. Craig; Emma, who 
married Frank White and died at twenty-seven 
years; Mrs. Frances Williams; Floyd, who has 
charge of his father's stock ranch in Colorado; 
Birdie, who died at five years; Homer, Alice and 
Lyman, at home. 

HENRY MANWARING, who is engaged 
in gardening in Wakarusa Township, 
Douglas County, was born in England, 
February 28, 1839. His father died before he 
was born and his mother when he was three 
years of age. When eleven years of age he went 
to make his home with an uncle, whom he ac- 
companied to America two years later, taking 
passage on the " Hibernia," which anchored in 
New York after a voyage of five weeks and three 
days. For nineteen years he made his home 
in York state, being engaged in agricultural pur- 
suits, mixed gardening and farming in Seneca 
County. In the spring of 1871 he and his uncle 
came together to Kansas and purchased one hun- 
dred and sixty acres where he now resides, about 
four miles west of Lawrence on the old California 
road. The land had been ploughed, the east 
part of the house and the stone portion of the 
barn erected, but no other improvements had 
been made. Up to the spring of 1883 he operated 
the land in partnership with his uncle, but the 
latter died at that time, since which our subject 
has been alone. He has erected a large green- 
house, enlarged the house and barn, and has 
built up a good business as a market gardner, in 
addition to which he devotes some attention to 
general farming. The products of his garden he 
sells principally to dealers and shippers, thus 
avoiding the additional work caused by making 
the shipments himself. 

Besides his work as a gardner Mr. Manwar- 
ing has been connected with the Douglas County 
creamery, of which he was one of the incorpora- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



585 



tors. He was for two years president of the 
company and for four years a director. He has 
always believed in the principles advocated by 
Abraham Lincoln, but the Republican party he 
believes has drifted somewhat from its original 
moorings, and he therefore allies himself with 
the Populists. He is interested in political mat- 
ters, but is not an office seeker. In religion he 
is an Episcopalian. It is said of him by his 
associates that no one better exemplifies the 
principles of Christianity than he. While he is 
modest and retiring, saying nothing in regard to 
his kind acts, yet his life has been full of gener- 
ous deeds and helpful words. 

June II, 1863, in New York state, Mr. Man- 
waring married Esther Ridley. They became 
the parents of three children, two now living. 
The older son, John (a namesake of our sub- 
ject's uncle,) is superintendent of the Kanwaka 
Congregational Sunday-school, a position which 
he fills successfully. He served for one term as 
township clerk, but refused further nomination 
to the office. He and his brother, Charles 
Henry, are unmarried and reside with their par- 
ents, giving their attention to the stock business, 
which they conduct in partnership. 



"HOMAS T. TAYLOR is one of the leading 
farmers and stock-raisers of Reno Town- 
ship, Leavenworth County. He owns and 
operates four hundred and ninety acres of fine 
farming land, which he has placed in a high 
state of cultivation and improved with all the 
accessories and conveniences of a model estate. 
While he gives considerable attention to the rais- 
ing of grain, he has been making a specialty of 
the stock business and has on his place about 
one hundred and thirty head of high-grade Dur- 
ham cattle, also raises Poland-China hogs. 

Mr. Taylor was born in the North of Ireland 
in 1834, a son of Anthony and Mary (Lowry) 
Taylor. He accompanied his parents to America 
in 1849. They settled in Indiana County, Pa., 
and the subject of this sketch served four years 
and two months as apprentice to the cabinet-mak- 
ing trade in Brooklyn, N. Y. He farmed with 



his father about four years in Pennsylvania and 
then ten years near Maroa, Macon County, 111. 
In 1869 he moved to Kansas and settled in Reno 
Township, Leavenworth County. Mr. Taylor 
and his brother Robert bought quite a tract of 
land from the Kansas Pacific Railroad, in what 
was called the Delaware reserve. They car- 
ried on general farming and stock-raising and 
for several years, in connection with farming, 
they carried on a general store at Reno, 
also the station agency and postoffice. Mr. 
Taylor has been on the school board for nine- 
teen years, as director or treasurer. He is for 
free silver. In religion he is a member of the 
Methodist Church. He has three children, 
Arno, Emmet and Annie Jane. 



HENRYS. DeFORD,M.D. At the time of the 
revocation of the edict of Nantes by Louis 
XIV. thousands of Huguenots were forced to 
flee from France. Among those who sougJit in the 
new world an asylum of refuge was Jean DeFord, 
whose home had been near Toulouse. Escaping 
to America with his wife, he settled in Maryland 
in 1686 and received from Lord Baltimore a 
grant of twelve hundred acres on the eastern 
shore, near Centerville. His son, John, was 
born there and succeeded to the ownership of the 
estate. The latter's son, also named John, was 
born in Queen Anne County and moved to Kent 
County, Md., thence to Pennsylvania. It was 
his intention to seek a home in Virginia and with 
that object in view he left his home in eastern 
Maryland in 1785, and traveled westward, find- 
ing a suitable location upon which he settled. 
However, when the survey was made, it proved 
that he was in Pennsylvania instead of Vir- 
ginia. He was a man of great force of character 
and during the Revolutionary war served bravely 
as captain of a company. When about eighty 
years of age he was accidentally killed. His son, 
John, was born in 1768, and by occupation was a 
farmer. At the age of seventy he removed to 
Carroll County, Ohio, and there he died when 
four years past the century mark. 

Next in line of descent was John H. DeFord, 



586 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



our subject's father, who wasborn inUniontowti, 
P'ayette County, Pa., and graduated from Jeflfer- 
son College in Pennsylvania, after which he 
practiced law in Uniontown almost forty years. 
Possessing more than ordinary ability, he was 
repeatedly called to ofiSces of trust and respon.si- 
bility. He .served for many terms in the state 
legislature and also was a member of the senate 
of Pennsylvania. He was active in Masonry 
and belonged to the Methodist Epi-scopal Church. 
His death occurred in 1856, when he was fifty -six 
years of age. 

The mother of our subject, Harriet, was born 
in Fayette County, Pa., of which her father, 
Isaac Brownfield, was a lifelong resident. Her 
grandfather, John Brownfield, who was of Vir- 
ginian birth and English descent, settled in the 
wilcls of Pennsylvania in an early day. She 
spent her active years in the east, but died in 
Ottawa in 1898, when eighty-seven years of age. 
Her family comprised the following children: 
J. W., attorney -at-law of Ottawa; Mrs. Lydia 
A. Patton, who died in New York Citj'; Henry 
S., the subject of this sketch; Mrs. Frances 
Thompson, of Pittsburgh, Pa.; Daniel, who 
was in the Civil war and is now a druggist in 
Ottawa; Mrs. Harriet Emma Dobson, of Ottawa; 
and James B., a druggist of this city. 

Dr. DeFord was born in Uniontown, Pa., De- 
cember 15, 1839. At an early age he began to 
assist in the cultivation of a farm owned by his 
father. When in the .senior class of Madison 
College at Uniontown the war broke out and he 
left school, afterward studying medicine in Jeffer- 
son Medical College. He graduated in the .spring 
of 1863 with the degree of M. D., and shortly af- 
terward passed a very rigid examination for ad- 
mission into the navy. He was commissioned 
surgeon of the receiving ships in New York, 
where he examined recruits for the navy. Later 
he was assigned to the Mississippi squadron as 
surgeon, and for eighteen months was on 
board the flag ship "The Huntress" between 
Cairo and Vicksburg. During this time he 
was with the sailors constantly, and promptly 
attended to those who were injured in ac- 
tion. His last service was at the mouth of the 



Hatchie River, to prevent the escape of Jefferson 
Davis should he try to take advantage of that 
route. His constant and hard service in the navy 
completely ruined his health, and after Lincoln's 
death, the fleet surgeon, seeing his critical con- 
dition, ordered him back to Pennsylvania. Since 
then he has been an invalid, able to engage but 
little in professional practice and prevented from 
engaging in those activities which would other- 
wise have been a congenial outlet for his energies. 
April 30, 1866, he arrived in Ottawa, where he 
was examiner for life insurance companies and 
the only member of the pension board, also for a 
time was interested in a drug business, but the 
condition of his health obliged him to retire from 
all business enterprises. At one time he was a 
member of the State Medical Association. He 
assisted in the building up of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. He is a member of George 
H. Thomas Post No. 18, G. A. R. In politics he 
has always been a Republican. 

In Ottawa Dr. DeFord married Miss Mary F. 
Cowgill, of Indiana, daughter of Dr. H. E. and 
Joanna N. (Stevenson) Cowgill. Two children 
were born of their union. The daughter, Marga- 
ret, is the wife of Rev. F. W. Simpson, pastor of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church of Osceola, 
Mo. The son, Charles H., graduated from the 
Philadelphia College of Pharmacy with the de- 
gree of Ph.G., and is now assistant manager of 
the drug department of a large pharmacy in New 
York City. 

(TOHN G. McCLANAHAN, one of the earli- 
I e.st of the Douglas County pioneers, was 
(2/ born in Lexington, Ky., June 18, 1826, a 
son of William S. and Elizabeth T. (Triplett) 
McClanahan, of whose eight children, one son 
and three daughters, Amelia, Mary and Eliza- 
beth, survive. His father, who was born in 
Kentucky about 1800, went to West Virginia in 
early manhood and engaged in farming in con- 
junction with his work as a teacher in the public 
schools. After some years he went to Lexing- 
ton, Ky., in order that his wife, who was not 
strong, might have the benefit of medical attend- 
ance. After her recovery he returned to West 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



587 



Virginia, where he remained until 1833. He 
then removed to Boone County, Mo., and en- 
gaged in farming and teaching. In 1848 he es- 
tablished his home in Linn County, the same 
state, where he resided until his death. He gave 
up teaching about 1850 and was elected county 
surveyor, which office he filled for six years. 
Soon after resigning from that position he was 
elected clerk of the county court, and served in 
that capacity for fourteen years. He was a prom- 
inent member of the Mission Baptist Church. In 
politics he was first an ardent supporter of the 
Whig party and later a stanch Republican. In 
character he was upright, a man respected 
wherever known . 

Under his father's private tutorship our sub- 
ject acquired an excellent education. From 
eighteen to twenty-one years of age he worked in 
a sawmill. Afterward he learned the carpenter's 
trade. In 1850 he married Miss Mary A. Zinn, 
a native of Illinois, and daughter of George W. 
Zinn, who for some years had been a prominent 
farmer near Danville, that state, but in 1839 re- 
moved to Linn County, Mo. After Mr. McClan- 
ahan's marriage he settled upon a farm which he 
purchased in Linn County, and there he followed 
farming and carpentering. In the fall of 1854 he 
came to Kansas, in company with his father-in- 
law, arriving in Douglas County September i. 
He took up land four miles west of Leconip- 
ton, where he still resides. He was the first set- 
tler in this part of Douglas County. Upon his 
property he first built a hut, and in the latter 
part of September returned to Missouri for his 
family. November of the same year found them 
domiciled in their new home, and they have 
since continued to reside upon the same farm. 

During the border warfare days Mr. McClanahan 
experienced all the excitement caused by the 
slavery agitation. In 1S56 he was a member of 
the grand jury and at that time carried his life in 
his hand. During the Civil war he was a corpo- 
ral in the militia and was called out to cut off 
General Price in his Kansas raid. He is a friend 
of education and has served on the school board 
for twenty-six years. In politics he is a Repub- 
lican, and in religion a member of the Mission 



Baptist Church. He is one of the oldest living 
pioneers of Douglas County, and has witnessed 
the gradual development of this county from 
early days. Not only did he pass through all the 
dangers and trials of antebellum days, but he also 
has witnessed the subsequent growth of this sec- 
tion of the state, and has gained for himself a 
place among the most highly esteemed citizens of 
the county. In this esteem his wife also shares. 
Both recall the days when Douglas County was 
sparsely populated and of little importance in the 
commercial life of the state, and they have wit- 
nessed its prosperity with pride and have con- 
tributed not a little to its advancement. They 
became the parents of ten children, seven of 
whom survive, viz.: Martha A., wife of William 
A. Duncan, of Lyon County, Kans. ; William S., 
who is engaged in farming in Douglas County 
and also operates a threshing machine; Sarah E., 
widow of Hiram Gibbons, of this county ; John H. 
and Franklin A., who are farmers of this county; 
Mary Emma, wife of Thomas Hoog, of Shaw- 
nee County; and Nancy E., who married John 
Austin, proprietor of a cheese factory in Douglas 
County. 

pCJlLLIAM M. LINDLEY, who was one of 
\ A / the first machinists and engineers in Law- 
YY rence, was born in New London, Howard 
County, Ind., November 11, 1849, a son of Al- 
fred and Martha (Maxwell) Lindley, natives of 
Orange County, Ind. His paternal grandfather, 
William Lindley, a native of England and a pio- 
neer of Indiana, made farming his life work and 
cleared a fine homestead from a tract of wild 
land. In religious faith he was a Quaker. The 
maternal grandfather, Joseph Maxwell, was a 
farmer by occupation and during the war of 18 12 
he rendered efficient service as a soldier; his fa- 
ther was also a man of great patriotism and with 
the soldiers of the Revolution endured all the 
hardships and privations incident to securing 
liberty for our country. After having farmed 
for some years in Indiana, in 1866 Alfred Lind- 
ley brought his family to Kansas and settled in 
Lawrence, where he was connected with mer- 
cantile pursuits until his retirement from busi- 



588 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



ness. He died in this citj', and his wife, who is 
still living, now makes her home in Wichita. 
They had four children: George, a druggist in 
Lawrence; Joseph, who is living in Wichita; 
William M.; and Estella, of Wichita. 

At the time the family settled in Kansas our 
subject was about seventeen years of age, and for 
a short time afterward he attended the Eudora 
high school. In iS68 he began to learn the ma- 
chinist's trade with the Kimball Iron Works Com- 
pany, with whom he remained for twenty years 
or more, and from 1886 to 1889 was foreman of 
the plant. In the latter year he resigned to ac- 
cept the position of chief engineer at Haskell In- 
stitute, where he remained until February 28, 
1899. Meantime he had charge of the engine 
work, the putting in of piping, and the supervision 
of the plant. While there, various buildings 
were erected, among them the auditorium, store- 
house, shop buildings, twolavatorj- buildings and 
several residences, the boiler house was enlarged, 
water works and electric lights were introduced, 
and other improvements made. On resigning his 
position he retired to private life, and has since 
given his attention to the supervision of his home 
on the Haskell road, where he has five acres of 
fruit land. 

While he is not active in public affairs, Mr. 
Lindley keeps posted in politics and always votes 
with the Republican party. Fraternally he is 
connected with the Odd Fellows. He was mar- 
ried in Lawrence to Miss Nettie Lovell, who was 
born in Ringgold County, Iowa, and is a lady of at- 
tractive personality and a member of the Method- 
ist Episcopal Church. They have three chil- 
dren, Lora, Fred and Stella. 



HENRY D. CRANE has been engaged in the 
milling business in Ottawa for thirty years 
and has met with success. On coming to 
this city, in 1869, with his brother, C. D. Crane, 
he bought a one-half interest in the old Ottawa 
mills, and a year later the other one-half was 
purchased by A. J. Wightman, the firm be- 
coming Crane & Wightman. After a few years 
his brother disposed of his share and turned his 



attention to the mercantile business. In 1880 the 
partnership was dissolved and the mill sold to 
Baldwin & Fuller. The following year he built 
the Excelsior mill on Main street, and for a time 
used the stone burr process, but about 1883 
changed to the roller system. For a time Mr. 
Shaffer and W. M. Shiras were both connected 
with Mr. Crane, but Mr. Shaffer sold his interest, 
and the firm is now Crane & Shiras. The mill 
has a capacity of two hundred and twenty- five 
barrels, is 50x60 feet in dimensions, with a boiler 
and engine room 40x35, and engine of ninety- 
horse power, and a large corn elevator, with a 
capacity of three hundred bushels an hour. The 
warehouses are 34x60, 18x60 and 25x60. By 
means of a switch from the Santa Fe the products 
of the mill are easily loaded on cars for transporta- 
tion. The three leading varieties of flour manu- 
factured are High Patent No. 7, O. K. Patent 
and Golden Gem, and corn meal is also manufac- 
tured in large quantities. 

Mr. Crane was born in Cattaraugus County, 
N. Y., March 11, 1831, a son of Stevens and 
Clarinda (Daw) Crane. His grandfather. Shad- 
rack Crane, a native of New England, removed 
to New York in early life, and there engaged first 
in surveying and later in farming; he died in 
Cattaraugus County. The maternal grandfather, 
Peter F. Daw, a native of New England, was a 
pioneer of Geuesee County, N. Y., settling at 
Daw's Corners, where he engaged in blacksmith- 
ing; his shop still stands at Daw's Corners, three 
miles north of Batavia. He had three sons, 
Homer, Henry and Ferris (all blacksmiths) 
and two daughters. Of the sons, Homer for 
thirty-five years carried on the shop started by 
his father; Henry abandoned blacksmithing and 
became a wealthy commi.ssion merchant in Buffalo, 
N. Y.; and Ferris, who was a maker of edged 
tools, died in Albany. 

The father of our subject, a carpenter by trade, 
removed to Winnebago County, 111., in 1842, and 
settled near Rockford, where he was a pioneer 
farmer and contractor. In 1848 he established 
his home in Dubuque County, Iowa, and there he 
died at fifty-two years. His wifewas fifty-six at the 
time of her death, which occurred in New York. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



589 



They were the parents of the following-named 
children: Peter, a provost-marshal during the 
war, who died in Ottawa; Mrs. Augusta McCray, 
who died in Iowa; Henry D.; C. D., a merchant 
in Ottawa; Mrs. Eliza Ferguson, who died in 
Iowa; and D. F., who is head man in our subject's 
mill. 

When less than twelve years of age our subject 
accompanied his parents to Illinois, making the 
trip in a wagon and coming through Chicago 
when it had less than five thousand people. 
When a boy he worked constantly to help clear 
and improve the farm. Often he hauled wheat 
eighty miles to Chicago, receiving for it forty 
cents a bushel. Dressed pork he sold for $1.50 
per hundred. He assisted in threshing and 
harvesting the grain, and was of great help in the 
work of the farm. When he could be spared he 
took great pleasure in hunting deer, which were 
still abundant. More than once he was called up- 
on suddenly to assist in fighting a prairie fire and 
would stand for hours, fighting the flames with 
an old overcoat that had been submerged in water. 
After he went to Iowa in 1848, he began to drive 
a team for a miller at Cascade. In 1849 ^^ was 
apprenticed to the miller's trade in North Maquo- 
keta, continuing there until the mill was washed 
away in a flood, in 1851. From 1853 to 1855 ^^^ 
worked in Anamosa and Cedar Rapids. A fine 
mill having been erected in Cascade, in the fall 
of 1855 he returned there and for fifteen years 
was employed in it on a salary, being head miller 
most of the time. Afterward he and his brother, 
C. D., rented the mill until they came to Kansas 
in i859» From Leavenworth they proceeded to 
Ottawa, then the terminus of the Leavenworth, 
Lawrence & Galveston Railroad, and here they 
have since resided. 

In Dubuque, Iowa, Mr. Crane married Miss 
Rosella Wightman, who was born in Licking 
County, Ohio, and by whom he has one child. 
Lulu, wife of W. H. Becker, of Ottawa. Mrs. 
Crane was a daughter of Abel P. and Adelia 
Wightman, both of whom were born in Con- 
necticut, and removed to Ohio. Her father fol- 
lowed the wagonmaker's trade and served as post- 
master of Granville. He was a soldier in the 



war of 181 2. In 1854 he settled upon a farm in 
Dubuque County, Iowa, where he died. His son, 
A. J., brother of Mrs. Crane, established his home 
in Ottawa, Kans. , in the fall of 1869 and for 
twelve years was a partner in business with our 
subject. Later he was twice elected treasurer of 
Franklin County. He died in this city. 

Since the organization of the Republican party 
Mr. Crane has upheld its principles. He was a 
member of the council one term and served as 
mayor of Ottawa in 1883-84, holding the office at 
the time of the smallpox epidemic; this greatly 
increased his responsibilities, but by working 
night and day he succeeded with the board of 
health in wiping out the disease. He was made 
a Mason at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1854, and in 
point of membership is the oldest Mason in Otta- 
wa. He is now connected with Ottawa Lodge No. 
128, A. F. & A. M. , of which he was Master for 
five years, and on his retirement was presented by 
the members with an elegant and costly gold Past- 
Master's jewel, the same being finely embellished 
and engraved. He is also a member of Ottawa 
Chapter No. 7, R. A. M., and Tancred Com- 
mandery No. 11, K. T. In religious belief he is 
a Universalist, but is now serving as a trustee of 
the Presbyterian Church, with which his wife is 
identified. He is a member of the state Millers' 
Association. For years he has acted as vice- 
president of the Kansas Mutual Millers' Insurance 
Company, now the Western Millers' Mutual In- 
surance Company, the headquarters of which 
were recently changed from Ottawa to Kansas 
City, Mo. 

HENRY C. BRANSON, secretary, treasurer 
and manager of the Ottawa Foundry Com- 
pany, vice-president of the Ottawa Hard- 
ware Company, and chief of the Ottawa fire de- 
partment, has made his home in the county-seat 
ofFranklin County since December 28, 1867. He 
was born near Williamsville, Sangamon Countj', 
111., December 2, 1842, a son of Benjamin B. and 
Mary E. (Thompson) Branson. On his father's 
side he is of English lineage, while through his 
mother he descends from Scotch-Irish Presbyterian 
ancestors. His father, a native of Ohio, engaged 



590 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



in farming in Sangamon County, 111., for year.s, 
and thence removed to Jacksonville, the same 
state, where he died at seventy-three years. His 
wife, who was born near Mount Sterling, Ky., 
was a daughter of John Thompson, a soldier in 
the war of 1S12, who removed from Kentucky to 
Illinois, settling near Mechanicsburg; she died in 
Taylorville, 111. Of her five children, only two 
are living, a son and a daughter. 

After completing public school studies our sub- 
ject attended Knox College at Galesburg and the 
Illinois College in Jacksonville. For some years 
he engaged in the stock business, making his 
headquarters at Jacksonville. On coming to 
Kansas he settled in Ottawa and started in the 
hardware and implement business with A. M. 
Blair, the firm title being Blair & Branson. Af- 
ter four years the name became Branson & Robin- 
son, and eight years later it was changed to H. 
C. Branson & Co. , then to Branson & Elder, and 
finally the Branson-Elder Hardware Company 
was organized, with himself as president, and 
subsequently the Ottawa Hardware Company was 
established, of which he has since been vice- 
president and a director. About 1886 the Bran- 
son & Elder Hardware Company became inter- 
ested in the Ottawa Foundry Company, with 
which Mr. Branson is now identified as secretary, 
treasurer and manager. The company manufac- 
tures castings for the Southern Kansas division of 
the Santa Fe Railroad, al.so manufactures the 
Williams hay press, etc. The plant is operated 
by steam power, with a fifteen-horse power 
engine, and all the modern equipments. 

In Jacksonville Mr. Branson married Clara L. 
Lathrop, who was born in that city, her father, 
John W. Lathrop, having gone there from Con- 
necticut in 1836. They have four children, Ed- 
ward L., Clara Belle, Louise and Helen. The 
son graduated from Cornell in 1892 with the 
degree of LL. B. Returning to Ottawa, he began 
the practice of law. While serving his second 
term as justice of the peace he resigned in order 
to accept the office of county attorney, which posi- 
tion he now holds, discharging its duties with 
fidelity. 
. For one term Mr. Branson was a member of the 



school board. Twice he was elected to represent 
the second ward in the council, and during one 
year he was president of the board. He assisted 
in the organization of the fire department of Ot- 
tawa, of which he and A. P. Elder have been the 
only chiefs, he having served for twenty-four 
j'ears either as chief or assistant chief. His con- 
nection with the department dates from April, 
1872, and it is due not a little to his efforts that 
the service rendered by the department is one of 
the quickest and most effective of any in the state. 
He is also a member of the State Association of 
Chiefs of Fire Departments. Fraternallj- he is a 
member of Franklin Lodge No. 18, A. F. & A. M. ; 
Ottawa Chapter No. 7, R. A. M.; and Tancred 
Commandery No. 1 1 , K. T. His first presidential 
vote was cast for Abraham Lincoln and he has 
since been firm in his allegiance to the men and 
measures of the Republican party. 



|ILLIAM JACKSON, acting captain of the 
guard at the United States penitentiary, 
Fort Leavenworth, is, in point of years of 
active .service, the oldest employe in the prison, 
and his long and efficient service has brought him 
the esteem and regard of the officials of the insti- 
tution. From his earliest recollections he has 
been familiar with military posts and government 
service. He has himself been employed by the 
government since 1870, and during that long 
period has won an enviable record for efficiency 
and fidelity. 

When a young man Robert T. Jackson emi- 
grated from his native country, England, to 
America, where he soon entered the regular 
army, in which he spent thirty-six years of his 
life. He was connected with a regiment of dra- 
goons as band leader and was also chief musician 
for the Fourth Cavalry and the Sixth Infantry. 
Under the administration of President Lincoln 
he was appointed forage master at Fort Leaven- 
worth and in this position he continued to ser\'e 
until his death, in 1877, when sixty-seven years 
of age. He was a man of ability and stood high 
among his comrades at the fort, as well as among 
the people whom he knew in civic life. By his 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



591 



marriage to Mary Ann Burton, who died in Leav- 
enworth, he had twelve children. Of these the 
subject of our sketch was one, and was born 
while his father was stationed at Fort Riley, 
Kans., in 1856. When he was five years of age 
his father was transferred to Fort Leavenworth. 
His education was received in the city schools. 

When only fourteen years of age Mr. Jackson 
began to drive a team in Fort Leavenworth, 
under the quartermaster's department. After- 
ward he held an appointment as forage master at 
the United States military prison under Maj . J. W. 
Pope for five years. In 1895 ^^ was appointed a 
guard at the penitentiary and has since been con- 
nected with this institution. In the position 
which he holds he is known for his industry, 
faithfulness and intelligence. Fraternally he is 
connected with Metropolitan Lodge No. 27, 
I. O. O. F., in Leavenworth. By his marriage, 
in 1877, to Maggie Connor, he has six children: 
May, Norma, Grace, Elizabeth, Eleanor and Will- 
iam R. 



HON. DAVID JOSIAH BREWER. Among 
those once resident in Leavenworth who 
have become distinguished in the annals of 
our country, conspicuous stands the name of 
Justice Brewer. For the following account of his 
career we are indebted to an article by Henry 
Macfarland in the Christian Endeavor Woi'ld: 

A fine type of the great Christian jurist is David 
Josiah Brewer, associate justice of the Supreme 
Court of the United States, and one of the five 
members of the court of arbitration on the con- 
troversy over the boundary between Venezuela 
and British Guiana. Mr. Justice Brewer was 
sixty-two on the 20th of June, 1899, a few 
days after the arbitration tribunal met in Paris to 
hear ex-President Harrison and the other counsel 
for Venezuela and Great Britain. 

He has the unusual distinction of having spent 
more than half his life upon the bench, and, al- 
though he is so young and so vigorous in both 
mind and body that he may well live to become 
chief justice of the United States, he will in De- 
cember complete ten years of service in the high- 
est court of the United States, which is the great- 
26 



est court in the world. Now that Mr. Justice 
Brewer's uncle, Mr. Justice Stephen J. Field, has 
passed away, no other member of the Supreme 
Court has served as a judge in state and federal 
courts so many years as Mr. Justice Brewer; and 
he bids fair to exceed the length of service of his 
uncle on the Supreme bench, as Mr. Justice Field 
exceeded that of Chief Justice Marshall. 

Mr. Justice Brewer's place is among the two or 
three ablest members of the Supreme Court, ac- 
cording to the estimates of his colleagues and of 
the leading members of the bar, many of whom 
regard him as the greatest lawyer on the bench. 
Although he is a Republican in politics. President 
Cleveland made him chairman of the United 
States commission on the Venezuelan boundary 
line, while President McKinley appointed him 
with Chief Justice Fuller to represent the United 
States on the Venezuelan arbitration tribunal. 

Mr. Justice Brewer is not more noted for his 
ability and attainment as a jurist than he is for 
his fine Christian character and his devotion to 
the work of the church and the Sunday-school. 
Following in the footsteps of his father, Rev. Josiah 
Brewer, of Connecticut, an early missionary to 
Turkey, and of his mother, Emilia A. Field, sister 
of David Dudley, Cyrus W. , Stephen J. and Henry 
M. Field, Justice Brewer as a young man joined 
the Congregational Church, and has faith- 
fully served in it all his life long. ' 'For some- 
thing like thirty years," said Justice Brewer, "my 
intimate friend, George Eddy, and I carried large- 
ly the burdens of the First Congregational Church 
of Leavenworth," and besides all that he did for 
the church proper, he was superintendent of the 
Sunday-school for a time, and for many years 
teacher of its largest bible class. When he re- 
moved to Washington he became an active mem- 
ber of the First Congregational Church of Wash- 
ington, where he teaches every Sunday morning 
the largest Bible class in the Sunday-school. 

Mr. Justice Brewer's career furnishes a most 
wholesome and inspiring example in this money- 
making and money-spending time, for it is one 
long service of God and of country, rewarded, it 
is true, with appreciation and with high honors, 
but with small 'return in money; so that, be- 



592 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



ginning life without a dollar and having only 
brief practice at the bar, Justice Brewer has no 
fortune to-day but what he may have saved from 
his modest salaries, sharing the glory of the 
Supreme Court, which determines the disposition 
of vast fortunes on small official incomes and above 
suspicion of improper influences. 

It is to his well-beloved wife, who died a year 
ago, that Justice Brewer attributes all his success, 
under God. It was most providential that, when 
he arrived in Leavenworth in 1859, after spend- 
ing the little money he had brought from the 
east in a boyish dash for the gold reported at 
Pike's Peak, and in debt for the money he had 
borrowed, besides what he had earned by teaching, 
to carry him through Yale College and the Albany 
Law School, knowing nobodj- in the bustling 
frontier town, and with his genial, fun-loving 
nature, he soon met Miss Landon, a charming 
girl with a fine character, who had come from 
Burlington, Vt., to visit her sister, Mrs. Woods, 
the wife of a merchant, and that they became 
such good friends as to be married at an early 
day. 

This, Justice Brewer says, saved him from 
wrecking his life, as he might have done, on the 
rocks of "a good time," which allured so many 
of the other young lawyers who like himself were 
just starting in the new city of the new state. 
His wife, his home, his church, at once restrained 
him from danger, and gave him motive and in- 
•spiration to make the most of his life. Manj' of 
the one hundred and sixteen lawyers who started 
with him in that town of seven thousand inhabit- 
ants failed utterly through the habits of idleness, 
or worse, which were so easy to form and so hard 
to break . No wonder that Justice Brewer reveres 
the memory of his wife with thankful heart. 

Then, too, his marriage placed him on the first 
stepping-stone of professional success, for it was 
largely through the advice and assistance of his 
brother-in-law, who was a Democrat, that before 
he was twenty-five years old he was elected judge 
of the probate and criminal courts of Leavenworth 
County, to the surprise and dissatisfaction of some 
of the older men, who thought that a young man 
ought not to administer the criminal jurisdiction. 



which covered murder cases, and appealed to the 
legislature to take it awaj'. Before the legisla- 
ture got around to doing it the young judge had 
conquered his critics by the admirable way in 
which he discharged his duties, and at the end of 
three years was made district judge upon the 
unanimous request of the bar. From that time 
his promotion from court to court seemed to be a 
matter of course. He worked incessantly as a 
student of law, as he does to this day, and the re- 
sults in hisjudicial opinions brought him ever in- 
creasing opportunities and honors. 



/7|HARLES B. STRONG has been a resident 
I C of Kansas since 1866 and is one of the well- 
\J known farmers of Grant Township, Doug- 
las County. He was born in Michigan August 
8, 1848. His father, a son of Hugh Strong, 
bore the name of Charles Fitch Strong and was 
born in Massachusetts, whence at fourteen years 
of age he went to New York City. While Mich- 
igan was still a territory he established his home 
there and pre-empted land at Tecumseh, where 
he began farming. During subsequent years he 
devoted his attention to improving land, and as 
he brought a tract under cultivation he sold it, 
then purchased another unimproved farm. While 
he never owned more than twenty-five hundred 
acres at a time, he improved thousands of acres, 
doing more work of this kind than anyone in his 
locality. In 1 866 he removed to Kansas. Seven 
years later he settled in Lawrence, where he 
bought a hotel, also the farm now owned by his 
son, Charles. In politics he was a Republican, 
and in religion was of the Episcopalian faith. 
While in Michigan he married Cornelia Shoals, 
who died, leaving a daughter Cornelia, now the 
wife of E. B. Strickland. Later he married 
Mary A. Rice, by whom he had a daughter, 
Mary, now the wife of Edward Prichard, of Mich- 
igan. By his third wife, Martha ( Miller) Strong, 
he had two sons, Charles B. and Fred J., the 
latter of Leavenworth County. The father spent 
his closing years in Douglas County, where he died 
March 8, 1S97, at the age of eighty-four years. 
From an early age our subject assisted his 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



593 



father at home. When less than sixteen j'ears 
of age, in March, 1864, he enlisted in the Second 
Michigan Infantry, Ninth Army Corps, under 
General Burnside. He took part in the battle of 
the Wilderness, was at Spottsylvania and Cold 
Harbor and was wounded in the latter engage- 
ment. After taking part in the grand review at 
Washington he was honorably discharged in 
that city. Returning to Michigan he made prep- 
arations to come to Kansas. In the spring of 
1866 he accompanied his father west and they 
bought land in Easton Township, Leavenworth 
County. Their property was wholly unimproved 
and it took them a number of years to place it in 
good condition. In addition to farm pursuits 
they became largely interested in buying and 
selling cattle. They planted as many as five 
hundred acres to wheat in a single season and 
were among the first to engage in raising this 
cereal in large quantities. Even after his mar- 
riage our subject continued to be interested with 
his father, who, with advancing years, relied al- 
most wholly upon his son's judgment and de- 
cisions. 

In 1871 Mr. Strong moved to JeflFerson County, 
where he farmed until the spring of 1877. He 
then purchased property in Grant Township, 
Douglas County, starting with one hundred and 
sixty acres, and embarking in farming and stock- 
raising at his new home. He now farms three 
hundred and twenty acres, most of which is under 
cultivation. His father owned two hundred and 
forty acres where our subject resides, and this 
the latter has also operated since the year 1886, 
it being practically his own property. He has 
about one hundred head of cattle, his specialty 
being the Hereford breed, and he also raises 
Poland-China hogs. A Republican in politics, he 
has not been active in local affairs and he has al- 
ways declined offers of official positions. 

The marriage of Mr. Strong, November 10, 
1 87 1, united him with Kate Betsey Hicks, daugh- 
ter of Garrett Smith Hicks, of Syracuse, N. Y. 
Her father enlisted in the Union army and was 
so seriously wounded in the second battle of Bull 
Run that he died from the effects of his injuries. 
He had served in the Twelfth New York In- 



fantry. Mr. and Mrs. Strong are the parents of 
four children, namely: Minnie A., who married 
Lyman A. McCurdy, of Lawrence, and has one 
son, Lyman C. McCurdy; Frank B., a farmer, 
who is married and has one son, Charles Curtis 
Strong; John F., who is a grocer in Lawrence; 
and Curtis Hicks, who assists his father at home. 
In all his work Mr. Strong has had an efficient 
helpmate in his wife, who is a lady of great 
energy and ability, as well as personal beauty. 
In earlier days when it was impossible to secure 
help in her kitchen, she took upon herself the en- 
tire responsibility, not only of caring for her own 
family, but also of cooking, each season, for 
twenty-five or thirty harvesters, and at one time 
she cooked for a week for forty hired men. The 
success which has come to Mr. Strong is due not 
a little to her intelligent assistance and untiring 
energy. 

(I OHN W. BAKER. The first passenger train 
I that came through to Olathe brought Mr. 
(2/ Baker to Kansas in 1870. Selecting a place in 
Franklin County he returned to Illinois, where 
he closed out his interests, preparatory to re- 
moval. In 1871 he settled in this county, pur- 
chasing eighty acres on the southern line of 
Franklin Township. The land was raw prairie, 
destitute of improvements, and giving little in- 
dication of future value. Driving through from 
Illinois, he at once began the task of placing the 
land under cultivation. Every improvement now 
to be seen is the result of his energy and industry. 
He set out all of the trees on the place, erected 
all of the buildings, put up fences, and from time 
to time added to the property until he owned four 
hundred acres. Out of this he has given his sons 
eighty acres each, retaining two hundred and 
forty for himself Here he engages in raising 
Hereford cattle and also gives some attention to 
general farm produce. He has one hundred and 
sixty acres under the plow, rents eighty acres, 
and also owns an orchard of four acres which 
yields fruits of the choicest varieties. 

In Sangamon County, 111., December 13, 1837, 
our subject was born, a son of John and Kachel 
(Biggs) Baker. His father, a native of Ohio, 



594 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



was thirty- five years of age when he settled in 
Illinois, in the midst of a farming region com- 
paratively undeveloped. He farmed in Sangamon 
County until 1870, when he came to Kansas and 
settled in Ottawa, dying in Nebraska while on a 
visit in 1883. Of his eight children four are now 
living, namely: Mrs. Margaret Staggers, of Ot- 
tawa; Thomas N., a farmer of Franklin Town- 
ship; Reuben, who lives in Nebraska; and John 
W. The last-named became familiar with farm 
work at a very early age. He had no opportu- 
nities to gain an education, his entire attendance 
at school being limited to three mouths. He re- 
sided in Sangamon County until his removal to 
Kansas. 

Formerly a Republican, Mr. Baker is now a 
firm believer in the Prohibition party and is act- 
ive in temperance work. In the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church he has served as steward and has 
been class-leader for many years. He filled the 
office of Sunday-school superintendent for thirty 
years and his son is now serving in this position. 
All matters relating to church work receive his 
thoughtful attention and he contributes to them, 
both of time and means, as far as his ability 
renders possible. 

While in Illinois, March 17, 1859, Mr. Baker 
married Sarah J. Mahard. They are the parents 
of four children. The older son, James E., a 
teacher, is now principal of the Wellsville school. 
Elizabeth is the wife of Allen Myers, of Franklin 
Township. Thomas A. cultivates a farm adjoin- 
ing the family homestead. Carrie is the wife of 
Rev. J. W. Reed, of Centropolis. 



~" H. F. SCHNEIDER, who came to Law- 
^ rence in 1868, was first employed as a pat- 
^ tern maker in the shops of the Kansas 
Pacific Railroad. Later he was foreman of 
buildings with the Mi.ssouri, Kansas ik Texas 
Railroad Company, and during the year he was 
with them built the shops at Sedalia, Mo., and 
Deni.son, Tex. His next position was as su- 
perintendent of bridges, Iniildings and cars with 
the St. Louis, Lawrence & Western Railroad, 
which had its shops and headquarters in Law- 



rence. He remained with the company for four 
years, during the la.st two of which he was in 
charge of buildings and roadbeds. When the 
road was sold to the Kansas Pacific he turned his 
attention to contracting and building, which he 
has since conducted, having his office at No. 9 
West Blakeley street. He had charge of the 
building of the girls' dormitory at Haskell Insti- 
tute, also the shop, hospital, store and residences 
there; put in the heating plant at the University 
of Kansas, built the club rooms of the Merchants' 
Athletic Club and numerous store buildings and 
residences. 

Born near Minden, Westphalia, Prussia, June 
9, 1836, our subject was the oldest of six children, 
five of whom attained mature years and two are 
living. His father, Ernest, and grandfather, 
Ernest, Sr. , were born near Minden, and the 
latter was a drununer in the Prussian army and 
took part in the battle of Waterloo. Ernest, Jr., 
a farmer and shoemaker, died near Minden in 
1883, aged eighty years. He married Johanna 
Meier, who was a farmer's daughter and spent 
her life near Minden, dying there at thirty-three 
years. When a boy our subject learned the 
shoemaker's trade. In 1853 he left Bremen on 
the sailer "Heinrich von Gogern," and after a 
voyage of over two months landed in New 
Orleans, thence proceeded up the Mississippi and 
Ohio to Evansville, Ind., and from there traveled 
to Fort Wayne overland, joining a brother of his 
father in that city. During the winter he worked 
at the shoemaker's trade, but in the spring of 
1854 became driver on the Waba.sh canal, then 
hired out on a farm for a year, and later became 
an apprentice to the cabinet-maker's trade in 
Fort Wayne. The firm failed after he had been 
with them for eighteen months, and he then 
began to work for others, being for a time in the 
car works of a railroad and for two years was 
bridge builder in the army of the Cumberland, 
in Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama. Later he 
was detailed to work in the locomotive depart- 
ment in Nashville, where he remained until the 
close of the war. Returning to Indiana he 
resumed carpentering with the railroad company. 
In 1867 he came to Kansas and was employed in 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



595 



the maintenance-of-way department of the 
Kansas Pacific at W3'andotte. The next j'ear he 
came to Lawrence, where he now makes his home 
at No. 739 Ohio street. 

In Fort Wayne Mr. Schneider married Ann 
A., daughter of Benjamin Finnemore, whom .she 
accompanied from Ohio to Peru, Ind. Later he 
started for California, overland, and reaching that 
state engaged in mining, being one of the men 
who located the Conistock mine. He sold his 
stock in the mine and returned to San Francisco, 
where he was lost track of. Mr. and Mrs. 
Schneider have seven children living, the eldest 
of whom, George, is a contractor in Oregon. 
The others, Ella, Anna, Charles W., William, 
Nella and Carrie, are at home. 

Mr. Schneider is president of the Democratic 
Club and a member of the county Democratic 
central committee. He is past officer and ex-rep- 
resentative of Lodge No. 4, I. O. O. F., has also 
been district deputy and lodge trustee and is a past 
officer in the encampment. Fond of music and 
possessing a thorough knowledge of the art he 
was one of the members of the old Lawrence 
band, some of whose members are well known in 
the state. Later for many years he played in the 
German band and also had the B flat cornet in 
the German orchestra. 



QEV. dexter TUCKER, who was or- 
1^ dained to the ministry of the Baptist Church 
r \ in 1866, has often been called to preach, not 
only in his own neighborhood, but in different 
parts of Kansas, and has officiated at many mar- 
riages and funerals. However, he has gained 
his livelihood, not through the ministry (for all 
his work has been done through love of the cause, 
and without expectation of profit) , but in the 
management of his farm of one hundred and ten 
acres, situated in Palmyra Township, Douglas 
County. 

Near Dunkirk, Chautauqua County, N. Y., 
where he was born March 21, 1834, the boyhood 
days of our subject was passed on a farm. When 
he was twenty-one years of age he began rail- 
roading, and for some time was employed on 



eastern roads in making a change of gauge. 
Through sympathy with the free state people in 
Kansas he was led to cast in his lot with them. 
March 18, 1857, '^^ arrived in the then frontier 
town of Leavenworth. The next day he started 
out to look up a suitable location, and bought the 
right to the claim he now owns. Settling upon the 
land he began its improvement, and under his 
oversight he brought the soil under excellent cul- 
tivation. During the Civil war he was employed 
for twenty- two months as butcher in the commis- 
sary department in Kansas, Missouri and Ar- 
kansas, being for a time brigade butcher under 
General Lane, afterward under General Solomon 
and lastly with General Blount. For this work 
he was well fitted, having learned the butcher's 
trade with his father in youth. 

On returning to his farm Mr. Tucker gave his 
attention again to farm work. Later, as a mem- 
ber of the state militia, he was ordered to the 
front at the time of Price's raid, and took part in 
the battle of the Blue, also in other skirmishes 
under General Lane. At the time of the Quan- 
trell raid, in 1863, he was running a threshing 
machine for other parties, and was, therefore, 
away from home, which fact probably saved his 
life, as the raiders passed through his farm and 
destroyed all of his property by fire. For five 
years he operated a threshing machine, and at 
the same time was frequently called upon to act 
as veterinary surgeon. His home place com- 
prises one hundred and ten acres of land, which 
is well improved. 

The marriage of Mr. Tucker, March 23, 1865, 
united him with Miss Emma Preston, who was 
born in Kentucky, They became the parents of 
three sons and seven daughters, namely: Louis, 
a farmer and stonemason living in Palmyra 
Township; Fannie, wife of Frederick Morton; 
and Celia, Mrs. Bert Day, all of this township; 
Ellen, who married George Ice; Albert, who en- 
listed in the First Texas Infantry at the time of 
the Spanish war and went with his regiment to 
Jacksonville, Fla. , but was discharged on account 
of disability; Addie, who married William Dow- 
ning, of Brooklyn, N. Y. ; Josiah; Nettie May 
and Nellie Maude (twins), andjosie, all at home. 



596 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Formerly a Republican, the money question 
caused Mr. Tucker to identify himself with the 
Populists. He has been quite active in political 
affairs in his township, but has never sought of- 
fice for himself. However, the position of school 
treasurer was forced upon him, and while he ac- 
cepted it reluctantly, he filled it with efficiency. 



y /I ESHACK SANDERS, who owns and oc- 
y cupies a farm at Twin Mound, Marion 
(3 Township, Douglas County, was born near 
Shelby ville, Ky., December 9, 1840, a son of 
' Meshack and Lucy (Grady) Sanders, also natives 
of Kentucky. His father, who was the son of a 
lifelong Kentuckian, grew to manhood near 
Shelbyville, where during his active life he was 
employed as overseer of slaves on a large planta- 
tion. He died about four months before his son 
and namesake was born, and of his five children 
only this son and William Thomas, of Missouri, 
survive. In 1849 the mother removed with her 
children to Bartholomew County, Ind., where 
she died at seventy-two years of age. At the 
time of the removal to Indiana, our subject was 
a boy of nine years. He grew to manhood on a 
farm and had few advantages, for he was obliged 
to be self-supporting from an early age. From 
nineteen to twenty-two years of age he served an 
apprenticeship to the blacksmith trade, after 
which he was employed as a journeyman. In 
1865 he came to Kansas and followed his trade in 
Leavenworth, also worked in the government em- 
ploy at Fort Leavenworth. During 1867 he went 
to Fort Laramie, Wyo., where he worked for the 
government. The following year he returned to 
Leavenworth. In the spring of 1869 he went on 
the plains, in the employ of the Union Pacific 
Railroad Company, traveling through Nebraska 
and Wyoming. In the fall of 1869 he .secured 
work for the government at Fort Steele, Wyo., 
and in the spring of the next year he went into 
the mining district at Sweetwater, Wyo., where 
he engaged in mining. Coming back to Kansas, 
he .spent a short time at Pond City, thence pro- 
ceeded to Lawrence, and in 1872 opened a black- 
smith's shop in the latter city. 



Selling his shop in 1881, Mr. Sanders pur- 
chased a farm at Twin Mound and, building a 
shop on the land, he followed his trade, be.sides 
cultivating his land and engaging in feeding cat- 
tle. In 1892 he retired from his trade, since 
which ,time he has devoted himself to superin- 
tending his farm of three hundred and twenty 
acres. He still owns real estate at Columbus, 
Ind. , where he was reared. In politics he is a 
Republican. During the war he went out with a 
company of independents for the purpose of head- 
ing off General Morgan at the time of the latter's 
rai I into Ohio and Indiana. At this writing he 
is a member of the county central committee of 
his party. He has served as a director of the 
schools and as treasurer for five years. For 
some years he was identified with the Independ- 
ent Order of Odd Fellows. The temperance 
cause has in him an ardent champion. 

March 21, 1872, Mr. Sanders married Fannie 
C. Faxon, who was born in Scituate, Mass., and 
by whom he has two daughters, Minnie E. and 
Clare Corinne. Mrs. Sanders is a daughter of 
William T. and Harriet (Cook) Faxon, natives 
respectively of Braintree and Scituate, Cape Cod, 
Mass., her father a man of ability and intelli- 
gence. For some years he carried on a mercan- 
tile business in Scituate, but in 1858 left the east 
and came to Lawrence, where he engaged in the 
meat business. Politicallj' he was a Democrat. 
He died in Lawrence in 1889, when sixty -four 
years of age. Of his seven children only three 
daughters are now living, those besides Mrs. 
Sanders being Eunice, wife of Alexander Marks, 
of Lawrence; and Annie, wife of Harry King. 



UGENE BREWER, of Ottawa, is the sen- 
^ ior member of the firm of Brewer & Stan- 
__ nard, proprietors of the Ottawa Star nur- 
series, and has made his home in this city since 
1 87 1. He is a descendant of pioneer settlers of 
New York state who came to this country from 
Holland. His father, Samuel M., son of John 
Brewer, was born in Saratoga County, N. Y., 
and for some years engaged in farming near 
Gloversville, Fulton County, that state, but in 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



597 



1865 settled in Dekalb County, 111. , fifty miles 
from Chicago, where he transformed a tract of 
raw prairie into a well-improved farm. In 1871 
he came to Kansas, settling in Cutler Township, 
Ottawa County, where he transformed an unim- 
proved section of land into a fine farm. Here he 
died in 1897, when seventy-nine years of age. 
He was a sincere Christian and a faithful member 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His wife, 
Mary, was a daughter of Robert Stoddard, a far- 
mer in New York. She was born in Fulton 
County, that state, and died in Kansas in the 
fall of 1874. Of their four children, Samuel L,. 
resides in Cutler Township; Jerome is a farmer 
in the same township; and Mrs. Alice Baker died 
in Kansas. Our subject was born in Fulton 
County, N. Y. , August 19, 1850, and was fifteen 
years of age when the family settled in Illinois. 
In May, 1871, he came to Kansas and engaged 
in the produce business in Ottawa, having an 
office on Main street. After some years, his 
health being poor, he sought a change of occupa- 
tion and in the fall of 1877 settled on a farm in 
Cutler Township, where subsequent outdoor ex- 
ercise soon proved very beneficial. From a tract 
of wild land he improved a valuable farm of 
eighty acres and this he still owns. 

Associated with F. H. Stannard, in the spring 
of 1879 Mr. Brewer embarked in the nursery bus- 
iness, and made preparations for the establishment 
of a growing nursery. The firm first planted a 
variety of trees three miles south of Ottawa, and 
they now have over three hundred acres in Frank- 
lin County devoted to the business. Apple seed- 
lings are grown at Topeka, Kans. (where they 
have sixty acres) , and are afterward brought to 
Franklin County, where they are grown to the 
proper size. Cherries and plums are started in 
their nursery at Humboldt, Tenn., where the 
soil and climate are especially adapted for suc- 
cessful work. Grapes are grown at Fredonia, 
N. Y. (a section peculiarly adapted for grapes), 
where they have nearly a million plants. They 
are also largely interested in orchards in Colorado, 
having in 1895 started an orchard of four hun- 
dred acres lying on both sides of the Arkansas 
near Rocky Ford and irrigated from that river by 



a good ditch. Besides the orchard of four hun- 
dred acres, they have about the same amount of 
land planted to nunsery stock. The products of 
the nursery are shipped to every part of the 
United States, at times as much as one train load 
of nursery stock being shipped in a day. 

In Topeka, Kans., Mr. Brewer married Miss 
Lillie B. Mills, who was born in St. Louis, 
and accompanied her father, Barnett C. Mills, 
to Shawnee County, twelve miles south of To- 
peka. They have four children, Fred A., Alice 
M., Mary Edna and Edith L. Politically Mr. 
Brewer is a Republican. He is a member of the 
American and the Western Nurserymen's Associ- 
ation. He is serving as president of the Ottawa 
Gun Club. An expert marksman, he has cap- 
tured prizes in Missouri and New York as well 
as in his own home state. Twice he has been 
chosen to serve as president of the Kansas State 
Sportsman's Association, and has been deeply 
interested in the annual tournaments held in 
Ottawa, toward the success of which he has con- 
tributed and in which he has received medals. 



EHRISTIAN SCHAAKE, an enterprising 
farmer who resides in Eudora Township, 
Douglas County, was born near Cassel, Ger- 
many, in 1865, a son of Henry and Margaretta 
(Seibel) Schaake. He received a fair education 
in the German language. In company with two 
older sisters he came to the United States and 
settled in Edwardsville, 111., where he attended 
school for three years. Meantime he became 
familiar with American customs and our lan- 
guage. For a number of years he worked on a 
farm owned by his brother, William, who had 
preceded him to this country. 

July, 1888, found Mr. Schaake in Kansas, 
where he rented a farm owned by his brother. 
Cultivating the land he' saved his earnings care- 
fully, in order that he might apply them to the 
purchase of a place of his own. In the spring of 
1898 he bought the old Thatcher farm in the 
Kaw bottom. This place, which he has since 
conducted, consists of two hundred and seven- 
teen acres, in addition to which he rents a ninety- 



59? 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



acre tract. He cultivates the land carefully, 
making every acre bring him fair returns, and 
raises such cereals as he finds best adapted to the 
soil. In the raising of stock his specialty has 
been hogs. He has given his time so closely to 
farm pursuits that he has no leisure for outside 
matters, even should his taste incline him toward 
politics and public affairs. Aside from voting 
the Republican ticket he takes no part in local 
matters. He is said to own one of the neatest 
farms in the bottom, and he spares no pains to 
keep the improvements up to the highest grade. 
The marriage of Mr. Schaake took place Julj^ 
12, i8S8, just prior to his removal to Kansas, and 
united him with Loui.sa, daughter of Charles 
Dude, of Madison County, 111. They are the 
parents of five children, Albert, Otilie, Benjamin, 
Clarence and Milton, who are being given the 
best educational advantages the neighborhood 
affords. 



G| UGUST WULFKUHLE, of Lawrence, has 
Ll met with the success which his industry 
/ I merits. When a bo}' he learned the shoe- 
maker's trade with his father, and after he was 
confirmed, at the age of fourteen years, he con- 
tinued the trade. At fifteen he made his master- 
piece and then began to work for his father at 
wages, applying himself so closely that at the end 
of six months he received as large wages as any 
of the journeymen. He continued for some time 
but did not advance as rapidly as he desired. 
As other young men had left the town and were 
doing well elsewhere, and as the brick business 
at that time was profitable, he went to Mecklen- 
burg, where he began to work in a brick yard. 
At the close of the second year he was made 
foreman over thirty-two men. This position he 
held until Emperor William called for soldiers 
and he volunteered, serving from 1857 until 
i860, when he came to America. He has been 
a very hard-working man. During his first ten 
years in Kansas he did the work of two men. At 
night he would make a pair of shoes, working all 
the night until three o'clock, then sleeping until 
five o'clock, when he would arise to begin the 
day's work. In spite of the fact that he slept 



only two hours a day on every day but Sunday, 
he did not suflfer materially in health, but was 
able to do more work on a farm in a daj- than 
anyone else could, at one time cultivating five 
hundred acres of land without assistance. 

Mr. Wulfkuhle was born in Westphalia, Ger- 
man3% in a house that stood three miles from the 
statue of Hermann the Great. His father, 
Christof, al.so a native of the same place and a 
shoemaker, served in the German army from 
18 1 2 to 18 1 5 and took part in the battle of 
Waterloo. At an advanced age he joined his 
children in America and his death occurred in 
Shawneetown when he was seventy-eight. His 
family name was Bocker, but at the time of his 
marriage to Marie Wultkuhle, who was the old- 
est of six sisters and heiress to the Wulfkuhle 
estate, by the crown law he was obliged to take 
the name of the propert}^ so henceforth was 
known as Christof Wulfkuhle. His wife died in 
Germany. They had six sons and two daugh- 
ters. One of the daughters died in Germany, the 
other in America. The sons were named as fol- 
lows: Henry, who occupies the old homestead in 
Germany; Frederick, who is in Kan.sas; Herman, 
who served in the Mexican war, went to Califor- 
nia in 1849 and died in Kansas; Christof, of Deer 
Creek Township, Douglas County; Adolph, who 
died in New Orleans; and August, who was born 
November 23, 1836, and was the youngest of the 
family. 

Coming to America in i860, our subject ar- 
rived in New York after a voyage of fourteen 
daj's from Bremen. He proceeded west to St. 
Louis, thence to Jefferson City bj' rail, from 
there by steamer to Leavenworth, where he re- 
mained for fourteen days. Then, coming to 
Lawrence, he settled on a farm of one hundred 
and sixty acres with his brother Christof. Later 
he sold his half interest in that place and bought 
another farm of one hundred and sixty acres 
which he improved. At this writing he owns 
two hundred and fortj* acres, all fenced and im- 
proved, besides which he improved six other 
farms between i860 and 1885. In the spring of 
1864 he entered Company' B, Thirteentli Kansas 
Infantry, and served as sergeant during the cam- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



599 



paign against Price, taking part in the battle of 
Big Blue. In 1879 he returned to his old home, 
where he visited for three months. In 1885 he 
settled in Lawrence, where he has built and owns 
three houses and five stores. In religion he is a 
Lutheran. He is a member of the Turn Verein, 
in which he has been a trustee. At one time he 
voted the Republican ticket, but is now independ- 
ent in politics. 

February 5, i860, Mr. Wulfkuhle married 
Miss Lena Dreves, who was born in the same 
place as himself. Her father, Fred Kid, who 
was a teamster in early life, and took part in the 
war of 1812-15, married Mrs. Caroline (Nolte) 
Dreves, and took the name of the Dreves estate. 
He and his wife died there and when Mr. and 
Mrs. Wultkuhle were in Germany in 1879 they 
erected monuments to their memory. They had 
two daughters and five sons, three of whom 
came to America, Mrs. Wulfkuhle being the 
only survivor of them all. Our subject and his 
wife had ten children, three of whom attained 
mature years, namely: Lena, who married Albert 
Walter and lives on the old homestead; Mrs. 
Sophia Klock, of Lawrence; and Mina, who died 
at eighteen years. 

HON. C. N. BISHOFF, M. D., is one of the 
leading men of Eudora Township, Douglas 
County. In 1878 he purchased a farm of 
one hundred and twenty acres at Keystone Cor- 
ner, since which time he has superintended the 
management of the place in addition to carrying 
on a general practice as physician and surgeon 
and operating a grinding mill on his farm. He 
is a stockholder in the Eudora State Bank and is 
interested in other enterprises that have proved 
helpful to the community where he resides. In 
politics a Republican, on that ticket he was twice 
elected township trustee, and filled the oflfice sat- 
isfactorily for two terms. From 1890 to 1894 he 
represented this district in the state legislature, 
(two sessions), where he took an active part in 
bills and measures looking toward the benefit of 
the people. 

Born in Dauphin County, Pa., in 1838, Dr. 
BishofFisa son of William and Fannie (Good) 



Bishofi". His father came from Prussia in boy- 
hood and was reared in Pennsylvania, making 
his home for some years in Dauphin County, but 
later going to Philadelphia, where he engaged in 
the manufacture of woolen goods. He died in 
the latter city. His father, who emigrated to the 
United States some years after his marriage, be- 
came a prominent manufacturer of woolens and 
met with success in business. The mother of our 
subject was a daughter of Christian Good, who 
was a wealthy farmer and saw-mill operator, and 
owned one of the first old-style grist-mills in that 
section of countrj'. When seventj'-two years of 
age his death occurred. 

The only child of his parents, our subjet was 
reared in the home of his maternal grandparents 
and grew to manhood in Dauphin County. He 
learned the woolen manufacturing business, which 
he followed until the breaking out of the Civil 
war. In 1862 he entered service as a member of 
Company C, One Hundred and Seventy-seventh 
Pennsylvania Infantry, in which he remained for 
nine months, meantime acting as colonel's or- 
derly. At the expiration of his period of service 
he began the study of medicine under the pre- 
ceptorship of a physician in his native count}'. 
Afterward he matriculated in the Eclectic Medi- 
cal College at Philadelphia, from which he gradu- 
ated in 1871. He then began in practice near 
his old home, and was also for three years engaged 
in the drug business at Likens. Closing out his 
business in 1877, he came to Kansas, spending 
the summer of that year in Lawrence, and in the 
fall settling at Hesper, Douglas County, where he 
made his home for a year. He then purchased 
and settled on his present farm in Eudora Town- 
ship. Interested in his profession, he is a mem- 
ber of the Eclectic Medical Society of Kansas 
and has contributed to medical journals articles 
that show deep research and a profound knowl- 
edge of the subjects treated. He is a man of 
considerable mechanical skill and no jeweler ex- 
cels him in the repairing of clocks and watches. 

In 1864 Dr. Bishoff married Miss Mary Bau- 
man, of Pennsylvania. They have three chil- 
dren, namely: Mark L., who is principal of the 
Eudora school; Minnie M.; and Roger W., a 



6oo 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



graduate of Manhattan College. Before coming 
to Kansas Dr. Bishoff was an active member of 
the United Brethren Church, but since then he 
has not been identified with an^- denomination. 
He is a member in good standing of the Independ- 
ent Order of Odd Fellows and the Masonic fra- 
ternity. 

0ANIEL FOGLE, president of the D. Fogle 
Mercantile Companj-, is one of the leading 
business men of Franklin County, and has 
done perhaps more than any other citizen of 
Williamsburg to advance its interests and pro- 
mote its prosperity. He was born in Dauphin 
County, Pa., February 8, 1832, a son of Chris- 
topher and Rachel (Minsker) Fogle. His maternal 
great-grandfather served under Washington dur- 
ing the entire seven years of the Revolutionarj' 
war. He died while returning from the war to 
his home on the Susquehanna River, in Dauphin 
County, about ten miles north of Harrisburg. 

A native of Wurtemberg, Germany, Chris- 
topher Fogle came to the United States in 18 19 in 
company with his father, Christopher, Sr., who 
settled on the Brandy wine in Delaware, but later 
settled in Dauphin County, Pa., where he re- 
mained from 1825 until the time of his death. 
In 1834 the junior Christopher moved to Jeffer- 
son County, Pa., and there he remained until 
his death, which occurred in 1872. B3' trade a 
tanner, he was for some years engaged in the 
manufacture of leather and carried on what was 
for those days a large business. Active in local 
affairs he served in several offices, including that 
of associate justice. Until 1832 he was a Demo- 
crat, but later he affiliated with the Whigs and 
subsequently he assisted in organizing the Re- 
publican party. He officiated as a local preacher 
in the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which all 
of his family also were prominent workers. His 
death occurred in 1872, when he was seventy- 
two years of age. Of his ten children only two 
are living: Daniel and Sarah, the ktter Mrs. 
Robert Steele. 

When a boj' our subject lived in Brookville, 
Jefferson County, Pa., and, learning his father's 
trade, succeeded him in business. In 1867 he 



purchased three thousand acres in Greenwood 
and Butler Counties and in 1868, three hundred 
and twenty acres adjoining Williamsburg, where 
he followed fanning and stock-raising for three 
years. In 1869 he brought his family to Will- 
iamsburg. In 1872 he purchased a stock of 
goods from J. L. Barnett and from that time 
until 1892 he was steadily engaged in the mer- 
cantile business, in addition to carrying on a cat- 
tle business. In 1892 he traded his store for a 
ranch of two thousand acres, but two years later 
he again purcha.sed the mercantile business, 
which he has since conducted. In January, 
1898, the D. Fogle Mercantile Company was in- 
corporated, with his son, William C, as a mem- 
ber and as general manager. Besides the man- 
agement of his business interests he owns five 
hundred acres of land in Franklin County, and 
is engaged in raising stock, feeding about one 
hundred head of cattle each winter. 

In 1856 Mr. Fogle married Elizabeth Clawson, 
who died in 1892. She was a daughter of Mathias 
and Marj' (Williams) Clawson, and was born in 
Punxsutawney. Her maternal great-grandfather 
was a general in Washington's arm}'. They 
were the parents of six children, namely: Mary 
Ellen, wife of C. N. Rand, of Marshall, Mo.; 
Ben C, a cattleman of Stockton, Kans. ; Zilla B.; 
Arza Bracken Fogle, A. M., profe.ssor of phy.sical 
culture at Baldwin University; Frank, who is a 
student in Chicago University; and William C, a 
graduate of the State University (Kansas), who is 
manager of the mercantile company- and is inter- 
ested with his father in business. The lady who 
is now the wife of Mr. Fogle bore the maiden 
name of Armina Cummings, and was born in 
Iowa, the 3'oungest daughter of Gabriel and 
Julia A. (Bemis) Cummings, both descendants of 
old and prominent families. She came with her 
parents to Kansas in 1872 and received her edu- 
cation at the State Normal School at Emporia and 
the State University at Lawrence. 

When only ten years of age our subject was 
converted in the Methodist Episcopal Church at 
Brookville, Pa. Since 1846 he has been an offi- 
cial member of that denomination and has con- 
stantly taken an active part in religious work. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



60 1 



For twenty years in succession he has been su- 
perintendent of the Sunday-school in Williams- 
burg. All movements looking toward the ad- 
vancement of Williamsburg have received his 
help. He was one of those who, in 1876, took 
an active part in contributing of their time and 
means to secure the building of the Burlington 
branch of the Santa Fe road into Williamsburg, 
which has proved of the greatest aid to the town. 
The position which he occupies is due not alone 
to his success as a business man, but also to his 
general intelligence, his firm principles of honor 
and his irreproachable character. 



(TACOB bush. Among those who have 
I gained success in their chosen fields of labor 
C2' mention may very properly be made of Mr. 
Bush, who, during the period of his residence 
in Franklin County, has become well known and 
highly esteemed. He dates his sojourn in Kan- 
sas from 1867, and the succeeding interval has 
been busily emploj'ed in improving his farm in 
Greenwood Township and bringing the naturally 
rich soil to a high state of cultivation. At first 
he purchased four hundred acres in partnership 
with his father-in-law, and since then he has met 
with such success that he is now the sole owner of 
twelve hundred acres, the improvements of which 
he has made personally, and on which he has en- 
gaged in farming and stock-raising. 

Born in Trumbull County, Ohio, September 9, 
1846, Mr. Bush is a son of Conrad and Rebecca 
(Foft) Bush, natives respectively of Germany 
and Pennsylvania. His father and grandfather, 
Peter Bush, came from Germany to this country 
and settled in Ohio about 1801, being pioneers of 
Trumbull County, where they spent their re- 
maining years engaged in farming. Conrad 
Bush was seventy-six at the time of his death. 
Of his eleven children five are living, viz. : Con- 
rad, of Franklin County; Peter, who lives near 
the old homestead in Ohio; Jacob; Charles; and 
Lila, wife of Louis Harshman. At the age of 
sixteen our subject left home and became a 
drummer boy in Captain Smith's company from 
his old home. After serving as drummer for 



three months he became a private in the First 
Ohio Independent Regiment, and was assigned 
to garrison duty and scouting, in which he en- 
gaged until the expiration of his time. After 
three years and three months of service he was 
honorably discharged. 

Returning to his old home at the close of the 
war Mr. Bush remained there for a year. In 
1866 he married and the next year came to Kan- 
sas, settling on the farm where he has since re- 
sided. He has been one of the heaviest dealers 
in and raisers of cattle in the county, and has 
been unusually successful in all of his ventures. 
Though not a partisan, he is a stanch Demo- 
crat. He is a member of the school board and 
takes a warm interest in educational affairs. 
Both schools and churches have been the recipi- 
ents of his bounty and have felt the impetus of 
his encouragement. He is connected with the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. April 3, 1866, he 
married Viola V., daughter of William Walker, 
and a most estimable lady, whose death, October 
2, 1897, was a heavy blow to the family. She 
left three children, viz.: Laura Elizabeth, wife 
of Samuel Allen; Myrtie May, who married Al- 
bert Adams; and Charles J., who resides at 
home. 



r^EV. FRANK B. OLDS, of Lawrence, was 
j^ one of the brave men who served faithfullj' 
r \ and well in the defense of the Union during 
the Civil war. He was a young man of twenty - 
one j'ears when war was declared and he at once 
resolved to offer his services to his country. In 
September, 1861, his name was enrolled in Com- 
pany F, One Hundred and Eleventh Ohio In- 
fantry, which was mustered in at Cleveland, 
Ohio, and assigned to the army of the Cumber- 
land. Among the battles in which he took part 
were those at Buzzard's Roost, Resaca, Hickory 
Creek, Dallas, Peach Tree Creek and Atlanta, 
going to Nashville under General Thomas and 
taking part in the campaign after Hood. From 
Tennessee he went to Washington, thence via 
ship to North Carolina, landing at Cape Fear, 
and taking part in the battle of Fort Anderson, 
which he assisted in capturing. For some time 



6o2 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



he was ill in the hospital at Salisbury. He was 
honorablj- discharged at Cleveland in 1865, upon 
the close of the war. From the effects of his 
long arnij' service, with its exposures, hardships 
and forced marches, he has never recovered, but 
for years he has been a constant sufferer from the 
results of his army life. 

Near Edgerton, Defiance County, Ohio, our 
subject was born April 10, 1841, the third among 
eleven children, of whom five sons and two 
daughters are living. His father, Thomas Olds, 
who was born in the east and was the son of a 
soldier in the war of 181 2, accompanied the fam- 
ily to Ohio in childhood, and afterward followed 
farm pursuits, the shoemaker's trade and also 
served as a local preacher in the United Brethren 
Church. In 1862 he removed to a farm near La- 
porte City, Iowa, where he died at fifty-nine 
years of age. He married Lemira Sprague, who 
was born in the ea.st and died in Kansas when 
seventy-five years of age. 

Upon his return from the army our subject en- 
gaged in teaching and also took up ministerial 
studies. He was ordained a deacon and elder in 
the Central Ohio conference of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, and afterward preached suc- 
cessively at Montpelier, Mount Victory, Newton, 
LaRue and Middletown, Ohio. In 1875 he went 
to Michigan and identified himself with the Con- 
gregational Church. He held pastorates at Pot- 
terville and Bronson, that state. In 1879 became 
to Kansas and for two and one-half years was 
pastor of Pilgrim Congregational Church of Law- 
rence, but ill health obliged him to give up 
ministerial work and resign his pastorate. Since 
then he has given his attention to the supervision 
of his oil interests and has also preached oc- 
casionally. In political belief he is stanchly Re- 
publican. He is identified with Washington 
Post No. 12, and takes a warm interest in Grand 
Army matters. 

At Williams Center, Ohio, July 30, 1865, Mr. 
Olds was married to Miss Viola Palmer, who was 
born in Portage County, near Ravenna, Ohio, 
a daughter of Truman and Lucina (Gilbert) 
Palmer. Her father removed from Portage to 
Williams County, Ohio, and later settled in 



Potterville, Mich., where he died at eighty-three 
years. His wife also died there. Of their seven 
children all but two are living. One son, Oscar 
Palmer, was a member of Company F, One Hun- 
dred and Eleventh Ohio Infantry, and after the 
war entered the Methodist Episcopal ministry, 
but later changed to the Congregational denomi- 
nation, and is now preaching at Springfield, Mo. 
Mr. and Mrs. Olds are the parents of five chil- 
dren, viz.: Mrs. Lillie Barnes, of St. Louis, Mo.; 
Delia, -who graduated from the school of fine 
arts. University of Kansas, and is now connected 
with an art firm in St. Louis; Lora E., wife of 
Prof. Frank Messenger, principal of the high 
school at Albuquerque, N. M.; Frankie B., who 
is a member of the class of 1902, University of 
Kansas; and Donald L. 



IJjARCISSE N. AVERILL, a pioneer of 
ny Franklin Township, Franklin County, is 
I [^ the owner of one thousand and forty acres 
in the count}' where he resides and one hundred 
and sixty acres across the line in Miami County, 
Kans. All of his property is under improvement 
and is devoted to general farm pursuits and the 
raising of stock. He has made a specialty of 
feeding cattle and hogs, a branch of agriculture 
which he has found quite profitable. The prop- 
erty which he has accumulated represents his 
unaided exertions, for he started with limited 
means, coming to Kansas in the pioneer days 
when advantages were few and hardships many. 
In spite of discouragements he has steadily 
worked his way forward to a position of influence 
among the people of his county. 

In the northern part of France Mr. Averill 
was born October 3, 1845, a sou of Pascal and 
Louisa (Collin.s) Averill, natives of the same dis- 
trict. His father, who was a farmer, emigrated 
from his native land in 1854 and settled in Kan- 
kakee County, 111. , where he worked on a farm 
for three years. In the fall of 1857 he came to 
Kansas and took up a claim near what is now 
Black Jack, Palmyra Township, Douglas Coun- 
ty. He was a hard-working man and devoted 
himself assiduously to the improvement of his 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



603 



property, which, at the time of purchase, was in 
its primeval condition. In his old age he came 
to make his home with his son, Narcisse, at 
whose place he died when eighty-eight years of 
age. His wife had passed away December 29, 
1869, at the age of sixty-one years. Both were 
devout members of the Catholic Church and ad- 
hered to its teaching throughout life. They were 
the parents of two children, of whom the daugh- 
ter, Mary Jane, married Victor Henou. 

At the time the family settled in Kansas our 
subject was twelve years of age. He remained 
with his parents until twenty-three years of age 
and received his education in the common schools. 
He then purchased one hundred and sixty acres 
of wild prairie land in Franklin Township, and 
from this property he has improved a valuable 
homestead. He has devoted himself so closely 
to agricultural matters that he has had little 
leisure for participation in politics, although he is 
stanch in his allegiance to Democratic principles. 
February 3, 1869, he married Miss Mary Butell, 
a history of whose family appears in the sketch 
of her brother, A. D. Butell. Mr. and Mrs. 
Averill are the parents of seven children, viz.: 
Ulysses I., a farmer in Franklin Township; Julia, 
wife of Charles Winters, of Franklin Township; 
Louis, who is engaged in farming in the home 
township; Joseph, Charles, Rose and Frank 
(twins), all of whom remain with their parents. 
The family are member of the Catholic Church. 



'HOMAS N. BAKER, of Franklin County, 
is one of the men who gave his services to 
the Union during the Civil war. In 1862 
he enlisted in Company I, Seventy-third Illinois 
Infantry, and with his regiment went to the 
front. His period of service was a most active one. 
He took part in sixteen regular battles, also 
numerous engagements of less importance, but 
where the danger to life was even greater. His 
regiment formed a part of the Fourth Army Corps 
belonging to the army of the Cumberland and 
participated in the Atlanta campaign and the 
battles with General Hood. At Chickamauga 
he was wounded on the top of the head, narrow- 



ly escaping with his life, for, had the bullet 
struck one-sixteenth of an inch lower it would 
have been fatal. After Sherman left in his 
march to the sea the Fourth Army Corps was left 
to watch the rebel General Hood. They fought 
him in the battle of Franklin and in the two- 
days' fight at Nashville, where the Union forces 
almost annihilated Hood. In June, 1865, Mr. 
Baker received his honorable discharge at Nash- 
ville, and then the regiment was ordered to 
Camp Butler, Springfield, 111., where it was 
finally mustered out. 

Mr. Baker was born in Butler County, Ohio, 
January 28, 1831, a son of John and Rachel 
(Biggs) Baker, and a brother of John W. Baker 
(elsewhere represented in this work). When he 
was a small child his father settled in Sangamon 
County, 111. Working out as a farm hand he 
early gained a thorough and practical knowledge 
of agriculture. When he was twenty he started 
out for himself. In 1870 he drove through from 
Illinois to Kansas by team. Settling in Frank- 
lin County, he bought eighty acres on the 
southern line of Franklin Township. The land 
was wholly unimproved. Not a furrow had 
been turned in the sod and there was neither 
vegetation nor tree to indicate that man had ever 
lived here. He started to break the land and 
fence it and gradually made it one of the valuable 
properties in this region. As he prospered he 
added to the land and now has one hundred and 
ninety -five acres under cultivation. Farming is 
his principal business, although he owns some 
stock and occasionally buys a bunch of cattle 
for feeding. In the winter of 1898-99 he erected 
his comfortable residence. Some years ago he 
moved to Ottawa, intending to retire from farm 
work, but, being a man of intensely active 
nature, he was not contented to be idle, and so 
returned to the farm as soon as the parties left to 
whom it had been rented. 

In politics Mr. Baker is a Republican. For 
many years he has been a trustee in the Method- 
ist Episcopal Church and one of its most faith- 
ful members. He has done much to advance re- 
ligious and educational interests in his neighbor- 
hood, among other things aiding in the erection 



6o4 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



of the church, and also donating the land for 
both the schoolhouse and the church. For many 
j'cars he was a member of the school board. 
When twentj'-two j'ears of age he married 
Frances Priddy, by whom he had seven children, 
namely: Sybil, wife of Scott Gittinger, of Ottawa; 
John L., who cultivates a farm adjoining his 
father's; Sarah Alice, who makes her home with 
her older brother; Mary, who married Edward 
Crawford, and lives in Lyon County, Kans.; Don 
Carlos, in California; Etta, wife of George Holt, 
of Newton, Kans.; and Charles Oliver, who 
assists in the management of the home place. 



Gl LEXANDER SHAW, one of the prominent 
r 1 Ijusiness men of Lawrence, was born Octo- 
l\ ber 9, 1835, in New York City, in a house 
that stood on the corner of Tenth avenue and 
Thirty- seventh street, which was then a consider- 
able distance from the thickly settled part of the 
city. His father, James, and several brothers, 
David, Alexander, Matthew and John, all of 
whom were born in Scotland near Edinburgh, 
came to this country in early manhood and set- 
tled in New York, where Matthew engaged in 
manufacturing cloth, James and David were 
weavers and manufacturers, Alexander first de- 
voted him.self to weaving, but later became inter- 
ested in manufacturing, and John was a manu- 
facturer also. All married and had children ex- 
cept Matthew, and all are now dead. Prior to 
leaving Scotland James had married Jane Ander- 
son, and they made their home in New York 
City for some years, but finally settled on a farm 
in Fulton County, that state, where he died at 
the age of sixty. His wife died in Iowa when 
almost seventy years of age. Two of their chil- 
dren, born in Scotland, died in New York City. 
The other two are Alexander and Matthew, the 
latter of whom came to Lawrence in March, 1858, 
engaged in building here, was captured during 
the Quantrell raid but made his escape, and after 
some years removed from the city ; he now makes 
his home in Kansas City. 

At the time the family settled in Fulton County 
our subject was twelve_ years of age. His 



only school privileges consisted of three months' 
attendance in a district school, added to a brief 
time in a primary school in New York City. He 
remained on the home farm until 1864, when he 
sold out and in March of that year settled in 
Kansas. He .started in the building business as 
the successor of his brother, who engaged in the 
grocery business. Gradually he built up a large 
trade and won the confidence of the people. 
During the time of the Price raid he was mus- 
tered into Company C, Third Kansas Militia, 
and went as far as the Blue, when, the regiment 
not being needed, he returned home. In 1S89 
he began to handle lumber and later started a 
lumber yard, where he has all kinds of building 
material. His yard is large and commodious, 
with warehouses, sheds, etc. His ofiRce is at Win- 
throp and Vermont streets, across the road from 
the yard. Among his contracts were those for 
the Watkins building(one of the finest bank build- 
ings in the west), the residences of John Walruf, 
F. M. Perkins, J. House and A. Henley, and 
many store buildings on Massachusetts street. 
He built his first residence in 1865 and has since 
built several others, three being on Winthrop 
street. 

In Fulton County, N. Y., Mr. Shaw married 
Miss Frances E. Hayes, by whom he has five 
children, all graduates of the high school. The 
only living son, James W., is his father's busi- 
ness partner. Elmer died at eighteen years of 
age. Nettie, who was an accomplished and 
popular young lady, died April 4, 1899; her 
death was a severe blow to the family, to whom 
her noble character had made her inestimably 
dear, while among her many friends the bereave- 
ment was also keenly felt. The youngest daugh- 
ters, Cora May and Julia are with their parents. 

Much of the time since 1875 Mr. Shaw has 
been a member of the city council, from the first 
ward, but in 1S99 he resigned, refusing to serve 
longer. Several times he was president of the 
council and acting mayor of the city. He has 
been interested in the development of the 
town and all of the improvements have been 
made during his terms as alderman. Originallj' 
a Whig, he was one of the first to embrace Re- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



605 



publican doctrines and has since voted with his 
party. He is a member of Washington Post No. 
12, G. A. R. He is past master of Lawrence 
Lodge No. 6, A. F. & A. M., and a member of 
Lodge No. 7, A. O. U. W. 

In 1882 Mr. Shaw took into partnership his son, 
under the firm name of Alex. Shaw & Son. The 
latter was born in Fulton County, N. Y., gradu- 
ated from the Lawrence high school, and early 
became interested in building, making a special 
study of architecture. He has become proficient 
as an architect and furnishes plans and specifica- 
tions for buildings. Since boyhood he has been 
a member of the fire department and is now 
its chief. Fraternally he is connected with the 
Masons and the Knights and Ladies of Security. 



HOWARD W. HENDERSON, who is a busi- 
ness man of Lawrence, was born in Cattar- 
augus County, N. Y., August 29, 1849, a 
son of Samuel A. and Margaret (Parkman) Hen- 
derson, and a grandson of John Henderson and 
Benjamin Parkman. His paternal grandfather, 
a Scotchman by birth, came to America prior to 
the war of 18 12, in which he served. Samuel A. 
Henderson, who was a minister in the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, moved to Minnesota in 1856 
and settled in St. Paul, but later went to Cincin- 
nati, Ohio, and at the close of the Civil war 
located at Muskegon, Mich. In 1865 he went to 
Kansas City, Mo., where he died two years later. 
Of his six children one died in infancy, and two 
sons, Howard W. and Benjamin F. , reside in 
Lawrence, while one sister lives in Pittsburgh, 
Kans. , and another in Kansas City, Mo. 

Reared in Cincinnati, Ohio, at fourteen years 
of age our subject began to learn the trade of a 
harness-maker. Two years later he engaged in 
the quartermaster's department of the army, 
where he remained for six months, having head- 
quarters in Nashville, Tenn. , with the Army of 
the Cumberland. In 1S64 he moved with his 
parents to Michigan, where he worked at his 
trade. The next year he settled in Kansas City, 
Mo., and in 1867 removed to Johnson County, 
Kans., to take up land. He spent two and one- 



half years in Carthage, Mo., following his trade. 
In 1874 he embarked in business for himself at 
Springhill, Johnson County, Kans. In 1876 he 
came to Lawrence and began in business here, 
opening a shop in a small building. He has since 
built up a large trade in harness and saddlery, of 
which he carries a full line. His store room, 
22x80, at No. 635 Massachusetts street, is filled 
with all articles in his line, the value of his stock 
being fully $3,000. He has men working the 
year around and manufactures all of his stock. 
He also makes a specialty of repairing. 

Politically Mr. Henderson is independent, with 
Republican inclinations. He is a member of the 
Fraternal Aid Asisociation ; Order of Pyramids; 
Halcyon Lodge No. 18, I. O. O. F. ; and Acacia 
Lodge No. 9, A. F. & A. M. He was one of the 
organizers of the Psychic Club, for social and 
scientific purposes, and has since been a leading 
member. His marriage took place in Johnson 
County, Kans., in 1875, his wife being Ada 
Belle House, daughter of C. V. N. House, a 
prominent merchant and politician of Springhill. 
Mr. Henderson is identified with the Eastern 
Star and has been one of the most active workers 
of the chapter in Lawrence, which he represented 
in the national convention at Wichita in 1899. 
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Henderson are 
Howard (of Denver, Colo.), Clarence, Leroy, 
Rosine and LiHie. The second son, Clarence, 
was married in September, 1899, to Miss Mabel 
Smith, daughter of Charles W. Smith, a leading 
undertaker of Lawrence. 



HON. McCOWN HUNT, of Leavenworth, 
was born at Fort Polk, Point Isabelle,Tex., 
November 11, 1849, and was brought by his 
parents in the same year to Fort Leavenworth, 
then in Kansas Territory. During his boyhood 
he spent considerable time at this fort, his father 
being stationed here. His education was ob- 
tained principally in the Polytechnic Institute of 
Brooklyn, N. Y. He then settled in the city of 
Leavenworth, Kans. Later he was in the gov- 
ernment employ in St. Louis and was interested 
in the old St. Louis Gas Company. On his re- 



6o6 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



turn to Leavenworth for three years he engaged 
in the mercantile business, and was then elected 
clerk of the district court. Since then he has 
been identified with important interests in this 
city. He was one of the organizers and directors 
of the Leavenworth Light and Heating Compa- 
ny, in which for years he owned shares. A char- 
ter member and director of the Leavenworth 
Electric Light Company, he also served as its sec- 
retary until it was absorbed by the Leavenworth 
Light and Heating Company, and he was re- 
tained as secretary of the latter organization until 
he disposed of his interest therein. He is the 
owner of considerable real estate in and near 
Leavenworth, to the improvement of which he 
has given much attention, and the value of which 
has been enhanced by his judicious management. 
Active in the Republican party, Mr. Hunt has 
for some years been connected with political af- 
fairs. He served for three years as chairman of 
the Republican cit}- central committee. His first 
candidacy was for the county commissioner's of- 
fice, as the representative of the fourth ward. 
He was elected, in spite of the fact that the ward 
usually gave a Democratic majority. At the 
time there were seven commissioners for the 
county, but when the census was taken only 
three were allowed, which left his district out, 
and he therefore did not take his seat as commis- 
sioner. For six years he was clerk of the district 
court. In 1892 he was elected to the house of 
representatives and served during the session of 
1893, known as the war session. In 1894 he 
was re-elected to the house of representatives for 
the session of 1S95, and in that session he intro- 
duced a bill making Washington's birthday a 
legal holiday; this bill passed and became a law. 
In 1896 his name was presented for state senator, 
but he declined the nomination. During his 
terms in the legislature Mr. Hunt was a member 
of the committee on ways and means, printing, 
penal institutions, judicial apportionment, and 
chairman of the committee on manufactures. In 
1893 he was successful in securing appropriations 
for various charitable institutions of Leaven- 
worth. In that session he supported Lucien 
Baker for the United States senate, but did not 



succeed in electing him. Two years later, how- 
ever, he was more successful in his champion- 
ship of the same candidate, to whose cause he 
gave his stanch support, until finally the victory 
was won. 

After the death of his first wife, which occurred 
in Leavenworth, Mr. Hunt was united in mar- 
riage, June 5, 1889, with Miss Emily G. Gorman, 
of Darlington, Wis. He is the father of five chil- 
dren now living: Lafayette Howard, born Sep- 
tember 13, 1878; Maria Hildegarde, March 22, 
1881; McCown Nicholas Devereux, August 18, 
1883; Henrj' Gorman William, September 22, 
1891; and Mary Ann Emily, August 7, 1894. In 
religion Mr. Hunt is a Catholic. Fond of all 
kinds of sports, he was one of the organizers of 
the Lt-avenworth Anglers Association, the only 
incorporated fishing club in the state. He is now 
president of this association, and also secretary of 
the Leavenworth Boat Club. 



I EAVENWORTH ANGLERS ASSOCI.'XTION. 
It In May, 1S96, a party of gentlemen met 
li2f in a private office in the city of Leaven- 
worth and formed a fishing club, applying under 
the laws of Kansas for a charter, and on the 13th 
day of June, 1896, a charter was issued to the 
Leavenworth Anglers Association as a private 
corporation under the laws of the state. 

The purposes for which the corporation was 
formed were to maintain a club for the scientific 
investigation of Piscatorial Arts, and the instruc- 
tion of novices in .such arts, and for mutual pro- 
tection and benevolence. 

The term for which this corporation is to exist 
under the charter is for ninety-nine years, and 
the directors and trustees for the first year were 
as follows: 

McCown Hunt, T. T. Reyburn, 

Robert E. Davis, E. F. Smith, 

Henry B. Dicks, Lucien Baker, 

W. A. Starks, E. S. Catlin, 

H. F. Misselwitz. Mayer Shoyer, 

H. W. Ide. 

After receiving the articles of incorporation and 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



607 



charter the above-named gentlemen met and 
elected officers for the first year as follows: 

McCown Hunt, president; H. F. Misselwitz, 
secretary; W. A. Starks, treasurer. In addition 
to the above the following officers were also 
elected: H. B. Dicks, captain; Mayer Shoyer, 
lieutenant; T. T. Reyburn, quartermaster. 

The club has taken two outings each year since 
its organization, going into camp for ten days at 
each outing. Having an outfit complete in every 
detail, the members are as comfortable in camp 
as at home, and the semi-annual outings are 
looked forward to with great pleasure by all the 
members. 

The following is the list of active members of 
the association: 

T. T. Reyburn, McCown Hunt, 

Dr. Mayer Shoyer, E. F. Smith, 

H. B. Dicks, Dr. C. C. Goddard, 

H. F. Misselwitz, . R. E. Davis, 

Wm. C. Schott, F. W. Keller, 

E. E. Brewster, W. W. Carney, 

O. M. Abernathy, F. B. Dawes, 

Dr. S. J. Renz, H. S. Stevenson, 

E. B. Merritt, F. P. Harkness. 

The membership being limited, the club is now 
complete, and several applications for member- 
ship are now in the hands of the secretary await- 
ing a vacancy. 

The present officers of the club are as follows: 

McCown Hunt, president; O. M. Abernathy, 
secretary and treasurer; H. B. Dicks, captain; 
Mayer Shoyer, lieutenant; T. T. Reyburn, quar- 
termaster. 

The regular meetings of the club are held on 
the first Thursday of each month at No. 425 
Delaware street, Leavenworth. 



I OUIS BEURM ANN, who owns and occupies 
It a farm in Wakarusa Township, Douglas 
U County, was born in the province of Hanover, 
Germany, a son of Louis Beurmann, Sr. His 
birth occurred January 7, 1837, and the following 
year his parents crossed the ocean to America, 
making the voyage in a sailing vessel, which after 
a long trip landed in New Orleans. The father 
27 



selected a home in Gasconade County, Mo., but 
later removed to Kansas, and here resided until 
his death. Our subject was reared in Missouri 
and received such advantages as neighboring 
country schools afforded. He was twenty-nine 
years of age at the time of coming to Kansas, and 
here he has since resided, being identified with 
the farm interests of Douglas County. His first 
purchase comprised one hundred and seventy 
acres one-half mile north of his present home. 
The land was mostly in timber, and few efforts 
had been made to place it under improvement. 
He began the clearing of the place, and as soon 
as he had it in condition for cultivation , planted 
a crop of potatoes and corn. Each year he in- 
creased the amount of land cultivated and soon 
gained a foothold as a farmer. 

Selling that property in 1883 Mr. Beurmann 
bought one hundred and forty -eight acres where 
he now lives, and has ninety acres of rich bottom 
land, all of which is under cultivation. Besides 
the raising of cereals and vegetables he gives 
some attention to the stock business, especially to 
the raising of hogs. He is a thorough, practical 
farmer, and, although he had no means when he 
came here, he has acquired by hard work and 
good judgment a farm that is well improved and 
valuable. In local affairs he votes for the men he 
considers best qualified for office, and in national 
elections casts his ballot for Democratic candi- 
dates. In the spring of 1861 he enlisted in the 
Fourth Missouri Volunteers, and was assigned 
to duty in the guarding of bridges from Gasconade 
to St. Louis, serving for eighteen months in the 
army, after which he was honorably discharged. 

In Missouri, in 1861, Mr. Beurmann married 
Dorothy Mengelsdorf, daughter of Christopher 
Mengelsdon", a farmer in that state. They are 
the parents of six children, viz.: Sophia, wife 
of Wilson Agl«, of Lawrence; Albert, a farmer, 
who lives on the home place; Julius, Louise, 
Minnie and Louis, all at home. The family 
occupy a neat house built by Mr. Beurmann, 
who has also built a substantial barn and other 
buildings as needed. He has taken some interest 
in bee culture and has a number of hives, but 
reserves the honey for home use, not caring to 



6o8 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



sell any. On the farm where he now lives he 
has a lake stocked with black bass, channel, cat, 
croppie and sun fish, and every summer hundreds 
of people come to the grounds to enjoy the fine 
fishing. 

/P AMUEL SINGER, who has been engaged in 
/\ business in Leavenworth since 1865, was 
\~ J born in Stahlstown, near Greensburg, West- 
moreland Count}', Pa., July 28, 1823, a son of 
Samuel and Jane (Matthews) Singer, natives 
respectively of Carlisle and Westmoreland County, 
Pa. His paternal grandfather, Simon Singer, a 
native of Switzerland, came to the United States 
in early manhood and settled in Carlisle, Pa., 
where his later years were passed. The maternal 
grandfather, John Matthews, was of Scotch-Irish 
lineage and a pioneer of Westmoreland County. 
In religion he was connected with the United 
Presbyterian Church. Samuel Singer, Sr. , served 
in the war of 1812 under Gen. William Henry 
Harrison, and afterward followed the black- 
smith's trade in Stahlstown, where he died at 
the age of seventy-five years, six months and 
fifteen days. His wife died when fortj'-six years 
old. They were the parents of nine children, 
five now living. The names of the children are 
as follows; Mrs. Mary King, who lives in Cedar 
Rapids, Iowa, and is eighty-three years old; Mrs. 
Catherine Harrison and Mrs. Nancy Mcllvaine, 
deceased; Mrs. Elizabeth Burwell; Mrs. Maggie 
Bell, who died in Cedar Rapids; Robert, who 
was county prothonotary at Greensburg, Pa., 
and died there; Samuel; John M., a member of 
the Ninth Kansas Cavalry in the Civil war, and 
now a blacksmith in Fairmount, Kans. ; and 
Thomas W., in Penn.sylvania. 

When a boy our subject learned the black- 
smith's trade under his father. In 1S48 he went 
to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he followed his 
trade. Iowa was a new state then, and its set- 
tlers were few. There was still considerable 
sport for the hunter, and many leisure hours Mr. 
Singer spent with his gun in the woods. In 
1 865 he came to Leavenworth and opened a shop 
on the line of the old road used by teamsters in 
freighting. At first he had much work for 



Mexican freighters. After some years he built a 
new .shop at his present location, and there for 
some time he not only did blacksmithing, but 
also built wagons. At present he confines his 
attention to repair work. Politically he is a 
Republican. He built the residence on Lawrence 
street now occupied by his family. He was 
married in Pennsylvania to Jennie Warrick, 
who was born in Fayette County, a daughter of 
John Warrick. She is a member of the Method- 
ist Episcopal Church and a lady of industrious 
disposition and noble character. The children 
of Mr. and Mrs. Singer are named as follows: 
Mrs. Ella Munson, who died in Platte County, 
Mo.; Mrs. Maggie Bohman, of Brattleboro, Vt.; 
Jennie, who died in Leavenworth; Thomas, a 
machinist, with the Great Western Manufacturing 
Company ; James, a wagon-maker employed with 
his father; and Edwin, who is also with his father. 



EAPT. NATHANIEL C. CRADIT, who is 
one of the oldest surviving settlers of Pal- 
myra Township, Douglas County, is now 
somewhat retired from active business cares, al- 
though he still superintends the management of 
his farm of one hundred and fifty acres adjoining 
the village of Media. He was born in Ithaca, 
Tompkins County, N. Y., March 11, 1827. His 
boyhood years were spent on a farm near that city 
and he was educated in country .schools. In early 
life he accompanied his parents to Michigan and 
settled in Jackson County. At eighteen years of 
age he left home and began an apprenticeship to 
the wagon-maker's trade, at which he .ser\-ed for 
three years. He then went to Chicago, 111., and 
secured employment at woodwork carpentering 
on a railroad. He helped to build the first freight 
and passenger depot that was erected on the 
north side of that city, it being owned by the old 
Galena Company, now the Chicago & North- 
western. He continued with the railroad com- 
pany until the road was built to Freeport, 111., 
after which he worked on the Air Line Railroad 
for seven years, taking charge of the building of 
the company's turn tables and water tanks. 
In the spring of 1857 Mr. Cradit came to Kan- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



609 



sas and brought with him a saw-mill from Chi- 
cago to Douglas County. This he erected in 
Palmyra Township and continued to operate it 
until 1864, when he sold out. In March, 1864, 
he enlisted in Company K, Sixteenth Kansas 
Cavalry, he having raised the company in his own 
neighborhood. He was commissioned captain. 
Previous to this the governor had commissioned 
him captain of the militia which had been em- 
ployed in guarding the property of citizens at the 
time of the invasion of pro-slavery men from 
Missouri. During the Price raid he was stationed 
in Missouri. In November, 1864, he was ordered 
to Fort Leavenworth, where he was stationed 
during the winter. In May, 1865, he was honor- 
ably discharged from the service on account of 
disability, the result of an injury to his knee 
during the Price raid. Among the battles in 
which he took part were those at Independence 
and Westport, the engagement at Newtonia, and 
various skirmishes. 

On his return from the army Captain Cradit 
purchased one hundred and fifty acres, comprising 
his present homestead. Here he engaged in gen- 
eral farming, but gradually became especially in- 
terested in the stock business and bought and sold 
cattle and hogs. Some years since he retired 
from active farm cares, although he still superin- 
tends his place. December 21, 1852, at Batavia, 
111., he married Miss Emily E. Pindar, a native 
of Schoharie County, N. Y., but after 1850 a 
resident of Illinois. They became the parents of 
four children, all daughters. Of these, Helen 
May, born in 1854, died in 1863. Harriet, who 
was born in i860, was married in 1885 to David 
Wetherby, of Iowa. Emma, born in 1866, is a 
stenographer connected with the postoffice in St. 
Louis, Mo. Fannie, who was born in 1876, is 
the wife of Elmer Laughin, a merchant of Media. 

Coming here with men of radical free-state 
views, Captain Cradit early imbibed the prin- 
ciples of the Republican party and has always 
adhered to them. He enjoys working to secure 
offices for his friends and has done considerable 
campaign work, but has never solicited such 
positions for himself, although had he done so he 
would doubtless have been as successful as he 



has been in electing his friends to office. He is a 
genial, popular man, whose circle of friends is 
very large, and whose position is deservedly high. 
Fraternally he is connected with Palmyra Lodge 
No. 45, A. F. & A. M., at Baldwin. 



(lOHN W. WRIGHT, who is one of the prom- 
I inent contractors and builders of Leaven- 
(2/ worth, was born in Roanoke County, Va. , 
July 6, 1858. When he was a boy he gained a 
thorough knowledge of the carpenter's trade 
under the instruction of his father, E. A. Wright. 
When he was twenty-one years of age his father 
was killed; for a short time afterward our sub- 
ject continued to reside at home with his mother, 
but in October, 1879, he married and removed to 
West Virginia. In 1880 he returned to his na- 
tive county, where he worked at his trade for two 
years. 

June 18, 1882, Mr. Wright arrived in Leaven- 
worth. As there was considerable building in 
the city he had no trouble in securing employ- 
ment at his trade. He continued to work for 
others until 1889, when he began to take con- 
tracts, and since then he has continued alone, 
having had numerous contracts for the erection 
of private and public buildings in the city. While 
his contracts have mostly been for cottages, he 
has had some as high as $5,000. In 1893 he did 
over $33,000 worth of business. In 1890 and 
1891, during the "boom" in Wichita, Kans., he 
went to that city, where he was kept steadily en- 
gaged in filling contracts, one of these being for 
more than $11,000. 

One of the most noticeable characteristics of 
the closing years of the nineteenth century is the 
attention given to building. It seems to be real- 
ized, as never before, that "a man's house is his 
castle," and health and happiness demand that 
this "castle" be well constructed. The occupa- 
tion of contractor and builder is, therefore, one of 
great importance. Realizing this Mr. Wright 
has made it his aim to complete every contract 
satisfactorily, honestly and faithfully. He has 
gained a reputation for excellence of work, as well 
as for diligence and honesty. He devotes him- 



6io 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



self verj- closely to business affairs, and has little 
time for politics, although he is a stanch Repub- 
lican and keeps posted concerning party matters. 
In 1879 he married Alice Hall, of Roanoke Coun- 
ty, Va. They have three sons: Frank \V., a 
student in the Leavenworth high school; Luther 
M. and Charles R. 



ROBERT S. McFARLAND, superintendent 
of Oak Hill cemetery, Lawrence, was born 
near Mau.sfield, Ohio, June 5, 1834, and was 
reared on a farm in Washington Township, five 
miles from town, making his home there until 
twenty- one years of age. He was the only son 
among three children, his sisters being Sarah, 
Mrs. William Stone, of Mansfield; and Anna, 
wife of M. W. Worden, now of Pueblo, Colo., 
who was first captain of Company E, Thirty- 
second Ohio Infantry, but through bravery rose 
to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. The first of 
the McFarland family to come to America was a 
musician who enlisted under Lord Dunmore, and 
came from Scotland to fight the Indians, leading 
the soldiers with his bagpipe in many a desperate 
encounter with the savages. Afterward he settled 
in Virginia as superintendent of a plantation. 
His son, Robert, was born in the Old Dominion, 
and was a shoemaker by trade. About 1824 he 
.settled near Mansfield, Ohio, where he worked at 
his trade and also farmed. On account of an in- 
jury he was unable to enlist in the war of 1812, 
but two of his brothers went to the front. He 
died in 1856, at eighty-six years of age. His son, 
David, our subject's father, was born in Loudoun 
County, Va., and became a farmer in Richland 
County, Ohio, where he cleared and improved a 
fine tract of land. On retiring from active labors 
he settled in Mansfield and there died in June, 
1866, when sixty-six years of age. In early life 
he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, but 
later he assisted in organizing the Wesleyan 
Methodist congregation in his neighborhood, and 
after the war placed his membership in the Con- 
gregational Church, in which he later served as a 
deacon. Politically he was first a Whig, then a 
Republican. Though of southern birth, he op- 
posed slavery and was one of the earliest and 



most ardent Abolitionists in Richland County. 
He married Elizabeth Schlosser, who was born in 
Hagerstown, Md., a daughter of Andrew Schlos- 
ser, who was of German descent, and moved to 
Mansfield, Ohio, about 1S24. In Maryland he 
had followed the blacksmith's trade, but in Ohio 
he gave his attention to farming. At the time of 
his death he was seventy-six years of age. His 
daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth McFarland, died in 
Lawrence in November, 1897, aged eighty years. 

During the war Mr. McFarland was a member 
of Company C, One Hundred and Sixty-third 
Regiment Ohio National Guard. In 1864 he 
was mustered into the United States service at 
Camp Cha.se and, as orderly sergeant, was sent 
to Washington, where he and others had charge 
of fortifications. After two weeks he was ordered 
to Whitehouse Landing, thence to Point of Rocks, 
on the Appomattox, and after four days to Wil- 
son's Landing, where he remained until fall. He 
was then ordered to Columbus, Ohio, and honor- 
ably discharged September 12, 1864. In 1870 he 
settled in Mansfield, and, with his father, bought 
one hundred and fifty acres one and one-half 
miles from town. This property he improved 
with neat houses and then sold. He also owned 
other farms in the same locality. In 1879 he 
came to Lawrence and in the spring of 1880 be- 
gan work at the carpenter's trade. 

June 18, 1884, Mr. McFarland was appointed 
superintendent of Oak Hill cemetery and every 
year since then he has been re-appointed to the 
position, the duties of which he has discharged 
with fidelity. Much of the credit for the beauti- 
ful cemetery is due to his taste and supervision. 
He has planted elm, cedar and other trees, and 
has given close attention to the place, it being his 
pride that the cemetery is one of the most beauti- 
ful in the west. Here lie the remains of the 
victims of the Quantrell raid, as well as many 
other honored men and women who have passed 
away .since. Oak Hill embraces forty acres, all 
of which is laid out with drives and improved 
with shade trees. He is a charter member of the 
Association of American Cemetery Superintend- 
ents, and attended the first and several subsequent 
meetings of the organization. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



6ii 



In Washington Township, Richland County, 
Ohio, Mr. McFarland married Miss Mary Ellen 
Ford, daughter of John Ford, who was a farmer 
there. She died in Ohio Februarj' 7, 1863, leav- 
ing two children: Milton W., in Mansfield; and 
Mary Viola, Mrs. E. F. Caldwell, who died in 
Lawrence in 1887. His second marriage, also in 
Washington Township, was solemnized Novem- 
ber 26, 1863, and united him with Miss Marj' 
Jane McBride, who was born there, a daughter of 
Augustus and Martha A. (Barnes) McBride, na- 
tives respectively of Harrisburg, Pa., and Ohio. 
Her grandfather, David McBride, was born in 
Scotland, and settled in Pennsylvania, but re- 
moved to Norwalk, Ohio, and was editor of an 
Abolition paper there. In religion he was of the 
Scotch Presbyterian faith. When ninety years 
of age he died at the home of a son in Wisconsin. 
Augustus McBride, who was a builder and con- 
tractor in Washington Township, was a captain 
of militia and enlisted for service in the Mexican 
war, remaining at the front until he died, in 
February, 1848. He was buried in the City of 
Mexico. His wife was a daughter of Wesley 
Barnes, who was born in Wheeling, W. Va., and 
cleared a farm in Washington Township, Rich- 
land Countj', Ohio (this property afterward be- 
coming a part of the estate of our subject) . His 
father died when he was a boy of fifteen, but his 
mother survived to the great age of one hundred 
and four years. He had an older brother in the 
war of 18 1 2. The Barnes family is of English 
descent, but has been identified with American 
history from an early period. Mrs. Martha A. 
(Barnes) McBride died in Washington, Ohio, at 
the age of seventy-three years. She had a 
brother, T. N., who served in the Mexican war, 
and at the opening of the Civil war was commis- 
sioned a captain, rising to the rank of lieutenant- 
colonel. Four other of her brothers also served 
in the Union army. In her family there were 
four children, Mrs. McFarland and three sons. 
The oldest. Judge Robert W. McBride, who was 
a member of Lincoln's body guard during the 
Civil war, afterward became an attorney and 
judge in Indianapolis, Ind.; James N., who was 
in the Sixty-fifth Ohio Infantry and was wounded 



in service, resides at Waterloo, Ind. ; and Thomas 
H., who was a member of the Sixty-sixth Ohio 
Infantry, was wounded in the battle of Lookout 
Mountain and died shortly afterward. The chil- 
dren of Mr. and Mrs. McFarland are as follows: 
Mrs. Lizzie Brown, wife of W. B. Brown, of 
Lawrence; Mrs. Mattie R. Hackman, wife of 
George W. Hackman, of Lawrence; Mrs. Edna 
D. Patterson, wife of W. A. Patterson, of Chi- 
cago; and David F. , a student in the University 
of Kansas, cla.ss of 1900. 

Since 1867 Mr. McFarland has been a member 
of the Odd Fellows. He is past officer in Lodge 
No. 18, a member of the encampment, and past 
officer in Rebekah Degree Lodge No. 4. In 
Washington Post No. 12 he is officiating as com- 
mander, and is keenly interested in all Grand 
Army matters. His wife is past president of 
Woman's Relief Corps No. 9, and was an aide on 
the national president's staff. Since 1867 she 
has been a member of the Rebekah Degree, and 
has held ofiBce as noble grand and also has served 
as a member of the state council. Both Mr. and 
Mrs. McFarland are members of the Fraternal 
Aid and Knights and Ladies of Security, in 
which she is a past officer. They are identified 
with Plymouth Congregational Church of Law- 
rence, and contribute to its various enterprises. 
Since casting his first vote for John C. Fremont 
Mr. McFarland has been in touch with the issues 
of the age and has given his influence and ballot 
to Republican candidates and principles. 



THAN B. KECK. Three miles northwest 
^ of Tonganoxie lies a neat farm of eighty 
__ acres, on which have been made improve- 
ments of a valuable nature and which is one of 
the many comfortable rural homes of Leaven- 
worth County. It is the property of Mr. Keck, 
who came to Kansas in September, 1868, and 
purchased the place, then unimproved and uncul- 
tivated. Through his efforts it has been trans- 
formed into its present condition, and its neat ap- 
pearance proves him to be a man of energy and 
perseverance. He was born in Fulton County, 
N. Y., October 6, 1840, a son of John and Lany 



6l2 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



(Burns) Keck, natives of the same county. Dur- 
ing 1840 his father removed to Kane County, 
111., and purchased a raw tract of land, to the cul- 
tivation of which he afterward devoted himself. 
He was fairly successful as a farmer. In politics 
he voted the Republican ticket and in religion 
affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
His death occurred when he was seventy-three 
years of age, while his wife was sixty-five at the 
time of her demise. She was a daughter of Rob- 
ert Burns, of Scotland, and in religious belief 
was a Methodist. Of her thirteen children, our 
subject was the eldest. He was an infant when 
the family settled in Illinois and hence from his 
earliest recollections he was familiar with fron- 
tier farming. Being industrious, he early learned 
to make himself useful at home, and in this way 
he gained a thorough knowledge of agriculture. 

Shortly after the opening of the Civil war, in 
August, 1 86 1, Mr. Keck enlisted in the Union 
army as a member of Company C, Thirty-sixth 
Illinois Infantry. Enlisting as a private, he was 
promoted to be a sergeant. His service covered 
four years and two months. He took part in 
the battle of Pea Ridge, Ark., the engagements 
of the Atlanta campaign, and those at Franklin 
and Nashville, Tenn. At the battle of Stone 
River, Tenn., he received an injury that frac- 
tured his skull, and for six months he was con- 
fined, in hospitals at Chattanooga, Tenn., and 
Louisville, Ky. He was also wounded by a shell 
in the left shoulder during the battle of Chicka- 
raauga, which disabled him for three months and 
obliged him to remain in the hospital at Nash- 
ville. At Stone River, Tenn., he was captured, 
but escaped within two hours. He was mustered 
out October 8, 1865, and returned to his home in 
Illinois. For two years he rented a farm in that 
.state. From there he came to Kan.sas in 1868 
and settled upon the place where he now lives. 

January 24, 1866, Mr. Keck married Margaret 
Cabeen, of Mercer County, 111. They had seven 
children, two of whom are deceased. Those liv- 
ing are: John Theron, who lives in Butte, Mont.; 
Robert Russell, in California; Richard C, who 
is with his parents; Charlotte B., wife of Robert 
A. Robert.son; and Ida, who married Henry To- 



buren, of Tonganoxie. The family are connec- 
ted with the Presbyterian Church. Formerly a 
Republican, since 1890 Mr. Keck has affiliated 
with the Populists. He has .served as delegate 
to count}' and district conventions and has been 
a member of the township committee. He is in- 
terested in Grand Army affairs and holds mem- 
bership in the post at Tonganoxie. 



3 AMES Mcdonald, who entered the gov- 
ernment employ in 1859, is familiar with the 
history of the west during its pioneer days 
and has spent the greater part of his activelifein 
accompanying the regular army upon its western 
expeditions. He was one of the first to come to 
this part of the country, and during early days 
devoted considerable attention to the buying and 
selling of squatters' claims, particularly in Ne- 
maha and Jackson Counties, in which line of 
work he was quite successful. He is now prac- 
tically retired from active business cares, but still 
superintends a small place on the reservation 
at Fort Leavenworth and furnishes the families 
at the fort with milk and butter. 

Born in Ireland in 1836, Mr. McDonald ac- 
companied his mother to Canada and thence to 
the United States in 1848 and .settled at Ogdens- 
burg, N. Y., where he remained for some years. 
In company with a brother, in 1857 he came to 
Kansas. Afterward he was emploj-ed as team- 
ster for the government at Fort Leavenworth, and 
as assistant wagon master made a number of 
trips over the plains to Fort Laramie, Wyo., 
Fort Union, N. M., and other points in the west. 
Meantime he continued to make his home at the 
reservation. During the Civil war he was em- 
ployed as teamster between this fort and Scott 
and Riley, and was a teamster in the battle of 
Big Creek. While engaged in teaming he met 
with a number of accidents, but, fortunately, 
none of them proved serious. In the work of a 
teamster for the government, accompanying 
troops of soldiers from fort to fort, and having 
charge of baggage, etc. , his active years were 
passed. Like others of that day and occupation 
he was more than once in peril from the Indians. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



613 



He has seen all the changes made on the frontier, 
where towns have been built and ranches started, 
and other evidences of improvements made visi- 
ble. In religion he is identified with the Roman 
Catholic Church at the fort and is also connected 
with the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association. 

By the marriage of Mr. McDonald, in 1866, to 
Nora Grane}', nine children were born, viz.: 
Mary; Wenfred; James, who is a teamster in the 
government employ and participated in the San- 
tiago campaign in 1898; Peter, Annie, John, 
Nora, Katie and Thomas. 



GlLEXANDER LEWIS. The Lewis family 
U was founded in America by two brothers, 
I I John and James, in a very early day. Johni 
eldest son of James, had a son John, born October 
13, 1683, whose eldest son, John, settled at North 
Yarmouth, Mass. The latter's second son, James, 
was born at North Yarmouth December 27, 1724, 
and married Lydia Pratt, by whom he had five 
sons and five daughters. The oldest son and 
second child, John, was born in Ma.ssachusetts in 
1754, and married Mary Phelps, born May 27, 
1767. Of their thirteen children, all but one at- 
tained maturity. In early manhood he settled in 
Suffield, Conn., where his children were born 
and where his death occurred. During the Revo- 
lutionary war he served in the American army. 
Of his children the sixth was Luther, father of 
the subject of this sketch. He was born in Suf- 
field, Conn., April 9, 1791, and served in the war 
of 18 12, after which he settled on a farm in 
Jacksonville, Tompkins County, N.Y., and there 
died at sixty-nine years. When a young man he 
learned the wheelwright's trade, but never fol- 
lowed it to any extent. He married Mary Shel- 
don, who was born in Suffield, Conn., February 
24, 1792, and they became the parents of the fol- 
lowing named children: John, Mary, Luther, and 
Mrs. Eliza Carman, who died in New York state; 
Mrs. Ann McConnell, who resides in Elmira, 
N. Y.; and Alexander, who was born near Jack- 
sonville, N. Y., November 13, 1830. 

Until twenty-six years of age our subject re- 
mained on the old homestead. Becoming inter- 



ested in Kansas at the time of the border warfare, 
he came to Lawrence in March, 1857. At first he 
took up a claim, but soon sold it. Prior to the 
war he carried on a grocery business, and during 
the war he engaged in buying supplies for the 
army. In 1863 he returned to New York, and in 
Lansing, that state, married Miss Mary Frances 
North, daughter of Josiah North, a prosperous 
tanner there. He was returning to Lawrence 
with his wife at the time the Quantrell raid oc- 
curred and was therefore in no personal danger, 
but he lost $5,000 bj' fire. On his return he 
was obliged to build anew. He continued gov- 
ernment contracting until the close of the war, 
after which he engaged in the lumber business. 
In 1868 he located on the corner of Massachu- 
setts and Quincy streets, where he has a yard 
200x117, with sheds, etc., and carries in stock a 
full line of lumber and building material. At 
the time of the Price raid he was mustered into 
Rifle Company, Third Kan.sas Militia, Captain 
Swift, and served for a short time. In politics he 
is a Republican, and in religion belongs to the 
Plymouth Congregational Church. His wife died 
August 5, 1898, leaving an only son, Luther 
North Lewis, who was educated in the high 
school and University of Kansas, and is now en- 
gaged with his father in business. 



r~ RED W. KELLER, who is engaged in the 
r3 livery business in Leavenworth, was born 
I eight miles from Berlin, Germany, a son of 
William and Lisetta (Gehr) Keller. When he 
was eleven years of age the family came to the 
United States and settled in Leavenworth, Kans., 
where in the public schools he readily acquired 
a knowledge of the English language. Six months 
after his arrival in this country he was able to 
speak English fluently. In 1872 he became in- 
terested in dentistry and by careful study gained 
a thorough knowledge of the business in Leav- 
enworth, which he followed until failing health 
compelled a change of occupation. In 1884 he 
bought an interest in a livery business in this 
city, of which he assumed charge the following 
year. Since then he has given his entire time 



6i4 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



and attention to the business and has built up a 
large and profitable trade. He keeps twenty-six 
head of horses for rent, and also has many horses 
that he boards for the owners. His line of hacks 
and carriages is complete and modern. In 1897 
the frame barn standing on the lot was torn down 
and a brick two-story structure, with elevators, 
etc., was erected, in which the business has since 
been conducted. 

In political matters Mr. Keller is independent, 
and has never cared to identify himself with pub- 
lic affairs, nor has he been willing to accept offi- 
cial positions, although he accepted nominations 
for the council and the school board. He was 
one of the originators of the Leavenworth Ang- 
lers' Club, of which he is now a member, and also 
belongs to the Leavenworth Boat Club. He is 
secretary and treasurer of the Leavenworth Hack 
and Hearse Association. Among the people of 
the city he is well known and popular. The only 
relaxation from work that he allows himself is 
with his gun or a good horse or fishing tackle, 
for he is an ardent sportsman and a successful 
one besides. 

The residence which Mr. Keller owns and oc- 
cupies was built by him in 1881 and stands at 
No. 611 Shawnee street. He is interested in 
other real estate here. December 26, 1881, he 
married Alice Weber, of this city. They have 
two children, Minnie and Joseph. 



yyiARTlN L. STIGGLEMAN. This welL 
Y known farmer and stock- raiser of Alexan- 
(S dria Township, Leavenworth County, was 
born in Wayne County, Ind., June 3, 1840. He 
is a descendant, in the fourth generation, of John 
Stiggleman, a native of Germany, who settled in 
Virginia and followed the millwright's trade, also 
served in the Revolutionary war under Washing- 
ton. His son, John, migrated to Indiana when 
that section of the country was new and sparsely 
settled; he established his home in the eastern 
part of the state, where he built several mills. 
Under his careful instruction his sons were taught 
the millwright's trade and were also made familiar 
with farm work. One of these sons was John, 



our subject's father, and a native of Virginia, but 
from infancy a resident of Indiana. Schools be- 
ing few and the instruction offered crude, he had 
meagre advantages, but, being a man of bright 
mind and habits of observation, he became well 
informed. In fact, when every circumstance is 
considered, it is remarkable that he gained such 
wide knowledge as he possessed. He was the 
victim of two catastrophes while still very j-oung. 
When only nine months old one hand was burned 
and at six years of age his right hand was acci- 
dentally cut off by a brother. Notwithstanding 
these afHictions he learned the millwright's trade, 
and also, from 1844 to 1892, engaged in farm 
work. Politically he was a Democrat and a warm 
admirer of Stephen A. Douglas. He was not a 
seeker after official positions and held none ex- 
cept that of road overseer. In religion he was an 
earnest member of the United Brethren Church. 
By his first wife, Phoebe Walters, he had eight 
children, three of whom are living, our subject 
and two married daughters in Indiana. His 
.second wife was Clementine Scott, and they had 
four children, three of whom survive. 

The education of our subject was acquired 
principally by his unaided efforts, as he had little 
opportunity for schooling. During the Civil 
war he served in Company K, Fifty-seventh 
Indiana Infantry, which was assigned to the Cum- 
berland valley under General Rosecrans. He was 
present at Stone River, Chickamauga, Kenesaw 
Mountain and took part in the Telehama cam- 
paign, in which for sixteen days he wore wet 
clothes. After three years of service he was 
honorably discharged. Returning to his home in 
Indiana he remained on a farm there until 1868, 
when he came to Kansas. For eight years he 
was emploj'ed on the Lecompton road by two 
parties, with the last of whom he remained for 
four years lacking only one-half day. In 1876 
he bought forty acres adjoining an eighty-acre 
tract purchased five years before, and in the spring 
of 1877 he settled upon the place, starting out for 
himself as a farmer. He began in the cattle busi- 
ness on a very small scale, having only two cows, 
but within ten years he had raised one hundred 
calves. His specialty has been Shorthorn cattle, 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



615 



while in hogs he has registered Poland-China 
stock. The cattle industry takes almost his en- 
tire attention, and the hay and grain raised on the 
farm are used solely for feed. In 1895 he erected 
a fine country home and he also has a large and 
-substantial barn. He has never cared to hold 
office, but has served as road overseer and mem- 
ber of the election board, and in politics is a 
Democrat. He is a member of the Grand Army 
Post at Mclyouth and takes an interest in every- 
thing pertaining to it. 

August 6, 1868, Mr. Stiggleman married 
Catherine Byers, who died the following year. 
He was again married, January 25, 1875, his wife 
being Mary Robinson, of Leavenworth County, 
daughter of James and Elizabeth Robinson. 
They became the parents of six children: Eliza- 
beth, deceased; Viola V., John, Mabel, Volney 
and Bertie. 



QlCHARD H. KINGSLEY, chief engineer of 
U^ the United States penitentiary at Fort Leav- 
y\ enworth, was born at Niagara, Canada, 
September 6, 1837, a son of George C. and Mary 
(Hobbs) Kingsley, the latter of Irish parentage 
and the former of English birth and descent. As 
an officer in the British army his father was 
ordered from England to Canada during the re- 
bellion of 1835 and was afterward stationed in 
this country until his death, three years later. 
In the family there were five children, and all of 
these are still living, Richard H. being the 
youngest. Su.san is the wife of David Stewart, 
of Detroit, Mich.; Jane is the widow of Judge 
Hubbard, of Oakland, Cal.; Sarah married John 
Hubbard and makes her home in California; 
George C. is living in New Brunswick. 

Reared in Detroit, Mich. , the subject of this 
sketch received his education in the schools of 
that city. In 1851 he commenced to learn the 
machinist's trade, which he followed in his home 
town until 1857. He then came to Leavenworth, 
Kans., and entered the emplo}' of the Great 
Western Manufacturing Company. Later he was 
engaged as engineer on a Missouri River steam- 
boat, plying between Kansas City and Lexington, 
and for four years he followed the river. After- 



ward, for eight years, he was employed as en- 
gineer on the Missouri Pacific Railroad and as 
superintendent of the roundhouse. Going to 
California in 1874, he was employed in the Sierra 
Nevada mountains, on the Central Pacific Rail- 
road. The following year he returned to Kansas 
and accepted a position as engineer on the Santa 
Fe Railroad, in which capacity he continued 
until 1882. He then resigned in order to accept 
the positionof chief engineer of the United States 
penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth, which appoint- 
ment was tendered him by the secretary of war, 
Lincoln. In 1895 the United States civil govern- 
ment took charge of the institution. He has re- 
tained his position through the various changes 
in administration, and has won the confidence of 
the penitentiary officials, who have the highest 
regard for his ability and thorough knowledge of 
his work. He has full charge of motive power 
and construction, and at this writing is superin- 
tending the erection of machinery at the new 
penitentiary, under the direction of the warden. 
Having made a life study of mechanical engineer- 
ing, he is fitted for positions of responsibility. 
He has kept posted upon all inventions in con- 
nection with engineering, and is thoroughly 
familiar with the occupation which he has made 
his life work. During the entire period of his 
connection with engines and machinery, which 
covers almost a half century, he has met with no 
serious accident, but his intelligent supervision 
has prevented the catastrophes that sometimes 
happen in the management of large plants. 
Since 1882 he has made his home on the military 
reservation. During the early '60s, under the 
administration of Mayor Carney, he was ap- 
pointed first chief engineer of the Leavenworth 
fire department. At another time he was first 
master mechanic of the engine department of the 
Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad, 
between Lawrence and Ottawa. In politics he is 
a Democrat, but takes no part in public affairs. 

September 16, 1861, Mr. Kingsley married 
Mary Valliant, who died, leaving four children. 
The eldest of these, Clarence R., is master 
mechanic on the Santa Fe road at Woodward, 
Okla. The second son, Joseph, is assistant en- 



6i6 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



giiieer at the Leavenworth water works. The 
third sou, Walter, is with his brother Clarence. 
The youngest of the four children is Maude, wife 
of Huuiphrej- O'Learj-. The second marriage of 
Mr. Kingsley united him with Mrs. Mary Curry, 
who was the mother of two daughters: Margaret, 
wife of John D. L. Sheehan, of Washington, 
D. C; and Mary. 

Gl DOLPHUS G. OATMAN. In order to give 
LA his children the advantages of a university 
I I education Mr. Oatman settled in Lawrence 
in iS8o. He purchased ten and one-fourth acres 
of land adjoining the city on the northwest and 
upon that place established a fruit farm, to which 
he has since given his attention. All of the im- 
provements have been made under his supervision 
and the neat appearance of the farm proves the 
thrift of the owner. While he is not a politician 
and has invariablj' declined to become a candi- 
date for office, he has always kept posted concern- 
ing problems affecting the prosperity' of the peo- 
ple and has been an active worker in the Repub- 
lican partj'. 

In Dundee, Kane County, 111., our subject was 
born August 13, 1840, a son of James R. and 
Letitia (Davidson) Oatman. His grandfather, 
John Oatman, a native of Kentucky, was a min- 
ister in the Christian Church and also a farmer. 
About 1820 he removed to Indiana and later set- 
tled in Eureka, 111., thence went to Dundee, the 
same state, and finally established his home in 
Texas, where he died at ninety years of age. 
When Texas was in an almost wild state he en- 
gaged in stock-raising there, but he was con- 
stantly harassed by Indians. At one time the 
savages stole considerable from him and he and 
his sons started after them, and a few daj's later 
they overtook them, killed some of the Indians 
and recovered most of the property'. Several of 
his .sons served in the Black Hawk and Civil wars. 

James R. Oatman was one of fifteen children, 
twelve sons and three daughters. He was born 
in Indiana. When his son, our subject, was three 
years of age he settled near Peoria, 111. At the 
time of the Civil war he removed to Fort Scott, 
Kans., where he engaged in the real-estate busi- 



ness on an extensive scale. Owing to ill health 
he took his family to Leavenworth, while he ac- 
cepted a position as traveling salesman for a soap 
company. When the firm removed to Denver, 
Colo., he accompanied them, but, owing to 
another failure of health, he resigned and went to 
Kansas City. He died at the home of his son, 
A. G., in the winter of 1898-99. At the time of 
the war he was a stanch Abolitionist. B3' his 
marriage to Miss Davidson, of Eureka, 111., he 
had seven children, of whom our subject is the 
oldest and all are still living but one. 

The education of our subject was acquired 
principally in Eureka College. He was a mem- 
ber of the freshman class when the Civil war 
broke out, and he at once enlisted, his name be- 
ing enrolled, in May, 1861, as a member of Com- 
pany G, Seventeenth Illinois Infantry. Later 
he was appointed musician. After the battle of 
Shiloh he was mustered out of the service. He 
re-enlisted, becoming lieutenant in the One Hun- 
dred and Eighth Illinois Infantry and taking part 
in about twelve engagements of his command, in- 
cluding Donelson, the battles around Vicksburg, 
and Memphis. In August, 1865, he was honor- 
ably discharged, and joined the family in Illinois. 
Owing to his father's ill health he assisted him 
in business and engaged in land dealing. In 
1 874 he went to Leavenworth and for about three 
years was employed as a clerk, but his eyesight 
troubled him to such an extent that he was forced 
to resign his position. Going to Denver he was 
employed in the soap works until his settlement 
in Lawrence in 1880. He is a member of the 
Modern Woodmen of America, Wa.shington Post 
No. 12, G. A. R., and in religious belief is con- 
nected with the Christian Church. 

At Bennington, Vt., February 4, 1S67, Mr. 
Oatman married Mary A. Ransom. They became 
the parents of five children. Eva is the wife of 
Walter Harriott, of Wakarusa Township, Doug- 
las County. The oldest son. Homer C. Oatman, 
M.D., is a graduate of the pharmac}- department 
of the University of Kansas and Hahnemann 
Medical College in Chicago. For three years he 
practiced in Lawrence, after which he took a 
medical course in Edinburgh, Scotland, desiring 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



617 



the advantages offered by European colleges and 
hospitals. On his return he resumed practice in 
Lawrence. He is a stockholder in a company 
that is engaged in zinc and lead mining in Joplin, 
Mo. The younger son, Arthur Roy, is a fruit 
farmer in Wakarusa Township. Helen Maria is 
the wife of Alric G. Aldrich, who is connected 
with i\\eJoiir7ial, of Lawrence. Mary Josephine, 
the youngest of the family, is deceased. 



(Tames p. LINDSEY, one of the successful 
I farmers and coal operators in Franklin Coun- 
(2/ ty, occupies and owns a valuable farm com- 
prising four hundred and fifty-two acres and sit- 
uated west of the central part of Greenwood 
Township. Here he is engaged in raising farm 
produce and stock. His land is underlaid with a 
fine quality of soft coal, and he has taken out 
hundreds of tons, operating successfully in coal 
mining. During almost the entire period of his 
residence in this township he has held the office 
of school director, and has endeavored to pro- 
mote the welfare of school No. 59. As a Repub- 
lican he is identified with local politics. At the 
opening of the Civil war he enlisted in Company 
A, Thirty-eighth Indiana Infantry, and was as- 
signed to the Army of the Cumberland, Four- 
teenth Array Corps, in which he served three 
years. 

A son of James and Charlotte (Anthony) Lind- 
sey, our subject was born in Orange County, 
Ind., in 1842. His father, a native of Kentucky, 
and a pioneer of Indiana, bought a large tract of 
congressional land in Orange County, where he 
became a leading and influential farmer. He died 
therein 1869, at the age of sixty-four, His ances- 
tors came to America in a very early day and 
were among the first to settle in Chambersburg, 
Pa., whence James Lindsey, Sr. (our subject's 
grandfather), removed to Kentucky with his 
family. Our subject's mother was born in Ken- 
tucky and died in Indiana in 1889, when seven- 
ty-two years of age. 

Coming to Kansas in 1868, our subject at once 
became interested in this state. In the fall of 
1869 he purchased eighty acres in Greenwood 



Township, Franklin County, and began farming 
on a small scale. From time to time he made 
additional purchases, and now owns one of the 
largest farms for miles around. An industrious, 
persevering man, he has met with a success to 
which his labors entitle him. He is a charter 
member of the Masonic blue lodge in Pomona, 
and in religion is an active member of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church. 

January 14, 1S69, Mr. Lindsey married Miss 
Mary Moore, of Indiana, who died in 1878. 
They were the parents of four children: Mary, 
who is the wife of Albert Cole; Phyllis T., Mrs. 
A. Sutton; Susan M., Mrs. H. Hettic; and James 
W., deceased. The present wife of Mr. Lindsey 
was Mrs. Clara (Osgood) Bannon, by whom he 
has five children: William, Hattie E., Calvin B., 
John P. and George L., all at home. Mrs. Lind- 
sey was born in Green County, Wis., and was 
one of six children, four of whom are now living, 
viz.: Charles, of Washington state; Clara; Belle, 
wife of Robert Ralston; and Dora E. , who mar- 
ried John Emley, of Washington. Her father, 
Benjamin F. Osgood, was born in New York 
state and in an early day migrated to Wisconsin. 
In 1857 he settled in Marshall County, Kans., 
where he engaged in farming. From that coun- 
ty, in 1869, he removed to Douglas Countj', but 
later removed to Osage County. In 1892 he took 
his family to the state of Washington, and there 
he is now living, at eighty-two years of age. His 
wife, who bore the maiden name of Rebecca 
Robb, was born in Pennsylvania and died in 
Washington May 24, 1899, aged seventy-nine 
years. 

(Joseph NEWSOME is the proprietor of the 
I Leavenworth Steam Boiler Works, which 
(2/ were established by himself in 1864, and in 
which are manufactured steam boilers and tanks 
of every description. Under his supervision a 
large business has been built up, and the works, 
at Choctaw street, between Second and Third, 
have been enlarged to meet the increased de- 
mands. He has been given the principal busi- 
ness in his line in this city, including the work 
for the United States prison and other large insti- 



6i8 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



tulioiis, and in every instance the contracts have 
been filled with efficiency and judgment. On ac- 
count of advancing years he now desires to sell 
his boiler works and retire from business cares. 

Mr. Newsome is of English birth and descent. 
He was born near Leeds, Yorkshire, March 29, 
1828, a .son of William and Sarah (Longbottom) 
Newsome, natives respectively of Leeds and Dews- 
bury, Yorkshire. His father, who was a cloth 
weaver by trade, removed to London and there 
died at forty-five years. His wife died in the 
same city when ninety-two years of age. They 
were the parents of nine children, all but one of 
whom attained years of maturity. When Joseph 
left Loudon in 1853 he had seven sisters living in 
that city, but now all are dead except Emma and 
Maria, who still live in Loudon. When sixteen 
our subject was apprenticed to the trade of a 
boiler-maker, at which he served until tweuty- 
one, and then worked as a journeyman. In 1853 
he sailed for America on the "Queen of the 
South," a sailing vessel, which anchored in New 
York after a voyage of five weeks and two days. 
Proceeding to Louisville, Ky., he worked at his 
trade until the failure of his employers forced 
him to seek employment elsewhere. He was a 
foreman in the first locomotive shop established in 
Louisville. From that city he went to St. Louis, 
and July 3, 1855, returned to Louisville, arriving 
there on the night of the great Know-Nothing 
riot. He had been promised a position as fore- 
man, but on Monday, the day of the riot, there 
was so little prospect of the shop being started 
again that he returned to St. Louis, where he 
worked at his trade. 

The spring of 1857 found Mr. Newsome fore- 
man in a foundry at Alton, 111., and there he re- 
mained until the works were closed in i86i, after 
which he opened a shop of his own. In 1864 he 
came to Leavenworth and started the works 
which he has since conducted with success. He 
is an energetic business man, gives his attention 
closely to the management of the works, and 
allows nothing to interfere with his business 
duties. While he is a Democrat and a member 
of the Odd Fellows, neither politics nor fraternal 
associations take his attention from his business. 



In everj' transaction he is frank and out.spoken, 
and his word is always to be relied upon. Under- 
neath a stern, and at times repellant, exterior, 
beats a heart that is large and true, and it is this 
large-heartedness that wins friends for him. He 
is notably a man of common sense and sound 
judgment, and in every business dealing no mat- 
ter, however weighty, is allowed to cloud his 
judgment. 

While in St. Louis Mr. Newsome married Miss 
Polly Fontanna, who was born in England, of 
Swi.ss and English parentage. The ten sons and 
two daughters born of this union are living, viz.: 
William J., George A., Charles and Joseph, of 
Leavenworth; Grant, of Herrington, Kans. ; Lee, 
who lives in El Paso, Tex.; Mark T., who is in 
Kansas City; Ben, who assists his father in busi- 
ness; James, Grover Cleveland, Sadie and Ella. 



pCJlLLIAM DENHOLM, a farmer and stock- 
\A/ S^'^^'^'^^ of Stranger Township, Leaven- 
V V worth County, was born in Scotland, July 
30, 1S32, and was reared on a farm, meantime 
learning the carpenter's trade under his father, 
George Denholm. His mother, Elizabeth White, 
died in Scotland. Afterward, about 1853, the 
remaining members of the family came to the 
United States and settled in New York City, the 
father becoming owner of a small farm on Long 
Island. His character was that of a typical 
Scotchman, strictly honest, industrious and 
thrifty, and in religion he was a Presbyterian. 
His death occurred when he was ninety-two 
years of age. 

After settling in New York our subject fol- 
lowed the carpenter's trade for some years. 
Then, coming west to Illinois, he worked in 
Rock Island, later going to Clinton County, 
Iowa. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company 
H, Twenty-sixth Iowa Infantry, as a private, and 
served until June, 1865, meantime taking part in a 
number of noted battles and accompanying Sher- 
man on his march to the sea. In spite of his 
long and active service he was neither wounded 
nor taken prisoner. On receiving his honorable 
discharge from the army he returned to Iowa. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



619 



In the winter of 1865-66 he came to Kansas and 
purchased eighty acres of unimproved land, form- 
ing the nucleus of his present property. Jointly 
with his son, he now owns six hundred acres of 
land. He has been a hard-working, persevering 
man, and deserves prosperity and success. In 
politics he is a Republican, but he has never nar- 
rowly and rigidly adhered to party lines, but has 
been liberal in his views. 

September 15, 1859, Mr. Denholm married 
Miss Nancy Mitchell, who was born in New- 
castle, Pa., December 19, 1832, a daughter of 
Andrew and Jane (Dool) Mitchell, natives of 
Ireland. Her father emigrated to America when 
a young man and afterward for a time followed 
the stonemason's trade and taught school. In 
1853 he settled in Rock Island, 111., but after a 
short time bought a farm in Clinton County, Iowa. 
From there, in 1864, he came to Leavenworth 
County, Kans., and settled in Stranger Town- 
ship, where his death occurred in 1876, at sev- 
enty-five years of age. He was a Presbyterian 
in religion and a Republican in politics. His 
wife, who was also a member of the Presbyterian 
Church, died in this township at the age of sev- 
enty-four years. The two children of Mr. and 
Mr. Denholm are George A. and Jennie E. , Mrs. 
L. J. Morgan, of Montana. 



[{JEORGE a. DENHOLM was born in De- 
|_ witt, Clinton County, Iowa, July 12, i860. 
y^ When- he was five years of age he was 
brought to Kansas by his parents, and from that 
time to this he has made his home in Stranger 
Township, Leavenworth County. His education 
was obtained in public schools, the Kansas State 
University and the Lawrence Business College. 
Since leaving college he has been associated with 
his father in the management of their farm and 
has also given considerable attention the dairy 
business, in which he is meeting with success. 

Matters pertaining to the business, agricultural, 
moral or educational welfare of Stranger Town- 
ship receive the co-operation and assistance of 
Mr. Denholm, who is a progressive citizen, thor- 
oughly believing in enterprises calculated to pro- 



mote the interests of his locality. While his at- 
tention is, of course, principally given to his own 
affairs, which demand constant thought, never- 
theless he finds time to keep posted concerning 
the problems before our country to-day, and has 
intelligent convictions upon all important sub- 
jects. He is a believer in the principles for which 
the Republican party stands and has supported 
the national and local tickets of his party. At 
this writing he is a member of the school board. 
With his wife, he is connected with the Congre- 
gational Church, and now holds the office of trus- 
tee of the congregation. January 4, 1895, he 
was united in marriage with Miss Hattie E. 
Davis, of Geneseo, 111. , and they have two sons, 
William D. and Walter G. 



HON. ALEXANDER LOVE came to Kan- 
sas at the time of the border warfare, ar- 
riving in Lawrence April 28, 1857, with a 
determination to assist in making this a free 
state. He is one of the few survivors of the 
Stubbs military company, the fir.st organized in 
this city. In local affairs he took a leading part 
from the date of bis arrival in the west. Three 
times he was elected a member of the city council 
and afterward served as a member of the board of 
education. Gov. John A. Martin appointed him 
a member of the board of state house commission- 
ers that had charge of the building of the state 
capitol. In 1876 he was elected to the legislature 
from Douglas County, and during his term se- 
cured an appropriation for the University of 
Kansas. When his term expired he retired, re- 
fusing further nomination. In 1887 he was 
elected sheriff of Douglas County, which office 
he filled for one term. During much of his life 
in the west he has engaged in contracting, and has 
finished some of the most expensive and durable 
buildings, both public and private, that have 
been erected in the state. 

In Colerain, County Antrim, Ireland, our sub- 
ject was born November 25, 1835, the youngest 
of five children born to his mother's first marriage. 
His father, Alexander Love, Sr. , was born in 
Scotland and removed thence to Ireland, dying 



620 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



there when his son was only fourteen months old. 
Of his children, the oldest, David, who was a 
soldier in the British arm}', served all through 
the Crimean war, then returning to England, re- 
enlisted, was sent out and was massacred by the 
Sepoys. Mrs. Mary Paul died in Pittsburgh and 
is buried at Oak Hill, Lawrence. Mrs. Elizabeth 
Whiteside lives in Stillwater, Minn. James died 
in Brooklyn, N. Y. The mother of these children 
was born near Belfast, Ireland, ofScotch descent, 
and bore the maiden name of Agnes Gilmour. 

After her husband's death she brought the 
children to America. She was married a second 
time, and had by that union two sons and a 
daughter, all deceased but George. She died in 
Brooklyn and was buried in Greenwood cemeterj-. 

When two years of age our subject was brought 
to America by his mother, making the trip in a 
sailing vessel. He was reared in Brooklyn, 
where at the age of fifteen he began to learn the 
trade of a plasterer and brick-mason. In 1854 he 
started for California, going by boat to A.spinwall, 
then across the isthmus, and again by boat to San 
Francisco. Reaching that city without a nickel, 
he was fortunate in at once securing work at his 
trade. Later he went to the mines, but met with 
little success, and then began contracting in Sac- 
ramento. In 1856 he voted for J. C. Fremont 
and has since cast his ballot for Republican 
candidates. In December, 1856, he started back 
to New York via the Nicaragua route. About 
that time there was considerable excitement in re- 
gard to Kansas, and people from both the north 
and south were flocking there, each hoping to 
gain success for their respective causes. He was 
drawn hither in the hope of aiding the free-state 
party. From that time to this he has been keen- 
ly interested in everything pertaining to the prog- 
ress of the state. During the war he served as 
.second lieutenant of a Kansas battery of the state 
militia at the time of the Price raid. When the 
Quantrell raiders came to Lawrence, some of them 
pursued and shot at him, but he succeeded in es- 
caping. He is a member of Washington Post 
No. 12, G. A. R. In religion he is a Presby- 
terian. 

One of the popular young ladies in the early 



days of Lawrence, Miss Eliza McMurray, l)ecame 
the wife of Mr. Love. She was born in the 
north of Ireland and died in Lawrence. Seven 
children were born of their union, two of whom 
(twins) died in infancy. Those now living are: 
Isabella, wife of Albert Riffle, a prominent civil 
engineer whose home is now near San Francisco, 
Cal.; James G., who is engaged in the insurance 
business in Nebraska; Agnes, wife of Brice Craw- 
ford, an attorney in Omaha; Theodore, a plasterer 
in Kansas City; and Maggie, wife of Robert Put- 
ney, of Albuquerque, N. M. The second marriage 
of Mr. Love united him with Mrs. Nellie U. Stev- 
ens, who was born in New England and descended 
from "Mayflower" ancestry. Fraternally Mr. 
Love is past master of Lodge No. 9, A. F. & A. M . ; 
and one ofthe oldest members of the lodge and en- 
campment of Odd Fellows. He is now secretary 
of Lawrence Lodge No. 4, I. O. O. F. 



~DMUND H. COX. Adjoining the village 
^ of Tonganoxie on the west lies one of the 
__ fine farms of Leavenworth County. This 
property, which is owned and occupied by Mr. 
Cox, comprises one hundred and ten acres, and 
is rendered valuable by the introduction of im- 
provements made by the energetic owner. The 
principal industry to which the land is devoted is 
the stock business, the specialties being Short- 
horn cattle and Poland-China hogs. For fifteen 
years Mr. Cox was engaged in raising jacks, but 
of late years he has given his attention wholly to 
cattle and hogs. The land is utilized for pastur- 
age or for the raising of grain to be used as feed. 
Mr. Cox was born in Henry County, Iowa, 
June 4, 1S43. His father, Aaron Cox, a native 
of Kentucky, went to Indiana in early manhood 
and in 1841 settled in Iowa, where he was a pio- 
neer. In 1859 he came to Kansas and bought an 
eighty-acre tract in High Prairie Township, 
Leavenworth County, where he was afterward 
fairly successful in farming and stock-raising. 
Politically he is a Democrat. During his resi- 
dence in Indiana he married Delilah Hobbs, and 
they became the parents of eight children. Those 
now living are; Elizabeth, who married Jonathan 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



621 



Knight and makes his home in Lawrence; William, 
a farmer in Leavenworth County; James, of Okla- 
homa; Deborah, wife of Seth HoUingsworth, of 
Arkansas; and Edmund H. The father passed 
away in Leavenworth County during the winter of 
1898-99. He was a member of a family that came 
to America about the time of the Revolution and 
for years lived upon plantations in Kentucky. 

In the schools of Oskaloosa, Iowa, our subject 
completed his education. When eighteen years 
of age he started out for himself. At first he 
worked for wages, but as soon as he had saved 
some money he started out for himself, buying 
one hundred and twenty acres at Neely, Leav- 
enworth County. Afterward he added to his 
holdings until he owned three hundred and ten 
acres. In 1895 he sold that place and bought his 
present farm adjoining Tonganoxie. In politics 
he is a Republican. For eleven years he was a 
member of the school board, in which capacity be 
materially aided school interests. Fraternally he 
is connected with the blue lodge of Masons in 
Tonganoxie and the chapter in Oskaloosa, Kans. 
In 1867 he married Agnes Carver, of Kansas. 
They have three children: Oska L., who assists 
on the home farm; Annie, wife of James Bell, of 
Leavenworth County; and Lorena, who married 
C. W. Mcintosh, of Oskaloosa, Kans. 



^OHN H. AT WOOD. During the period of 
I his residence in Leavenworth Mr. Atwood 
(*/ has been particularly successful in a profes- 
sional way and has established one of the largest 
law businesses in the city. During the whole of 
his residence in Kansas he has been prominent 
in politics. He is a Democrat and has been act- 
ive and influential both in the state and national 
councils of his party. In 1896 he served as a 
delegate-at-large to the national Democratic con- 
vention, and at that great meeting he was chosen 
to serve as chairman of one of the most important 
committees of the convention, that on credentials, 
and it was conceded by all that it was his happy 
management of the affairs of that committee that 
seated enough Bryan delegates in the convention 
to make possible the nomination of the great 



Nebraskan by a two-thirds vote, which the party 
traditions required. His record in the office of 
county attorney demonstrated his capacity as a 
lawyer and gave entire satisfaction to the people, 
which fact is best shown by the vote received by 
him the last time he was a candidate for that 
office, when he received more than twice as many 
votes as his opponent. 

Mr. Atwood was born in Phillipston, Worces- 
ter County, Mass., September 12, i860. His 
paternal ancestors were from Devonshire, Eng- 
land. His great-grandfather, Moses Atwood, 
was a pioneer builder of the town of Warwick, 
Mass., and there the grandfather, Warren, was 
born and engaged in farming until his death, 
which occurred in 1872. Andrew, son of War- 
ren Atwood, was born in Warwick, and grew to 
manhood upon the homestead farm. At one time 
he was a sub-contractor under his brother, Har- 
rison Atwood, a partner of Thomas Scott, of 
Pennsylvania Railroad fame, and as such built 
the great bridge over the Susquehanna River. 
Afterward he engaged in the manufacture of 
boots and shoes at Athol and Ayer, Mass. He 
was the organizer and first president of the First 
National Bank of Ayer and this position of trust 
he held from 1878 until his removal in 1893 to 
Leavenworth, where he resided with his son until 
his death, in February, 1899. 

The maternal ancestors of Mr. Atwood were 
members of an old English family which is of a 
remote Norman origin. His mother, Mary 
Emma Holden, was born in Woonsocket, R. I., a 
daughter of Havilla and Mary (Vaux) Holden, 
the latter being the daughter of a wealthy gen- 
tleman from Hertfordshire, England, who, upon 
removing to this country, settled in Woonsocket, 
R. I. Andrew and Mary Emma (Holden) At- 
wood were the parents of four children, of whom 
three are living: Warren H., who resides in 
Ayer, Mass., and who is a successful attorney 
and judge of the district court there; Gilbert H., 
who is a farmer and cattleman owning a large 
farm in Douglas County, Kans. ; while the young- 
est, John H., forms the subject of this sketch. 
He was reared in Athol and Ayer, and received 
excellent educational advantages, having been 



622 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



fitted for college by Professor Goldthwait, who 
afterward became famous in certain educational 
circles as the traveling tutor of the sons of Brad- 
ley Martin of New York and London. It was 
with this accomplished scholar that Mr. Atwood 
spent nearly a year traveling in Europe. Re- 
turning to this country he spent a year as an 
unmatriculated student in the academic depart- 
ment of Harvard University, from which he went 
to the law department, graduating at the end of 
three years with the degree of LL. B. Shortly 
after his graduation he was admitted to the Mid- 
dlesex bar. About this time he married Miss Nellie 
Wyman, who came from an old Middlesex Coun- 
ty family of Revolutionary origin and influential 
connections. One of her sisters is the wife of 
Professor Gooch of Yale, the great chemical ex- 
pert and member of the National Academy of 
Science. Mr. and Mrs. Atwood have three 
daughters, Ruth, Helen and Dorothy. They re- 
side in a handsome home on Fourth avenue in 
Leavenworth, Kans. 

Mr. Atwood came to Leavenworth in January, 
1885; in three months he was appointed deputy 
city attorney; in the fall of 1886 he was elected 
county attorney and this office he filled for three 
terms in succession, which is one more term than 
any one attorney has ever successively served. 
Retiring from office in January, 1892, he organ- 
ized the law firm of Crozier, Atwood, Pether- 
bridge & Levison, who occupied an extensive 
suite of offices in the Times building. Upon the 
death of ex-Judge and ex-United States Senator 
Crozier, which occurred almost .simultaneously 
with the election of Hon. Lucien Baker to the 
United States senate, the old firm was dissolved 
and the new firm of Baker, Hook & Atwood was 
organized; this partner.ship continued until the 
spring of iSgg.when theappointment of Hon. Will- 
iam C. Hook to the federal judgeship of Kansas, 
and Senator Baker's retirement from the practice 
of law, dissolved the firm. 

Mr. Atwood is a member of several fraternal 
organizations, but his greatest honors have come 
to him through the Masonic fraternity. The 
Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine 
of North America is an organization to which no 



one is eligible unless he is a Knight Templar or 
Tliirty-.second Scottish Rite Mason and it was 
to the highest office in this body that Mr. At- 
wood was elected in June, 1899. 

As a public speaker Mr. Atwood is perhaps 
more sought after than any public man in Kan- 
sas, being recognized to be without a superior 
among the campaign orators of his party in the 
west. The larger portion of the many invitations 
he receives to speak he is obliged to decline, since 
his extensive law practice requires the major 
part of his time and the best of his energies. 



EAPT. HENRY A. OAKES, who was an 
officer in the Union army during the Civil 
war, is now the owner of one hundred and 
sixty acres, forming one of the best farms in Pal- 
myra Township, Douglas County, and here he is 
engaged in general farming, dairying and stock- 
raising. He was born at Haverhill, Ohio, March 
18, 1838, a son of Ephraim H. and Nancy (Da- 
vidson) Oakes. His father, who was born and 
reared in Kings County, Long Island, early be- 
came familiar with farm work, as his boyhood 
days were passed on a small farm near Brooklyn. 
For a time he followed the trade of a wagon and 
plow manufacturer in his own state, but while 
still a young man he removed to Ohio and settled 
on a farm. During the remainder of his life he 
combined work at his trade with the cultivation 
of his farm. For years he also owned a ferry on 
the Ohio River. First a Whig, on the organiza- 
tion of the Republican party he became identified 
with it, and afterward voted for its principles. 
At one time he was a member of the state mili- 
tia. His death occurred when he was ninety- 
two years of age. His wife died in 1846, while 
in middle life. They were the parents of five 
children that attained maturity. 

When a boy our subject a-ssisted in the culti- 
vation of the home farm. His first outside work 
was on the Ohio River, where he was employed 
for two years. Later he went to Scott County, 
111., and worked on a farm by the month. Sep- 
tember 5, 1862, he enlisted as a private in Com- 
pany I, One Hundred and Twenty-ninth Illinois 




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PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



625 



Infantry. From the ranks he was first promoted to 
be sergeant, six months later was commissioned 
second lieutenant, at Stone River was made first 
lieutenant, and at Savannah was raised to a cap- 
taincy. He remained in the service until the 
close of the war. Meantime he participated in 
many important engagements, including Chatta- 
nooga, Atlanta, Peach Tree Creek, Resaca, 
Jonesboro, and marched with Sherman to the sea, 
thence going through the Carolinas, and was at 
Raleigh, N. C, when Lee surrendered. 

On his return to Scott County, Captain Oakes 
rented a farm, which he cultivated for three 
years. In March, 1869, he came to Kansas and 
purchased the farm where he has since made his 
home. He is a member of Washington Post No. 
12, at Lawrence. In politics he is a stanch Re- 
publican, and while never desiring ofiBce for him- 
self, has been actively connected with local af- 
fairs. He married Miss Eleanor Draper, who 
was born in England, and by whom he has two 
children, viz.: Ellen, who married Richard Tem- 
ple; and Charles Harrj-, who is a lumberman in 
Oregon. 

(I AMES BRUCE SHEARER. In presenting 
I to the readers of this volume the biography 
• O of Mr. Shearer we are perpetuating the life 
record of one who was for years a resident of 
Lawrence and actively identified with its business 
interests. The success with which he met en- 
titles him to more than passing mention, for it 
proves that he possessed mental qualities of a 
high order and had the determination of character 
to push to a prosperous termination whatever he 
undertook. He was still a j-oung man, when, 
October 31, 1898, his life work was ended, but 
he had already gained important mercantile and 
real estate interests in his home town. 

Born in Prairie Citj-, 111., August 24, 1861, the 
subject of this article was a son of George and 
Sarah J. (Morris) Shearer, the latter a sister of 
Dr. Morris, who is represented elsewhere in this 
work. The former, a son of James Shearer (who 
died in Lawrence), was born in Illinois and after 
his marriage settled in Lawrence, then a small 
town on the edge of the frontier. He had the 
28 



foresight to discern the possibilities of this section 
of the country. He made inve.stments in real 
estate in Lawrence and in time became the owner 
of more valuable property than any other man in 
Douglas County. While much of his attention 
was given to the management of his land hold- 
ings, he also carried on a mercantile business 
with success and was interested in several banks, 
and at the time of his death held the position of 
president of the Ottawa State Bank. He con- 
tinued to reside in Lawrence until his death, 
which occurred January 4, 1890. His wife died 
February 4, 1895. They were the parents of two 
children who grew to maturity, their daughter 
being Mrs. L. O. Mclntire. 

Almost the entire life of James Bruce Shearer 
was passed in Lawrence. In its schools he re- 
ceived his education, and in its stores his first 
knowledge of business afiairs. He was a graduate 
of the high school and business college, after 
which he entered upon a mercantile life. In 
partnership with Mr. Mclntire he engaged in 
business in Lawrence and Ottawa, carrying a full 
line of drj'-goods, clothing, etc. When the 
partnership was dissolved, in 188S, Mr. Shearer 
engaged in the drj-goods business at Ottawa, and 
there remained until October, 1894, when he re- 
turned to Lawrence, in order to look after his 
valuable real-estate holdings here. At the same 
time he resumed the mercantile business in this 
city, continuing until his death. He was an un- 
usually energetic and successful business man 
and laid the foundation of the large and important 
business, which, in accordance with his request, 
his wife has conducted since his death. 

In Topeka, Kans., Mr. Shearer married Mi.ss 
Maude Rickard, who was born in Seville, Medina 
Count}', Ohio. One son was born of their union, 
Lawrence Parker Shearer, who died April 5, 
1898, at the age of thirteen years. Mrs. Shearer 
has caused to be placed in the First Presbyterian 
Church one of the finest memorial windows in 
the west, in memorj' of her son, who, though 
only thirteen years of age, was a member of the 
church. Mrs. Shearer is the daughter of Ives 
and Hannah (Dickey) Rickard. The former, a 
native of Rochester, N. Y., settled in Ohio in his 



626 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



youth and became an extensive grain dealer, 
merchant and owner of real estate in Seville. 
During the Civil war he enlisted in an Ohio regi- 
ment, in which he served with valor and fidelit)-. 
Accompanied by his family, in 1881 he removed 
to California and established his home at Ala- 
meda, where he died in 1889. All of his five 
children but Mrs. Shearer continue to reside on 
the Pacific Coast, as does also his widow. The 
latter was a daughter of John Dickey, a soldier 
in the war of 18 12 and an active participant in 
the battle of Fort Meigs. 

Upon the death of Mr. Shearer his wife suc- 
ceeded to the business which he had started. 
For this responsible work her fine business quali- 
fications admirably qualify her. In her store she 
carries what is conceded to be the finest stock of 
dry goods in Lawrence. The large business 
interests left by her hu.sband she has ably man- 
aged, and enterpri.ses of a charitable and benevo- 
lent nature also receive her support. George B. 
Reineke, who was her husband's "right hand" 
man, continues as business manager of the store 
and assists in maintaining the popularity of the 
establishment. He is a member of the Com- 
mercial Club and a gentleman of acknowledged 
business ability. 

pCjASHINGTON D. KELLY, deceased, who 
\A/ ^^'^^ °"^ °^ '■^^^ earliest settlers of Leaven- 
YY worth, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., 
March 23, 1828. At eighteen years of age he 
came west as far as Iowa, settling in Keokuk, a 
growing town on the Mississippi. There he se- 
cured employment as clerk in a dry-goods estab- 
lishment. His next location was at Liberty, Mo., 
where he engaged in a general mercantile busi- 
ness in partership with Eugene Allen. In 1855 
he became a resident of Leavenworth, then an 
insignificant village with little to indicate its 
future importance. Here he engaged in the dry- 
goods business as a member of the firm of Kellj' 
& Bird, but sold out his interest at the opening 
of the Civil war and for a short time furnished 
supplies for the government. Afterward he en- 
gaged in the real-estate business, buying and 
selling lots, and doing much to advance the 



property interests of the city. Owing to failing 
health, in 1895 he turned the business over to his 
sons, Eugene A. and John B., and afterward 
lived retired until his death, March i, 1896. 
He was connected with the blue lodge of 
Ma.sonry, and in politics was a Democrat, but not 
narrow in his views; nor did he ever seek office 
or political prominence. His business plans oc- 
cupied his time and absorbed his attention. He 
was a puljlic-spirited citizen; a friend of the 
city in which forty years of his life were pa.ssed, 
and was recognized and honored, in all his deal- 
ing, as a man above reproach. Intelligentlj' con- 
versant with public affairs, he held it to be the 
duty of a citizen to keep posted concerning the 
problems of the age. He was a man of .strong 
character, with a discriminating judgment that 
detected and denounced wrong and advocated 
right. 

July 22, 1857, ^^r. Kelly married Miss Helen 
Lattin, who was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, 
and in the fall of 1856 came to Leavenworth with 
a brother, Warren. The latter settled here in the 
spring of 1S55, was one of the early mayors of 
the town and a large land holder, but in 1862 
went overland to California and afterward resided 
there. Mrs. Kelly is a member of the Presbyter- 
ian Church and has many friends among the peo- 
ple of Leavenworth, where for so long she has 
made her home. Of her children, the eldest, 
Henry W., is now in Las Vegas, N. M.; the sec- 
ond son, Eugene A., is cashier of the Union Sav- 
ings Bank and also with his j^oungest brother, 
John B., carries on a real-e.state business; the 
only daughter, Laura L., is the wife of O. C. 
McNary, M. D., who is connected with the 
Soldiers' Home in Leavenworth. 



|VLIK G. WOODRUFF, M. D., of Law- 
rence, is a member of a pioneer family of 
Providence, R. I. His father, Louis H., 
was born in Dimock, Susquehanna County, Pa., 
and enlisted in the Civil war from Binghamton, 
N. Y., becoming a member of a New York regi- 
ment and officiating as secretary' of General 
Slocum. Later he settled at Tecumseh, Neb., 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



627 



where he had a trading post with the Sioux 
Indians. At that place his son, Wylie G., was 
born, March 4, 1866, and there, eighteen months 
later, occurred the death of the wife and mother. 
Afterward he returned to Pennsylvania, but died 
in Binghamton, N. Y. His father, whose name 
was the same as his own, was a man of great 
wealth and was 'an educational philanthropist, 
doing much to aid schools and colleges in their 
work and founding and endowing Woodruff 
Academy at Dimock. 

The mother of Dr. Woodruff bore the maiden 
name of Cornelia Glidden and was born in Friends- 
ville, Pa. Her father, Benjamin, a native of the 
same place, followed the profession of attorney 
and was one of the justices of the peace there. 
His father, Benjamin Glidden, Sr., was a 
native of Friendsville and a soldier in the war of 
1812. He descended from an English family that 
settled in Pennsylvania prior to the Revolutionary 
war, coming to that state from Providence, R. I. 
Dr. Woodruff was one of three children, two of 
whom are living. His brother, George W., 
graduated from Yale in 1889 and from the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania in 1895, ^"^^ ^^ "°^ ^ 
practicing attorney in Philadelphia. He has 
been prominent and active in football circles, and 
has originated and promulgated ideas that have 
completely revolutionized that game. 

The boyhood years of Dr. Woodruff were spent 
in the home of his grandfather Glidden in Friends- 
ville, where he attended the public schools. 
From fourteen to sixteen years of age he assisted 
in the cattle business in Saline Valley, Kans. On 
his return east he entered the Pennsylvania State 
Normal School at Mansfield, where he remained 
for two years. He then became a student in 
Wyoming Seminary, at Kingston, Pa., where he 
prepared for Yale, but, on account of lack of 
finances, did not take a university course. After 
graduating from the commercial department of 
Wyoming Seminary, in 1S84 he went to Cincin- 
nati, Ohio, where he was employed in the manu- 
facturing department of White's Golden Lubricat- 
ing Company, and during the two years he was 
in the factory thoroughly mastered the business. 
He was then employed as traveling salesman for 



the company in Pennsylvania. On the burning 
down of the factory the company retired from 
business, and he came to Chicago, where he was 
employed as superintendent of George H . Welton' s 
Oil Company for almost one year. In the fall of 
1888 he came to Kansas and started in the oil busi- 
ness for himself, continuing in it until 1890, when 
he turned his attention to the buying and selling 
of real estate, and also traveled on the road for the 
Hawkeye Preserves Company, his territory being 
in the southwest. In the spring of 1892 he be- 
came traveling representative in Kansas for the 
Midland Coffee Company, of St. Joe, Mo. 

As soon as it became possible he determined to 
secure a medical education. September i, 1S93, 
he entered the medical department of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, where he took the com- 
plete course of four years, being meantime under 
W. J. White, an eminent surgeon, and having 
also special advantages in hospital and special 
work. He stood at the head of his class in surgery. 
During the first year of his university work he 
entered the football team, getting the place of the 
left guard, while Horton crowded the right guard 
off. Both being good sprinters and keen and 
shrewd young men, they changed the entire sys- 
tem of football, making the guards responsible 
for all end runs, and introducing other valuable 
improvements. During his last three years in the 
university, the university team won in every foot- 
ball contest in which it engaged. He graduated 
in 1897, with the degree of M. D., and returned 
to Lawrence, where he has built up a general 
practice. June 14, 1898, he was appointed act- 
ing surgeon at Fort Riley, during the Spanish- 
American war, and remained there until Septem- 
ber 22, 1898, when he was honorably discharged 
with the rank of first lieutenant. 

Dr. Woodruff has always been fond of athletic 
sports. During his last year in college he won 
the amateur championship of America for throw- 
ing a sixteen-pound hammer. In 1894-95 he 
pulled with the University of Pennsylvania crew. 
He was, however, especially interested in football 
while there, and without doubt the university be- 
came more widely known through the success of 
its football team than for any other reason. Nor 



628 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



has he lost his interest in this game since he left 
the university. In the falls of 1897 and 1898 he 
was coacher for the Universit}' of Kansas foot- 
ball team, and during that time the team won 
every game but one. He is a member of the al- 
umni association of the university. Politically 
he votes with the Republicans. He is a member 
of the H. C. Wood Medical Society of Philadel- 
phia and the Douglas County Medical Society. 
His marriage took place at Beloit, Kans. , Decem- 
ber 26, 1 89 1, and united him with Cora V. Brag- 
don, who was born in Waterville, 111., and is the 
daughter of Benjamin Bragdon. 



NENRY METZ, who has ably filled the office 
of postmaster at Tonganoxie and is one of 
the most influential residents of this town, 
was born at Philadelphia, Pa., in 1838, a 
.son of Jacob and Philopena (Powell) Metz, 
natives of Germany. His father, who came to 
the United States in youth, spent some eight 
years in Philadelphia, where he married, thence 
removing to the northwestern part of Ohio, and 
settling upon a farm in Auglaise County. He 
gave his attention closely to general farm pursuits 
and had little time for participation in politics, 
although he was always stanch in his adherence 
to Republican principles. Of his children one 
son died in childhood and a daughter, Elena, is 
also deceased. The only surviving member of 
the family is the subject of this sketch. His 
education was meagre, for schools were few and 
their facilities inadequate. His surroundings 
were those of the frontier. There were no roads 
opened yet, and when going to school he found 
his way by means of blazed trees. The building 
which answered for a schoolhouse was a log 
cabin, the light for which was furnished by 
holes in the logs; this plan, satisfactory in sum- 
mer, certainly had its disadvantages in cold or 
rainy weather, but the children being used to 
privations, made the most of their opportunities 
and seldom complained. 

At twenty-two years of age our subject began 
independent farming. In i860 he secured em- 
ployment as a carpenter on the canal, which 



work he continued in addition to farming for 
three years. In 1869 he sold out and came to 
Kansas, where he .spent a few months in Leaven- 
worth, and then located permanently in Tongan- 
oxie July 5 of that year. Buying a business 
place and two lots, he engaged in the mercantile 
business, beginning with a small stock of groceries 
but increasing his trade from year to year until 
he finally carried a large stock of general mer- 
chandise. For nearly twenty-four years he was 
engaged in this business, and also handled lum- 
ber, coal, etc. After having built up a profitable 
and gratifying business, failing health forced him 
to retire from work so confining. In the fall of 
1893 he sold out his business. 

In the meantime Mr. Metz had invested quite 
extensively in farm land, and after retiring from 
merchandising he gave his attention to the man- 
agement of his property, which included one 
hundred and twentj- acres in three farms. As a 
Republican he has frequently served as delegate 
to the county and state conventions of his party. 
While actively engaged in business, it was im- 
possible for him to accept office, but since selling 
out his store he has held a number of local posi- 
tions. He has served as a member of the town 
council and for two terms was mayor. In Oc- 
tober, 1897, he was appointed postmaster and 
took charge of the office November 21 of the 
same year, since which time he has discharged 
his official duties satisfactorily. In all matters 
for the benefit of the town he has always taken 
a warm interest. He was a factor in securing 
the start of the cheese factory and the creamery 
and was also interested in the establishment of 
the bank, of which he was president for three 
years. All enterprises having for their object 
the good of the town or the increase of the ma- 
terial wealth have found in him an advocate and 
friend, ready to give substantial aid, and that, 
too, without hope of reaping per.sonal benefit. 
Every worthy enterprise has found in him a 
donor to the full extent of his ability to give. As 
one of the early residents of the town and a man 
whose energies have been devoted to the develop- 
ment of its business interests, his name well de- 
serves mention in this work. He is a member of 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



629 



the Lutheran Church and a contributor to its 
charities. Fraternally he is connected with 
Henry Lodge No. igo, A. F. &. M., of which 
he was for twelve successive years elected master, 
accepting the position for ten years. August 5, 
i860, he married Charlotte D. Powell, of Ohio. 
They had ten children, of whom only four are 
living: Jacob, a guard at the United States peni- 
tentiary at Fort Leavenworth; Christ, a farmer 
in Kansas; Minnie, wife of Charles Gilliland, a 
farmer of Leavenworth County; and Gertrude, 
wife of Archer E. Sherman, and the assistant 
postmaster at Tonganoxie. 



3UDGE SAMUEL J. McNAUGHTON.of Ton- 
ganoxie, is descended from one of the oldest 
Scottish families who were in Scotland prior 
to the origin of the clans. They were called 
Necthans by the Celtic race and were powerful 
long before the introduction of surnames among 
them. The heads of the family for ages were the 
Thanes of Loch Tay and possessed all the coun- 
try south of Loch Fyne and Lochawe. Donald 
McNaughton was nearly related to the Mac Dou- 
gals of Lorn and joined with them against Robert 
the Bruce in the battle of Dalre, 1306. His son 
and successor, Duncan, was a royal subject of 
King David II, who, as reward, conferred on his 
son, Alexander, land in the Isle of Lewis, which 
was long held by the family, and the ruins of 
their castle still stand there. Donald, a younger 
son of the family, was in 1436 elected bishop of 
Dunkeld. The family have a record of the ances- 
try for eight hundred years back. Alexander of 
Argylshire landed in New York in 1738 and set- 
tled in New Windsor, Orange County, where he 
waited while getting patent to a grant in Argyle, 
Washington County. The family laid the foun- 
dation for the Dutch Reformed Church in 
Argyle, N. Y. 

Duncan McNaughton, our subject's great-great- 
grandfather, was born in Argyle, Scotland, and 
married Margaret Frisbie, who, after his death, 
brought the family to America, excepting his 
older son, Malcolm, who had accompanied his 
uncle, Alexander, above mentioned. The great- 



grandfather, Malcolm, eldest son of Duncan, 
came to New York with his uncle; he married 
Catherine Robinson and died between 1823 and 
1826. The grandfather, Finlay, third son of 
Malcolm, married Elizabeth Murray, who died in 
1849, at the age of seventy years. They had six 
children, Duncan, Archibald, William, Malcolm, 
John M. and James. The father, Malcolm, was 
born in Argyle, Washington County, and re- 
ceived an excellent education. Becoming an at- 
torney, he practiced in Saratoga County, N. Y. , 
and served for some years as judge of the court 
of sessions. He died there in 1876, when seventy- 
eight years of age. His wife, Phoebe, was born 
in Washington County and died there at eighty- 
four years. She was a daughter of Gen. James 
McDouall, who gained prominence as a general 
in the war of 18 12; he married Sarah Thomas, 
daughter of a general of the Revolutionary war 
and a descendant of Scotch ancestry. 

The subject of this sketch was born in Schuy- 
lerville, Saratoga County, N. Y., September g, 
185 1, and was next to the youngest among eight 
children. The eldest of the family, Elizabeth, 
and the second-born, Annie (Mrs. DelcourS. Pot- 
ter) died in New York. Charles H., who served 
in the Civil war and lost an arm at the battle of 
Chancellorsville, was afterward a member of the 
legislature for many terms and also acted as post- 
master at Schuylerville. 

William John, the second son, resides in New 
York City; Katherine B. (Mrs. Murray) lives at 
Glen Falls; Ida F. died in New York; and Fred 
is engaged in business at Fort Edward, N. Y. 

In public schools and St. Stephen's Academy 
our subject gained his education. In 1869 he 
graduated in law and three years later he was ad- 
mitted to the bar. At once he came to Kansas 
and began to teach school in Reno Township, 
Leavenworth County. For two years he prac- 
ticed law in Lawrence. In 1872 he was elected 
justice of the peace, which ofiBce he held for fif- 
teen years. While serving as justice he also 
cultivated his farm near Lawrence. In 1890 he 
settled in Tonganoxie, where he has since en- 
gaged in practice. When he was elected police 
judge in 1892 only one vote was cast against 



630 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



him; he filled the office efficiently for two years. 
He is connected with the Touganoxie Building 
and Loan Association and was one of the original 
directors of the Tonganoxie Creamery Company. 
Fraternally Judge McNaughton is past vice- 
commander of the Modern Woodmen, past chan- 
cellor of the Knights of Pythias, and a member 
of Tonganoxie Lodge No. 190, A. F. & A. M. 
He is a voter for Populist principles. In the fall 
of 1898 he was nominated for representative by 
the Democrats and endorsed by the Populists, 
and at the election received one hundred and 
nineteen votes in this township, there being only 
two business men in Tongano.xie who voted 
against him. For four years he was chairman of 
the executive committee of the State Farmers' 
Alliance. He was married in Reno Township 
to Anna A., daughter of N. H. and Mary A. 
(Jones) Eaton, who lived on a farm in Reno 
Township. Judge and Mrs. McNaughton have 
four children: Malcolm, who graduated from the 
Tonganoxie high school and is now attending 
the academy; Lucy, Alicia and Gertrude Mabel. 



(JOSEPH YEWDALL. As a florist and land- 
I scape gardener Mr. Yewdall has few supe- 
(2/ riors. Solely through his determination he 
has achieved prominence in his chosen calling. 
For nine years he occupied a small room on Del- 
aware street, but his quarters becoming too 
small he moved up the street, where he rented a 
place for six years. He then bought 300x117 
feet at No. 1205 Delaware street, and at once be- 
gan the task of transforming the wild and barren 
tract into an improved and valuable nursery. 
The splendid condition of the yards attests the 
.success of his work. He also owns 1 50X 1 1 7 feet of 
ground, with a residence acro.ss the street on 
Hancock. On his property he has set out the 
finest of nursery stock, including ornamental 
trees, hardj' roses and plants of all kinds, and he 
has enclosed the place by a fine Hartman iron 
fence. In his work he has met with discourage- 
ments at times, but has persevered and deserves 
the success with which he has met. One year 
the grasshoppers ate his vineyard almost to the 



roots, but the hardy vines soon rallied and the 
next j'ear bore an abundant crop of fine grapes. 
Besides his other work, since 1885 he has been 
forester to the Kansas division of the Union Pa- 
cific road, and for some years bad charge of all 
the parks (forty-eight) between Kansas Citj' and 
Denver, but the divi.sion now extends only to 
Topeka and his son gives it his personal .super- 
vision. 

Mr. Yewdall was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, 
England, Friday, September 26, 1823, a .son of 
William and Dinah (Horner) Yewdall. His 
grandfather, John Yewdall, a native of the same 
place, was sergeant in the British armj^ and served 
in the battle of Waterloo. Afterward he engaged 
in the manufacture of marine cloth by the old- 
fashioned method, machinery and steam-power 
not yet being introduced. He died on Kirkgate 
street, one-half block from the hou.se where he 
was born. He was a descendant of an old York- 
shire family, whose successive generations were 
christened in the Episcopal Church in Bradford. 
William Yewdall was born in 1795, and engaged 
in the manufacture of worsted merino until ma- 
chinery was introduced, after which he was em- 
ployed in wool combing. That occupation finally 
was abandoned and, hoping he might secure em- 
ployment in America, he crossed the ocean in the 
fall of 1846, joining his son Samuel in Philadel- 
phia and securing work there. In that city he 
died at seventy-six years. His wife, who was 
born in Bradford in 1797 and was also employed 
in worsted- merino manufacturing, died in Phila- 
delphia, and rests by the side of her husband in 
Laurel Hill cemetery. They were the parents of 
nine children, viz.: Benjamin, who is living re- 
tired in Vineland, N. J.; Samuel, a manufac- 
turer of worsted-merino, who was killed by the 
explosion of a boiler in his house; Joseph; Sarah, 
who died in Landenburg, Chester County, Pa. ; 
John, a worsted manufacturer, now living re- 
tired in Philadelphia; Dinah and Julia, both in 
Philadelphia; William, who was a partner of 
John in the manufacture of wor.steds in Phil- 
adelphia and who died there in 1891; and Sol- 
omon, who died at the age of eight years. 

April I, 1847, ""r subject, with his mother and 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



631 



the family (his father having come in the fall of 
the previous year), crossed the ocean to America, 
sailing from Liverpool on the "Galena," which 
anchored in New York May 8. From that city 
he went to Philadelphia and secured work at $5 
a month, with a Germantown nurseryman and 
florist. His wages being too small, he left that 
place and was afterward employed in the exotic 
gardens in Philadelphia, where he learned land- 
scape gardening and the florist's business. After 
a year his wages were increased. In time he be- 
came an expert landscape gardener. After the 
third year he was made foreman, which position 
he held for six years, remaining there for nine 
years altogether. For some time he was in part- 
nership with Mr. Southworth in that city. His 
whole heart and soul he put into his work, and 
his enthusiasm and earnestness made him quick 
in gaining proficiency. It was his ambition to 
equal any of the landscape gardeners in the state. 
He studied botany and horticulture, attending 
lectures whenever possible. He also became 
prominent in the work of the Pennsylvania Hor- 
ticultural Society. 

On leaving Philadelphia Mr. Yewdall became 
foreman of a large nursery at Columbia, Pa., but 
this position he afterward resigned in order to em- 
bark in business as a florist for himself. After work- 
ing on his own account he decided his prospects 
would be better in a town less slow and dull. Re- 
movingto Hammonton,N.J. , he bought abusiness, 
but in four years sold out and returned to Phila- 
delphia. After two years he went to Coatesville, 
Pa., where he remained for four years, the last 
year being city landscape gardener. April 1 1 , 
1866, he arrived in Lawrence, Kaiis. , it being his 
intention to take up a claim. However, he found 
all the government land taken, except one claim, 
the southwest quarter of section 23, range 20, at 
Eudora, a tract of prairie land. This claim he 
took up, but was unable to improve at the 
time. During the winter he worked at the 
Barnes nursery, and he and his wife boarded the 
hands, but the experiment was so unprofitable that 
it took him three years to liquidate the debt in- 
curred in less than one year. Settling on his 
claim, he built a log cabin, and remained there 



for seven years, improving and cultivating the 
land. Meantirne he engaged in horticulture and 
started a small nurser3\ He also came to town 
frequently to do gardening, and planted all the 
trees on the Haskell property. From his claim 
he moved to Loyal Mitchell's farm, to take care 
of his fruit on shares, but not liking the position, 
he left as soon as possible. Since then he has de- 
voted himself to the nursery and florist's busi- 
ness and has established a reputation for superi- 
ority in his art. He is a member of the Douglas 
County Horticultural Society and takes a warm 
interest in everything pertaining to fruit and 
flowers. 

In Philadelphia Mr. Yewdall married Miss Har- 
riet Marshall, who was born near London, Eng- 
land, and died in Lawrence January 5, 1894. 
The children born of their union are named as 
follows: Joseph, at home; Mrs. Charlotte Cant- 
rell, of Douglas County; Charles, Sarah, Viola 
and Edward. Charles and Edward are their 
father's right hand men and are of the greatest 
help to him in his business. The family are iden- 
tified with the Episcopal Church, in the faith of 
which Mr. Yewdall was reared. His first vote 
was cast for Abraham Lincoln and he has ever 
since supported Republican candidates. 



HON. REUBEN W. LUDINGTON, who 
came to Lawrence in March, 1857, was 
prominentlj' identified with the early vicis- 
situdes and troubles of this city, and has since 
been associated with its growth and advancement. 
He was born in West Spriugfield (now Holyoke) , 
Mass., September i, 1827, a son of Harry and 
Villity (Winchell) Ludington. His grandfather, 
Capt. Daniel Ludington, who was an oSicer in 
the Revolutionary war and a large farmer at West 
Springfield, was descended from a family that 
came to America in an early day from Ludington, 
near Stratford-on-the-Avon, England. Harry 
Ludington was born at West Springfield August 
6, 1 79 1, and served two enlistments in the war of 
18 1 2, in which he was orderly sergeant. At one 
time he assisted in preventing the British from 
effecting the capture of New London, Conn. For 



632 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



years he engaged in the manufacture of fur hats 
at Chicopee, Mass., and he died in that state 
Februarj' 4, 1847. January 1 1, 18 16, he married 
Miss Winchell, who was born at Turkey Hill, 
Granby, Conn., January 29, 1797, and died at 
the home of her son, Reuben W., in Lawrence, 
June 13, 188 1. She was the daughter of Elisha 
and Mindwell (Hulbert) Winchell, the former of 
whom was born at Turkey Hill, June' 29, 1757, 
and .served as a lieutenant in the Revolutionary 
war, after which he engaged in cultivating a farm 
near West Springfield, Mass. 

The record of the Winchell family can be 
traced back to 1293, when Robert Winchelsen 
was elected archbishop of Canterburj', being the 
tenth in succession from Thomas a Becket. 
The originator of the family in America was 
Robert Winchell. The published genealogical 
record of the family shows that among the ances- 
tors in America seventeen were college gradu- 
ates and fifty-five professional men, while many 
were in the legislature, and served in the two 
wars with England, the Florida war, the Mexi- 
can and Civil wars. Robert Winchell was prob- 
ably born in the south of England or Wales. 
He settled in Dorchester as early as 1624, re- 
moved to Windsor, Conn., in 1635, and passed 
away January 21, 1669. His son, Nathaniel, 
born in England, married Sarah Porter, by whom 
he had a .son, Stephen. The latter married 
Abigail Marshfield, and their son, Thomas, born 
at Windsor, Conn., married Marj^ Owen and 
afterward lived at Turkey Hill. There Elisha 
Winchell was born and reared. He was a lieu- 
tenant in the Indian wars, and by occupation was 
a farmer, carpenter and owner of a saw and grist 
mill. By his marriage to Mary Thrall he had a 
son, Elisha, who enlisted in the Revolutionary 
war at nineteen years of age. For some years he 
was a business man at Turkey Hill, but removed to 
West Springfield in 1807. He and his wife. Mind- 
well, often had reunions of their family, when rela- 
tives from far and nearcarae to enjoy the hospital- 
ity of their commodious house and generous hearts. 
It was the custom to prepare for these gatherings 
by roasting a quarter of beef before the fireplace, 
and make other preparations upon as large a 



scale. Afterward, through their daughter, the 
homestead became the property of our subject. 
The latter was one of six sons, only two of whom 
attained their majority, himself and his oldest 
brother, Henry H. , who was for years proprietor 
of the Eldridge Hou.se in Lawrence, but is now 
living retired. Daniel died in 1838, at' nineteen 
years, Fredus when thirteen years of age, Charles 
and Charles Wilbur at four years. The father of 
these sons was a soldier in the war of 181 2, serv- 
ing from its opening until peace was declared. 

At the age of eighteen our subject went from 
Holyoke to Hartford, Conn., where he was in a 
wholesale dry-goods house for three years, work- 
ing for $50 and board per annum. There was 
laid the foundation of the accurate business habits 
so profitable to him in later years. Returning to 
Holyoke, he married and then engaged in 
the mercantile business, also established a po.st- 
office at Rock Valley and was the first postmaster. 
After a time he bought the home formerly owned 
by his mother's father, and there he continued 
the family gatherings which had been so notable 
during his grandfather's lifetime. In 1857 he 
came to Kansas. His cousins, the Eldridges, 
were in Lawrence, and he visited them. Being 
pleased with the prospects he decided to remain. 
He started a livery business (the old Eldridge 
house stable) which he still owns, having as a 
partner Col. S. W. Eldridge, but he soon sold to 
his partner, and opened a mercantile store on 
Ma.ssachusetts street. At the time of the Quan- 
trell raid, August 21, 1863, his two buildings and 
stock were destroyed by fire, entailing a loss of 
$30,000. An attack was also made upon his 
house, for he was marked as a free-state man 
of too pronounced opinions to suit the pro-slaverj- 
party. A neighbor, Mr. Lowe, .saved his house. 
Fortunately, he and his wife and children were 
visiting in Massachusetts at the time. Had he 
been in the city he would probably have lost his 
life. On his return he sold his house and started 
anew in business. Going to old Franklin, he 
bought a Methodist Church building, which he 
moved up to Lawrence and transformed into a 
store. The next year he built a three-story 
brick building, 25x80, at No. 707 Ma.ssachusetts 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



633 



street, and there continued business until 1881, 
when he retired from the mercantile business. 
From 1884 to 1893 he was a member of the 
wholesale grocery house of A. D. Craigue & Co., 
on North Tejon street, Colorado Springs. 

May 10, 1849, Mr. Ludington married Miss 
Eunese B. Winchell, who was born in West 
Springfield, Mass., a daughter of Capt. Tryon 
Winchell, and a cousin of Mr. L,udington. They 
have two children now living and lost one daugh- 
ter, Mrs. Alice E. Cory, who died in Lawrence. 
Their son, Wilbur, resides with them, and their 
surviving daughter. Angle V. , is the wife of Hon. 
Cassius G. Foster, who was appointed United 
States judge of Kansas by President Grant and 
served until March i, 1899, since which time he 
lived retired in Topeka, until his death, June 21, 
1899. 

During the war, while mayor of Lawrence, Mr. 
Ludington was a member of Company E, Third 
Kansas Militia, that saw service during the Price 
raid. He is a member of Washington Post No. 
12, G. A. R. Until recently he afBliated with 
the Republicans, but is now a Democrat. Fra- 
ternally he is connected with Lawrence Lodge 
No. 6, A. F. & A. M.; Lawrence Chapter No. 
4, R. A. M.; DeMolay Commandery No. 4, 
K. T., in which he has held various offices. He 
was a stockholder and the last president of the 
Lawrence Street Railway Company, also served 
as a director in the Second National and Law- 
rence Exchange Banks, and has been a director 
in the St. Louis, Lawrence and Southwestern 
Railroad Company. In educational work and 
the upbuilding of the school system he has al- 
ways felt a deep interest. 

In the spring of 1864 Mr. Ludington was 
elected mayor, succeeding George W. Callomore, 
who had been killed in the Quantrell raid. In 
his inaugural address he referred, to the past his- 
tory of the city, its trials and vicissitudes, and the 
losses which all of the citizens had experienced, 
but, at the same time, he declared his faith in the 
future city, recommended the enlargement of 
schools, the organization of a fire department and 
purchase of grounds for a cemetery (which re- 
sulted in the selection and beautifying of Oak 



Hill cemetery), also recommended the improve- 
ment of streets, and a vigilant system of military 
defense by the erection of block houses. Five of 
these block houses were put up, in order to pro- 
tect the city against future raids. Under his ad- 
ministration good order was restored and general 
confidence inspired. In 1876 the city again had 
financial reverses and he was again elected mayor 
and re-elected in 1877. He succeeded for the 
second time in placing the city's finances on a 
firm basis, and retired from office, with the con- 
fidence of the entire citizenship. 



0ANIEL LEAHY, whose home is in Stranger 
Township, Leavenworth County, was born 
in New York state, February 19, 1837. 
When twenty years of age he came to Kansas, 
among the pioneers of 1857. He secured em- 
ployment in a saw mill on Leavenworth Island, 
owned by D. W. Powers, but after a year began 
to cultivate land for himself. He also operated 
a ferry boat for eighteen years. During the war 
he was often engaged with his boat on trips for the 
government, and frequently southern sympathiz- 
ers attacked him, but he and his boat always 
escaped unharmed. In those days perils existed 
on every hand, and daily the settlers took their 
lives in their hands. Their property, too, was 
never safe from theft or wanton destruction. As 
an instance of this, a yankee went over into Mis- 
souri with two yoke of oxen after a load of 
apples. One yoke was beef cattle and they were 
stolen from him. On his return to the fort he 
entered complaint, and the commandant sent 
word to prominent men across the river that the 
cattle must be returned or they would be held 
responsible. Instances of this kind might be mul- 
tiplied indefinitely. 

While still engaged in ferrying Mr. Leahy 
bought one hundred and sixty acres of the re- 
serve land, and after a time he turned his entire 
attention to the cultivation of his property. At 
first he lived in the old house that was once the 
home of Chief Wolf. Working steadily, he placed 
the land under cultivation, planted trees and 
hedges, and in 1884 erected a substantial resi- 



634 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



dence. He has made a specialty of feeding cattle, 
and raises grain and hay to use as fodder. As 
he prospered he added to his land, which now 
comprises nine hundred and twenty acres. In 
politics he is a Republican. He takes an inter- 
est in matters pertaining to the benefit of his 
community, and gives his support to worthy 
projects. January i, 1865, he married Hulda 
Vanneman, of Missouri. They have four chil- 
dren: Hattie, wife of Frank Dodge; Alice, wife of 
Thomas Mullen; Frank, who is engaged in busi- 
ness in Texas; and Maude, at home. The two 
married daughters reside near their parents. 



~IJ WESTHEFFER, who resides upon a 
't) farm one-half mile west of Eudora, Doug- 
^ las County, was born in Cumberland Comi- 
ty, Pa., in December, 1842, a son of Simon and 
Frances (Ricer) Westheffer, natives of Penn.syl- 
vania, and of Dutch descent. His paternal an- 
cestors were among the first who came from 
Holland to America and settled near Manhattan, 
N. Y. In 1844 Simon WestheflFer moved from 
Penn.sylvania to Ohio, and in 1851 established 
his home in Miami County, Ind. , where he be- 
came the owner of one hundred and sixty acres 
of raw land. While he had previously followed 
the tailor's trade, after he went to Indiana he 
gave his time exclusively to the clearing of his 
land, but he did not live to bring it under culti- 
vation, for his death occurred in 1853, when he 
was forty-four years of age. Afterward his wife 
was again married, becoming the wife of Daniel 
Shultzbach. By her first marriage she had six 
children, four now living, viz.: Jacob, who lives 
in Kan.sas City; EH; David, of Colorado; and 
Elizabeth, wife of Lorenzo Donaldson. By her 
second husband she had three children, of whom 
two survive, Charles, of Miami County, Ind., and 
Marion, al.so of that county. The mother now 
makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. Don- 
aldson, in Indiana. 

By studying in common schools our subject 
obtained a fair education. In 1862 he en- 
listed in Company H, Eighty-seventh Indiana 
Infautry, and was a.ssigned to the Fourteenth 



Army Corps, under Generals Rosecrans, Thomas 
and Sherman, and accompanied the last-named 
on the famous march to the sea. During the 
battle of Chickaniauga he was .severely wounded 
and to this day suffers from the effects of the 
wound. In July, 1865, he was honorablj' dis- 
charged from the army, and returned to Indiana. 
The spring of the following year found him in 
Lawrence, Kans. Shortly afterward, with his 
brother Jacob, he bought a farm in the Kaw Val- 
ley, his first purchase comprising one hundred 
and twentj' acres, where he carried on general 
farming and stock-raising for thirteen years. In 
1877 he sold that place and moved to the farm 
formerly owned by Robert Peoples, located in the 
Kaw Valley, where he has since cultivated the 
one hundred acres comprising the place. Oc- 
tober3, 1877, he married Mrs. Deborah E. Peo- 
ples, the widow of Robert Peoples, and a lady of 
estimable character. They are the parents of 
one son, Don. Mrs. Westheffer had two chil- 
dreu by her former husband, an infant deceased, 
and Jennie, wife of Charles Starkweather, of 
Lawrence. 

The views held by Mr. Westheffer upon na- 
tional problems bring him into affiliation with the 
Republican party. For several years he has served 
on the school board aud has also frequently been 
cho.sen to serve as township clerk, both of which 
positions he has filled efficiently. In fraternal 
relations he is connected with the Ancient Order 
of United Workmen at Eudora and Eudora Post 
No. 333, G. A. R. , in which he has been an offi- 
cer. Mrs. Westheffer is a member of the Method- 
ist Episcopal Church. 



ROBERT J. MINTIER, who for many years 
has owned and occupied a farm situated 
seven miles west of Leavenworth, is one of 
the prominent and prosperous agriculturists of 
Kickapoo Township, and during the long period 
of his residence here has won many friends 
among the people of Salt Creek Valley. It was 
in 1864 that he purchased eighty acres forming 
the nucleus of his present property*. To it he 
added from time to time, until he has become the 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



635 



owner of three hundred and twenty acres, divided 
into fields for the pasturage of his stock and the 
raising of general farm products. Of late j'ears 
he has made a specialty of raising fine timothy 
hay and has also given considerable attention to 
the raising of apples and peaches. He is a leader 
in all enterprises for the benefit of the farmers of 
his township or for the upbuilding of the educa- 
tional and moral welfare of his community. For 
years he has served as a director of Mount Olivet 
school, in which position he has worked faith- 
fully to secure good advantages for the children 
of his district. For some years he was a sup- 
porter of Populist principles, but now votes the 
Republican ticket. Under the first administra- 
tion of President Cleveland he was appointed 
postmaster at Mount Olivet, an office which he 
has since held. 

In Harrison County, Ohio, in 1835, the subject 
of this sketch was born to the union of Robert 
and Elizabeth (Hammond) Mintier. His father, 
a native of Pennsylvania, settled in Ohio in early 
manhood and in time became one of the leading 
farmers of Harrison County, where he spent the 
remainder of his life, dying at seventy-eight 
years. His wife died there when about sixty-one 
years of age. They were the parents of twelve 
children, eight of whom are now living, viz.: 
Joseph, Thomas and John, in Ohio; Mary, wife of 
John Hannah; Eliza, widow of James Henderson; 
Robert J.; Esther, wife of Joseph Sheppard, and 
David. 

During 1858 Robert J. Mintier came west as 
far as Iowa, and very soon afterward came to 
Leavenworth, Kans. Near this city he secured 
employment on a farm and he continued to work 
for others until he was able to purchase a home 
of his own, when, in 1864, he bought the farm 
he has since improved and cultivated. Shortly 
after he had settled on this place he stopped his 
work and went with the state militia to assist in 
driving General Price out of Kansas, accompany- 
ing the militia to the front and witnessing the 
battle of Westport. On his return home he re- 
sumed the task of improving his property. 

The marriage of Mr. Mintier, February 27, 
1862, united him with Lucrelia A., daughter of 



Joshua and Ascenath (Cummings) Ackley. Her 
father came from Illinois to Kansas in 1854 and 
was one of the earliest settlers of the Salt Creek 
Valley, where he spent the remainder of his life, 
engaged in farm pursuits. He died in 1892, when 
eighty-eight years of age. In his family there 
were twelve children, of whom five are now liv- 
ing, Mrs. Mintier being the eldest of these. The 
others are: Lydia, widow of Isaac Edwards; Uriah, 
Joseph and Charlotte. A few years after her 
father had settled in Leavenworth County Mrs. 
Mintier came here with the other members of the 
family. Familiar with farm work from child- 
hood, she was qualified, by training and tastes, 
to become the wife of a farmer, and to her ener- 
getic assistance not a little of Mr. Mintier' s suc- 
cess may be justly ascribed. Not only has she 
managed her household affairs and the dairy with 
thrift, but, during busy seasons, when it was im- 
possible to secure help, she went to the field and 
worked there as faithfully as she has labored in 
the house. It is fitting that now, after years of 
tireless labor, Mr. and Mrs. Mintier should be 
comfortably situated and able to surround them- 
selves with all the comforts of life. 



V yiAC C. BYRD, proprietor of the Lawrence 
y tannery, and one of the enterprising busi- 
y ness men of this city, was born and reared 
in Wake County, N. C. When he was a young 
man he learned the tanner's trade, and afterward 
found employment at this occupation in Maryland 
and Virginia. In due time he became the owner 
of a tannery at Durham, N. C, which he oper- 
ated for many years. Finally, believing that 
another section of country might offer greater in- 
ducements to a business man, he removed to Kan- 
sas. In the fall of 1889 he settled in Lawrence, 
where he has since made his home. 

For a time after locating in this city Mr. Byrd 
followed his trade in the employ of others, but he 
soon again engaged in business for himself, buying 
the business owned by his employer, and here he 
has since carried on a large trade. His specialty is 
the tanning of all kinds of furs, both wild and do- 
mestic, and the manufacture of fur robes and 



636 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



rugs, of vvliich he turns out more than five hun- 
dred each season. His location is No. 145 Maine 
street. Managing his affairs with economy and 
judgment he has met with considerable success in 
business. 

Politically Mr. Byrd is a Republican, always 
supporting the candidates and principles for 
which this party stands. In religion he is a mem- 
ber of the Baptist Church. He was married 
September 13, 1877, to Miss Lucy A. Steward, 
who was born and reared in North Carolina, and 
by whom he has eight children, all living. 



U^ORRIS M. GRIST, Sr. Viewed in the 
\l light of an honorable life and successful 
I /j business career, Mr. Grist may be regarded 
as one of the best citizens of Tonganoxie. Dur- 
ing the fourteen years that he has engaged in the 
drug business here he has become well and 
favorably known among the people of the town 
and surrounding country. Notwithstanding the 
fact that he started in business with a very small 
capital (only $350), by energy, industry and per- 
severance, with the exercise of tact, good judg- 
ment and sound common sense, he has secured a 
competency, and at the same time has made for 
himself a name for strict honor and integrity, and 
for graciously helping his fellow-men . 

Through his paternal ancestors Mr. Grist is 
of Scotch, German and Irish lineage. His 
grandfather, David Grist, emigrated from Scot- 
land to Virginia and later settled in Pennsyl- 
vania. One of his sons, AsaiahW. Grist, M. D., 
graduated from Jefferson Medical College, Chi- 
cago, and afterward engaged in the practice of 
his profession, in which he attained considerable 
eminence in the east; but, owing to ill health, 
he removed to Kansas. Another son, John S. 
Grist, our subject's father, was born in Mount 
Pleasant, Pa. , and in youth learned the trade of 
carpenter and builder. When twenty-two years 
of age became to Kansas to see the "wild" 
west, but soon returned to Pennsylvania, where 
he married. In i868 he moved to Tonganoxie, 
Kans., where he has lived ever since. By his 
marriage to Matilda Buttimore he had four 



children: Norris M., the eldest, who was born in 
Westmoreland County, Pa.; Elizabeth,- wife of 
Joseph Dessary, of Tonganoxie; Maj' Etta, who 
is deputy postmaster here; and Alice, who mar- 
ried Robert Fairchild and lives in Kansas City, 
Kans. 

The educational advantages afforded bj' the 
graded .school of Tonganoxie were given to the 
subject of this sketch in his early boyhood, and 
the information thus obtained was supplemented 
bj" a course in the Kansas State Universitj- at 
Lawrence. Afterward he engaged in teaching 
school, not, however, with the intention of mak- 
ing this a permanent occupation, but in order to 
gain the necessary means for starting in business. 
Six years were spent as a teacher, and later for 
eighteen months he was employed as assi.stant 
clerk with the Caldwell Manufacturing Conipanj- 
at the state penitentiarj-. Forming a partnership 
with his brother-in-law. Dr. Dupuy Snell, in 
1885 he embarked in the drug business. From 
the first he met with success, and within two 
years from the time of starting he purchased his 
partner's interest in the business, which he has 
since conducted alone. Shortly after ^le became 
the sole owner of the business. 

During the year 1887 and 1888 Mr. Grist took 
a regular course of pharmacy in the pharmaceu- 
tical department of the Kansas State Universitj', 
and passed the state examination for pharma- 
cists with credit, thus gaining an assured posi- 
tion in his cho-sen occupation. Having pur- 
chased the lot where his store is now located, in 
1887 he here erected a substantial building. He 
also purchased a residence containing four rooms, 
which, by remodeling and additions, he has 
transformed into a neat home of eight rooms, sur- 
rounded by shade trees and a number of out- 
buildings. Besides his drug business he has 
other important interests, among other things be- 
ing a stockholder in the creamery and the build- 
ing and loan association, also a director in the 
latter. 

From boyhood Mr. Grist has depended upon 
his own exertions, and the large degree of suc- 
cess he has attained speaks well for his tenacity 
of purpose. With no desire to enter the field of 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



637 



politics, and with independent views upon the 
subject, he has never allied himself with any po- 
litical organization; however, he keeps posted 
concerning current events of importance and is a 
patriotic citizen. Fraternally he is connected 
with the Modern Woodmen, and Henry Lodge 
No. 190, A. F. & A. M., also the Eastern Star. 

When at leisure from business duties Mr. 
Grist may often be found studying the Bible, 
history and the sciences. Few are more familiar 
with the Scriptures than he. At this writing he 
is also studying medicine. It is his aim to keep 
up with the times in order that he may be able 
to perform his part in helping the world upward. 
He is a man who studies thoughtfully and rea- 
sons conscientiously. In his life he has en- 
deavored to live up to the high standard set for 
a man. He has been charitable, kind-hearted 
and helpful, and the needy have found in him a 
true friend. 

October 8, 1882, Mr. Grist married Lula, 
daughter of Henry and Henrietta Snell, who 
was born in Kentucky; her father, when a 
young man, moved to Missouri, and there mar- 
ried Miss Henrietta Phillips, daughter of a phy- 
sician. Afterward he brought his family to 
Kansas, where he has since resided. Mr. and 
Mrs. Grist are the parents of four children : Net- 
tie Matilda, who has entered upon the first year's 
studies of the high school; Fuchsia Frances, 
Norris M. Jr., and Paul Dupuy, who have 
passed their school grades with credit and give 
promise of bright futures. 



yyiAJ. M. R. W. GREBE, who is engaged 
y in dairying, general farming and stock- 
(9 raising in Sherman Township, Leaven- 
worth County, was born August 4, 1838, in the 
then kingdom (now province) of Hanover, Ger- 
many. He received his education in a Jesuit 
college and military academy. In 1854 he was 
given a lieutenant's commission in the German 
army, in which he served for eight years. In 
1862 he was given a leave of absence in order to 
come to the United States and take part in the 
Civil war. Landing in New York in July of 



that year, he went to St. Louis and was there 
commissioned first lieutenant in Company I, 
Fourth Missouri Cavalry, under the command of 
Gen. George E. Waring. In 1863 he volun- 
teered to carry dispatches with thirty-seven 
picked men and one commissioned oflScer, from 
Columbus, Ky., to Memphis, Tenn., through the 
lines of Rebel General Forrest. On the way he 
and his comrades defeated two hundred and 
thirty-five Confederate soldiers belonging to the 
Georgia militia, seven of whom, including a 
captain, were captured, and two of the wagons 
were burned. He was obliged to attack them or 
he would have been massacred himself; so while 
the rebels did not know his strength, he, with 
impulsive dash, attacked and defeated them. 
For his bravery in the assault he was made a 
captain and placed at the head of Company F, 
which he joined at Huntsville, Ala., April 5, 
1864. Soon afterward he was appointed aide-de- 
camp to Gen. James B. McPherson, commander 
of the army of the Tennessee, consisting of the 
fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth army corps 
and a cavalry corps. At the first battle of At- 
lanta, July 22, 1864, he, as aide-de-camp, car- 
ried an important dispatch to General Kilpat- 
rick, on the extreme left wing of the army of the 
Tennessee toward Decatur, Ga. It was there 
that he voluntarily led a cavalry charge against 
the advancing Confederate line and was twice 
shot in the limbs (both being flesh wounds). 
Though bleeding profusely, he refused to leave 
the battlefield, in spite of the fact that Generals 
McPherson and Logan requested him to do so; 
but remained in the saddle until midnight came 
and the victory was won. Later in the same bat- 
tle, seeing General McPherson's riderless horse 
come back from a thickly wooded part of the bat- 
tlefield, he gathered a small body of soldiers and 
charged into the thicket, not knowing whether 
he would meet a rebel army corps or a corporal 
guard. Encountering a company of Confederates, 
he defeated them, after a desperate hand-to-hand 
fight, and captured twelve or more men, also re- 
covered from them the body of Gen. J. B. Mc- 
Pherson, for which and for other acts he was 
mentioned favorably by Major-General Logan, 



638 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



and was promoted to the rank of major and re- 
ceived the congressional medal of honor. 

On the death of General McPherson, General 
Logan succeeded to the command, and Major 
Grebe served under him, proving of the greatest 
assistance, for General Logan had come so sud- 
denly into the command during the battle of At- 
lanta that lie did not know the disposition of the 
troops in that engagement. At the battle of 
Ezra Church, July 28, 1864, Major Grebe saved 
the life of his orderly, Sam Houston, by riding 
within three hundred yards of the rebel line, and, 
alone and unaided, taking him from under his 
horse. The act was one of great bravery, for the 
orderly lay midway of the two battle lines and 
there was a constant and terrific fire of musketry 
and grape. 

When Gen. O. O. Howard succeeded Gen. John 
A. Logan, Major Grebe served as an aide to him, 
and afterward General Howard wrote him a let- 
ter thanking him for efficient service while on 
the staff. He al.so has letters written in 1864, 
after the fall of Atlanta, and mentioning his acts 
of gallantry, from Generals W. T. Sherman, John 
A. Logan, Frank P. Blair and J. M. Schofield. 
He also has in his possession the following letter: 
Headquarters Army in the Field, 

Camp near Petersburg, September 16, 1864. 
Hon. Williard P. Hall, 
Governor of Missouri, 

St. Louis, Mo. 

Sir.— I beg leave to submit to Your Honor as 
an applicant for the office of colonel, 13th Cav. 
Mo. Vol., Capt. M. R. William Grebe, should 
the office be vacant, and at the same time to .sub- 
mit the recommendations of Generals Sherman, 
Logan, Blair and Howard. 

I am personally acquainted with the applicant 
and I pledge myself to him to give entire satis- 
faction. Very respectfully. 

Your ob't s'v't, 
(signed) U. S. Grant. 

At the battle of Jonesboro, General Howard 
asked for some one of his staff to volunteer to 
carry a dispatch across Flint River to a cavalry 
brigade. The mission was a dangerous one, for 
the messenger would be obliged to swim the 



river and cross a most dangerous part of the bat- 
tlefield, exposed to a terrific musketry fire and 
solid shot and shell. In his report General 
Howard says, that ' ' Captain Grebe volunteered 
to go where others hesitated to go." — And more, 
too, say Generals Howard and Logan both, 
' ' when he had placed the reinforcements in po- 
sition, seeing the enemy massing in front, he 
jumped from his horse and picked up the rifle of 
a fallen comrade and took a conspicuous part in 
repulsing the enemy. After the repulse of the 
rebels he jumped on top of the breastworks and 
rushed with the column upon the fleeing enemy. 
Coming into a conflict with the color btarer he 
struck him down, but at the same moment was 
struck by a rebel sword. He fell, holding the 
flag, and bore the rebel color bearer down wiih 
him, capturing the flag." The wound, though 
two and one-half inches long, was only a flesh 
wound, the sabre glancing off on the left collar 
bone. When he recovered consciousness Gen- 
eral Logan was standing at his side, while he 
was resting in the arms of his orderly, L. H. 
Waggoner, of Leavenworth, who is now presi- 
dent of the Union Labor Council. Both Gen- 
erals Logan and Howard stated in their official 
report, that it was the carrying of the message by 
Major Grebe (bringing a regiment of one thou- 
sand cavalrymen with Spencer repeating rifles) 
that saved the day for the Union troops. For 
this service he was voted the thanks of congress 
and the congressional medal of honor. This is 
the highest honor which can be conferred upon a 
soldier, and must be won in action for gallantry 
and the gallantry must be voluntarily performed 
and of such high degree as to clearly elevate the 
soldier over the acts of bravery of his comrades. 
September 30, 1864, Governor Hall of Mis- 
souri commissioned Major Grebe colonel of the 
Fourteenth Missouri Cavalry, and he reported 
for duty at St. Louis, but, the regiment not being 
ready, he was appointed aide-decamp on the 
governor's staff, with the rank of major. While 
in St. Louis he was one evening attending a 
theatre as escort to the daughter of a Missouri 
senator, when a captain in his former regiment 
insulted the lady. He at once took her home, 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



639 



returned, found the man, whom he thrashed. 
For this he was challenged to fight a duel. He 
accepted the challenge and chose sabres for 
weapons, as both were cavalry officers. The 
challenging party, knowing the major's prowess 
with the sabre, overbid and chose twenty-two 
calibre revolvers, and thirty yards distance. 
Major Grebe, recognizing the fact that the cap- 
tain was determined upon a mortal combat, then 
exercised his right and chose forty-five calibre 
revolvers, twelve yards distance, firing until one 
fell. Captain Hansen fell, shot in the left 
breast, and Major Grebe was shot through his 
uniform and waist. Hansen, after an illness of 
several months, recovered. A court martial fol- 
lowed; all principals, seconds and referee, were 
cashiered. On account of mitigating circum- 
stances (his military education and service in a 
country where dueling is permitted and his most 
distinguished service in behalf of this, to him a 
foreign country) the court that tried Major Grebe 
unanimously recommended him for executive 
clemency, so that his valuable services might be 
continued, but President Johnson refused to in- 
terfere, and thus Major Grebe's military career 
closed. It was not until recently that the former 
decision against him was reversed, and he was 
given an honorable discharge from the army. 

In 1865 Major Grebe acted as clerk for the 
Missouri constitutional convention. Afterward 
the governor of Missouri appointed him commis- 
sioner for that state, to go into the field and col- 
lect the soldiers' votes. In December, 1865, he 
settled in Kansas City, where he engaged in the 
grocery business. Shortly afterward, while on a 
hunting trip near Westport, he was waylaid by 
the James boys (nine against two) and was se- 
verely wounded by Jesse James. He had been 
captain of a posse that took a leading part in 
restoring order, and by so doing, and by his 
stanch Republicanism, he secured the animosity 
of these parties. It is supposed that the robbery 
was largely the result of the prominent part he 
took in suppressing disorder and on account of 
his being a very active Republican. For several 
years, in addition to the grocery business, he 
conducted the Grebe Union hotel. In 1887 he 



bought a farm of two hundred and forty acres in 
Leavenworth County, to which he removed and 
upon which he has since made his home. He is 
a man highly respected and with many friends 
throughout the west. In 1867 he married Mrs. 
Felicite H. (de Padrone) Shannon, widow of 
John Shannon, and a member of one of the first 
families of New Orleans. They have a son, Will- 
iam, and a daughter, Antoinette. 

The life of Major Grebe presents much that is 
of interest to the student of mankind. Educated 
for a military career by the most warlike nation 
in the world; leaving all that was dear to him 
to come to this country in its hour of need and 
peril; oifering himself, with his military knowl- 
edge, his youth and his fine physique (he was 
over six feet tall and as straight as the cedars of 
Lebanon), to help fight the battles of a land 
foreign to him; assisting through his bravery 
and impulsive gallantry to gain Union victories; 
and winning from Generals Logan, Blair and 
Sherman the testimony that ' ' this country owes 
him gratitude;" he was nevertheless for years 
handicapped by a dishonorable discharge from 
the army for an offence, the omission of which, 
in the land where he was educated, would have 
brought him into disgrace. Notwithstanding the 
realization that he had been wrongly treated, he 
remained a stanch Republican and a loyal citi- 
zen, and there are many who will echo General 
Sherman's statement, in a letter commenting 
upon Major Grebe's loyalty: "Your example 
stands to remotest time as a model of fidelity." 



(lOHN C. ALEXANDER, a trustee of Ton- 
I ganoxie Township, is one of the well-known 
(2/ men of his part of Leavenworth County. 
He arrived in Kansas September i, 1878, and 
soon afterward bought one hundred and sixty 
acres of raw prairie land. Beginning the task 
of improvement without delay, he soon placed 
the property in fine condition and made of it the 
attractive homestead it is to-day. He has made 
a specialty' of raising graded Shorthorn cattle, in 
which he has been successful, and he has also 
carried on a large dairy business, selling both 



640 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



milk and butter. While he has not as much land 
as when he first came here, that which he owns 
is under cultivation and its value is considerable. 
In the main he has been successful, but met with 
disaster in 1S95, when fire caused the entire loss 
of his farm buildings. These he has since re- 
built, so that his farm presents an appearance of 
comfort and plentj-. 

The Alexander family is of Scotch descent. 
Samuel Alexander, our subject's father, was born 
in Scotland, and, coming to America, settled in 
Michigan, where he owned one hundred and 
twenty acres of land, devoted largely to fruit 
culture. In early life a Whig, he became a Re- 
publican on the organization of the party and 
afterward adhered to its principles. Though 
reared in the Presbyterian faith, he was a Uni- 
versalist in belief. He was a student of the Bible 
and fond of general reading also. By his mar- 
riage to Frederica, daughter of John Oatt, of 
Monroe County, Mich., he had four children, 
viz.: Margaret, wife of David Kelley, of Monroe 
County; Lucinda, who married J. K. Bradford, 
and lives in McLouth, Kans.; Mary E.; and John 
C, who was born in Monroe County, Mich., in 
August, 1849. He was educated in grammar and 
high schools. For two years he clerked in a 
grocery in Toledo, Ohio, after which he followed 
the carpenter's trade, but soon returned to Michi- 
gan and resumed farm work, with which he had 
been familiar from childhood. His father died 
when he was only twelve years old and from that 
time he was self-supporting. For four years he 
engaged in general farming and for eight years 
carried on a dairy business in Toledo, Ohio. From 
there he came to his present home in Kansas. 

Politically a Republican, Mr. Alexander was 
justice of the peace for fifteen years. November 
8, 1897, he was elected township trustee, and he 
then resigned as justice of the peace in order 
to devote himself more closely to the trustee's 
office. In 1898 he was re-elected trustee and- is 
now filling his second term. Since twenty-one 
years of age he has been a Mason. At Toledo, 
Ohio, he served as senior deacon and junior war- 
den. He was a charter member of the blue lodge 
at Tonganoxie and its first senior deacon. He is 



now connected with Lyra Lodge, A. F. & A. M., 
at McLouth; also the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen, and is secretary of the Grange in the 
same village. 

December 21, 1878, Mr. Alexander married 
Ruby L. Muncil, by whom he has four children: 
Olive N., May Mary, Grace L. and Samuel H. 
Mrs. Alexander's father, Horace H. Muncil, 
was a native of Vermont, whence in early man- 
hood he removed to Michigan, and for many 
years engaged in farming and freighting. From 
Michigan he moved to Toledo and bought a farm 
near that city. In 187 1 he moved from Ohio to 
Kansas and bought a tract of one hundred and 
sixty acres in Leavenworth County, where he 
carried on farm pursuits. From early manhood 
he gave his vote to the Democratic candidates. 
During his residence in Ohio he married Harriet 
Eggleston, anativeof New York. They became 
the parents of three children, of whom Hanford 
Muncil and Mrs. Alexander are living. 



(S\ LLEN L. WILSON, of Lawrence, was born 
r 1 in Bryan, Williams County, Ohio, July 14, 
11 1869, a son of A. 8. and Frances M.(Lindsley) 
Wilson, natives respectively of New York state 
and Stryker, Ohio. His father, who for a time 
carried on a mercantile business in Michigan, en- 
listed during the Civil war in the Fourth Michi- 
gan Cavalry, and was a member of the squad that 
captured Jefferson Davis. When the war was 
over he settled in Ohio and opened a mercantile 
store in Williams County. At this writing he is 
a merchant in Toledo, where he has been active 
in business affairs and also in the Grand Army. 
He and his wife have only two children, a son 
and daughter. 

After graduating from the high school in Stry- 
ker, Ohio, our subject went to Poughkeepsie, 
N. Y., where he took a course in Eastman's 
Business College. While in school he became 
familiar with the painter's trade through work- 
ing with a cousin who was a painter. On his re- 
turn from Poughkeepsie he assisted his father 
for a year and then visited the Pacific coast, re- 
turning east as far as Denver, where he engaged 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



641 



as salesman with F. W. Fuller. A year later he 
went to Greeley, Colo., where he carried on busi- 
ness as a contracting painter for a year. His 
next location was in Kansas City, where he se- 
cured employment with the Missouri Pacific 
Railway Company as baggageman between Kan- 
sas City and Omaha. 

In January, 1896, Mr. Wilson came to Law- 
rence, where he worked at the painter's trade 
with A. H. Krause. In the spring of 1898 he 
bought out his employer and has since continued 
as a contracting painter and decorator. His 
trade is the best of the line in the city. Through 
his efficiency as a business man and his courtesj^ 
and honorable dealings with all he has attained 
a leading place among the decorators and painters 
of Lawrence, and has met with financial success. 
His office and shop are at No. 701 Vermont 
street. Fraternally he is connected with the Ma- 
sons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and 
the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen. During 
his residence in Kansas City he was married 
there to Miss Ida M. Fenney, who was born in 
Leavenworth County, Kans. , and is a lady of 
many estimable qualities. 



GJLEXANDER KIRK. Coming to Leaven- 
Ll worth in the spring of 1864, at the expira- 
/ I tion of his term of service in the Civil war, 
Mr. Kirk has since been identified with the busi- 
ness interests of this city. For a time he was in 
the employ of Henry & Garrett, and later held a 
clerkship with their successors, Rohlfing & Co., 
with whom he remained until 1868. In the 
spring of 1866 he crossed the plains to Helena, 
Mont., with a stock of goods, which he sold 
there, afterward making the return journey by 
skiff from Fort Benton, a distance of twentj'- 
seven hundred miles. On account of the hostility 
of the Indians the trip was a dangerous one, and 
more than once he was fired upon by the sav- 
ages, but fortunately escaped unhurt. He 
started in business for himself in 1868 and 
after five years in one building moved across 
the street to his present location, Nos. 428-430 
Cherokee street. In his store he carries a full 



line of staple and fancy groceries, making a spec- 
ialty of the latter, in which he has built up a very 
large trade. 

Mr. Kirk was born in County Down, Ireland, 
February 28, 1839, the j'oungest child of David 
and Jane (Henr}^ Kirk, natives of Ireland. He 
was a namesake of his uncle, Alexander Kirk, 
who came to America in 1848, settling in Penn- 
S3'lvania, and who, with his two sons, enlisted in 
the One Hundred and Fifth Pennsylvania Infan- 
try at the opening of the Civil war; one of the 
sons, Capt. Robert Kirk, was killed in the battle 
of Chancellorsville, the father and the other son, 
David, returning home at the close of the war, 
and in 1874 removing to Douglas County, Kans., 
where the father died. Our subject's mother was 
a daughter of Alexander Henry, a farmer, who 
brought his family to America in 1849, settling 
near Princeton, Caldwell County, Ky., where he 
engaged in farming; he and his wife died when 
about eight}' years of age. Their daughter, Mrs. 
Kirk, was sixty at the time of her death, having 
long survived her husband, who died in Ireland 
in early manhood. Of her five children all but 
one attained mature j'ears. Jennie and David 
died in Kentucky, where the younger daughter, 
Nancy, now makes her home. 

When our subject accompanied his mother to 
America he was ten years of age. The trip on 
the sailing vessel from Belfast to New York City 
took forty-seven days. The family settled in 
Kentucky, where he grew to manhood on a farm 
with very limited opportunities for an education, 
as his time was spent principally in the corn field 
and the tobacco patch. In August, 1862, he en- 
listed in Company F, Fifteenth Kentucky Cav- 
alry, and was mustered into service as sergeant. 
His service was principally in Tennessee and 
Kentucky, where he fought guerillas and bush- 
whackers. He was mustered out in December, 
1863, and honorably discharged. In the spring 
of r864 he came to Kansas. Shortly afterward 
he became a member of Company A, Seventh 
Kansas Militia, and served during the Price raid. 
He has always been a Republican in national pol- 
itics, but in local matters has been independent, 
voting for the best man for the office in question. 



642 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Interested in the Grand Army, he holds member- 
ship in Custer Post No. 6. He is identified with 
the First Presbyterian Church and is one of its 
elders and an earnest worker in its behalf. Prior 
to his removal from Kentucky he was married 
there to Miss Elizabeth J. Maxwell, member of 
an old family of that state. They became the 
parents of the following children: Nannie B.; 
Albert L., who is connected with his father in 
business; Urey, who died in childhood; Walter A.; 
and Earl, who died in boyhood. 



0ANIEL F. HEASTON. Since accepting 
the position of superintendent of the Doug- 
las County Infirmarj' Mr. Heaston has 
given his entire attention to the duties of his of- 
fice, and has displayed such sagacity and good 
judgment in his management of affairs that he 
has won the approval of all. Under his able 
supervision the property is maintained in first- 
class condition, and the land plainly shows the 
oversight of a capable, industrious and energetic 
man. In fact his service has been so .satisfactory 
that, since coming here in March, 1899, he has 
been requested by the commi.ssioners to sign a 
contract for five years as superintendent. 

In Harrison County, Ohio, Mr. Heaston was 
born July i, 1842, a, son of Jo.seph and Catherine 
(Fierbaugh) Heaston, of whose seven children 
he is the sole survivor. His father, a native of 
Westmoreland, Pa., born March 14, 1809, was a 
boy of nine years when his parents removed to 
Harrison County, Ohio, where he grew to man- 
hood, married and settled upon a farm. He con- 
tinued to reside upon the farm where he first set- 
tled until the time of his death, in October, 1864. 
Twice married, by his first wife, who was Mary 
Norks, he had two sons, Joseph and John. John, 
who volunteered his services at the opening of 
the Civil war, and was a member of the One 
Hundred and Twenty-sixth Ohio Regiment, died 
at Harper's Ferry of typhoid fever. Joseph en- 
listed May 8, 1864, in Company B, One Hundred 
and Seventieth Ohio Infantry. The second mar- 
riage of Joseph Heaston united him with Cathe- 
rine Fierbaugh, who was born October 12, 1820, 



a daughter of John and Elizabeth Fierbaugh, 
natives of Germany. The parents of Mr. Heaston, 
John and Mary Heaston, were of Pennsylvania- 
Dutch stock. 

During the spring of 1862 our subject enlisted 
in Company H, One Hundred and Twenty-sixth 
Ohio Infantry, but, being under age, his parents 
refused their consent to his enlistment and 
brought him back home. However, in the fall 
he joined the state militia, and May 8, 1864, he, 
with other members of the state guard, entered 
the government service, he becoming a member 
of Company B, One Hundred and Seventieth 
Ohio Infantry. He was detailed with his com- 
pany to guard duty at Fort Simmons. On the 
4th of July he was ordered to Maryland Heights, 
overlooking Harper's Ferry, where for two 
weeks he and his regiment were surrounded by 
Hood's forces. Finally Hood withdrew his men 
and started to make a raid through Pennsylvania, 
but failed. While the federal soldiers were pur- 
suing Hood Mr. Heaston was stricken with ty- 
phoid fever, and was sent to Sandy Hook hos- 
pital, but later was transferred to Frederick City, 
thence to Baltimore and finally to Wheeling, 
W.Va., and from there sent home on a furlough. 
After a short time he joined his regiment at 
Camp Denison, Ohio, but the physician found 
him still .so ill as to be unfit for duty and ordered 
him home immediatel)-, stating that if he wished 
to .see home at all it would be nece.ssary to go at 
once. His discharge was sent to him at the time 
his comrades were discharged. 

After some time Mr. Heaston regained his 
health and was able to resume farming. Sep- 
tember 12, 1867, he married Miss Elizabeth 
Allbaugh, and in the spring of the following year 
they started for Kansas, arriving in Lawrence on 
the 14th of April, and going from there to Willow 
Springs Township, where B. F. Hammill, his 
brother-in-law, resided. There he visited for a 
few days, but the next week bought a farm and 
settled down to agricultural pursuits in Douglas 
County. In August, 1869, he returned to Ohio 
and resided in Harrison County until 1876. 
Losing his wife at this time and his brother-in- 
law dying in Kansas, he returned to the west. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



643 



settled up the estate, and has since made Doug- 
las County his home. By his first marriage he 
had four children, three of whom are living, viz.: 
Elmer E., a machinist residing at Wilson, Kans. ; 
Melissa, wife of Isaac A. Fierbaugh, of Oklaho- 
ma; and Sarah C, who lives in Falls City, Neb. 

October 11, 1877, Mr. Heaston married Miss 
Maria C. Allbaugh, who died January 9, 1884. 
Of the two children born of this union one is liv- 
ing, Edmund S. , who is with his father. In 1885 
our subject was united with Mrs. Susan (Berry) 
Heaston, by whom he had three children, but 
only one is living, Mabel I. 

Mr. Heaston still owns the farm where he re- 
sided until he accepted the position of superin- 
tendent of the Douglas County poor farm. He 
is identified with Washington Post No. 12, 
G. A. R. In religion he is an active worker in 
the United Brethren Church and has filled the 
various ofiices in the congregation. At the time 
of the erection of the first house of worship of 
this denomination in Willow Springs Township 
he was a member of the building committee. 
For thirteen years he served as supervisor of 
Willow Springs Township and for seven years 
he filled with efiiciency the oflSce of township 
clerk. 



gENJAMIN F. TRACKWELL is a member 
of a prominent family of Leavenworth Coun- 
ty and has, by his own energetic efforts, 
gained for himself a position among the success- 
ful farmers and stock-raisers of Alexandria 
Township. He owns the old family homestead, 
having purchased the interests of the other heirs, 
and here he was, until recently, engaged in rais- 
ing high-grade draft and driving horses, but he 
now gives his attention principally to Shorthorn 
and Durham cattle. The land is adapted for 
stock-raising purposes, being both upland and 
bottom land, while running water adds to the 
value of the place. 

The first of the Trackwell family in America 
emigrated from England to Georgia. Our sub- 
ject's grandfather, Joshua Trackwell, who served 
in the war of 1812, was a farmer in West Vir- 
ginia. His son, William Trackwell, was born in 



Monroe County, W. Va., in 1801, and in 1825 be- 
came a pioneer of Indiana, settling in Shelby 
County, and giving his attention to the clearing 
of his tract of three hundred and twenty acres. 
After having lived there for many years, in 1857 
he sold out and removed to Kansas, which state 
he had visited the previous year. He bought 
two hundred and forty acres in Alexandria Town- 
ship and three hundred and twenty acres in 
Franklin County. Upon the former land he made 
his home until he was accidentally killed, in 
i860, by the explosion of a boiler in a mill. He 
was a man who possessed, under all circum- 
stances, the courage of his convictions and stood 
firmly for any principles which he believed to be 
right. In politics he voted with the Democrats. 
Twice married, by his first wife, a Miss McDufiie 
of Shelby County, Ind., he had five children, 
namely: Venila, deceased; Rhoda, who lives in 
Ottawa, Kans.; Joshua, deceased; Eavinia; and 
Buel, of Tonganoxie, Kans. His second wife 
bore the maiden name of Margaret Randel, and 
they had six children, viz.: Mary E., Mrs. 
Couch, who lives in Washington state; Miranda, 
deceased; LeRoy, whose sketch appears on an- 
other page; Benjamin F. , of this sketch; James, 
who is in California; and Alice, wife of James 
Warren, of Butte, Mont. 

In Shelby County, Ind , the subject of this 
article was born May 6, 1847. His education 
was mostly self-acquired. In 1864 he entered the 
employ of the government in the quartermaster's 
department, and in 1868-69 h^ was with General 
Custer and General Sheridan in the Indian cam- 
paign, taking part in one very severe engage- 
ment with the Indians, who attempted to capture 
the train. In 1871 he left the government serv- 
ice and went to Nevada and California. In the 
former place he was for six years engaged in 
working in a gold reduction mill. Next he pros- 
pected for gold in Oregon and Washington, and 
also spent one year in farming in the latter state. 
From there he came to Colorado. In 1879 he 
engaged in teaming and contracting in Leadville. 
Three years later he located claims for an eastern 
company, selecting seventeen lode claims and 
three hundred acres of placer land near Twin 



644 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Lakes, in Lake County. For two years or more 
he remained with the company as superintend- 
ent. Finally he bought the old homestead from 
the other heirs and has since engaged in the stock 
business and in farming. 

In politics Mr. Trackwell is a Republican in 
national elections, but in local matters he votes 
for the best man. Fraternally he is a member of 
Henry Lodge 190, A. F. &. A. M., and in former 
years was connected with the Patriotic Order 
Sons of America. He is not a member of any de- 
nomination, but attends the Methodist Church. 
His marriage, September 17, 1888, united him 
with Cora Kinkaid, of Leavenworth County, a 
daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Rice) Kin- 
kaid. Three children were born of their union, 
namely: Miranda, deceased; Randel L. and Em- 
ery Mason. 

(TOHN A. HENDERSON is one of the well- 
I known business men of Lawrence. He came 
Q) to this city September i, 1894, and engaged 
in the maimfacture of paint on contract for the 
Consolidated Barb Wire Company for this and 
their Joliet plants, manufacturing at both places 
and dividing his time between the two. In the 
spring of 1899 '^^ started in the manufacture of 
house paints of all kinds, and has since carried 
on a retail and wholesale business, manufactur- 
ing the finest paints on the market and selling 
at prices that attract buyers. At his shop. No. 
619 Massachusetts street, he manufactures Hen- 
derson's paints mixed ready for use. 

Mr. Henderson was born in Kearney, Clay 
County, Mo., May 11, 1863, a son of J. B. and 
Eliza (Pence) Henderson, natives respectively of 
Kentucky and Mi.ssouri. His father accompa- 
nied his i)arents to Clay County, Mo., at an early 
age and there he engaged in farming for many 
years, finally retiring from all business cares. He 
died in Kearney January 21, 1898, at the age of 
sixty years. During the Civil war he was a 
member of a Missouri regiment of militia. His 
wife was a daughter of Adam Pence, who re- 
moved from Kentucky to Clay County, Mo., and 
became one of the most extensive farmers of his 
section. One of his sons took part in the Mexi- 



can war and also served as a captain in the Civil 
war. Mrs. Eliza Henderson died July 21, 1874. 
Her three sons and one daughter are still living, 
John being next to the youngest of these. He 
was reared on the home farm until fourteen j^ears 
of age, when he went to Kansas City and secured 
employment there. In 1881 he entered the em- 
plo3- of the Kansas City Varnish Company and 
learned the trade of varnish-making. He con- 
tinued with the company until they retired from 
business, after which he became connected with 
the Continental Varnish Company as a varnish- 
maker, having charge of one of their depart- 
ments. He became thoroughly familiar with the 
business, having learned it under D. G. Howey, 
who had about fifty years of experience as a var- 
nish-maker. During the time he was with the 
Continental he had charge of their paint manu- 
facturing department and manufactured paint for 
wire manufacturing. From Kansas City he came 
to Lawrence, where he has since built up a pros- 
perous business of his own. 

Politically Mr. Henderson is a Democrat. An 
active worker in the Christian Church, he has of- 
ficiated as a deacon and a member of the board of 
trustees, contributing both of his time and means 
to assist in the maintenance of the church. Era- » 
ternally he is connected with the Modern Wood- 
men, Royal Neighbors and Acacia Lodge No. 9, 
A. F. & A. M. During his residence in Kansas 
City he married there. He and his wife have a 
daughter, Ruth. 

GlUGUST BERGER. Through his connec- 
Ll tion with its agricultural interests Mr. Ber- 
/ I ger is well known in Stranger Township, 
Leavenworth County, where for years he was 
actively engaged in general farming, and where 
he still lives. For a few jears he has not per- 
sonally engaged in the tilling of the soil, but has 
relegated the cultivation of the farm to others, 
while he maintains its supervision. He is an 
industrious and honorable man and a good type 
of our German- American citizens. Having spent 
much of his life in Germanj', he is more familiar 
with its language and more fluent in its use than 
in the English language. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



645 



In Hanover, Germany, where he was born 
February 5, 1831, Mr. Berger spent his younger 
years. He is a brother of Henry Berger, repre- 
sented on another page of this volume. Learn- 
ing the carpenter's trade in youtli, he followed it 
for years in his native land. At the age of thir- 
ty-five he crossed the ocean in a sailing vessel, 
"Leona," landing in New York after a voyage of 
five weeks. Thence he came direct to Kansas, 
arriving here in the fall of 1866. Shortly after- 
ward he bought the land where he now resides. 
His first purchase consisted of forty acres of raw 
land, on which he built a house and cut the tim- 
ber. From the first he met with success. By 
subsequent purchase he now owns two hundred 
acres. In farming he makes a specialty of rais- 
ing potatoes, which he sells at a fair profit. He 
has also raised cattle and hogs for some years. A 
hard-working, persevering man, he deserves suc- 
cess in his enterprises. 

Since coming to this country and becoming a 
naturalized citizen, Mr. Berger has been allied 
with the Democratic party. In religion he is of 
the Lutheran belief. When twenty-eight years 
of age he married Carolina Schmidt, who was born 
in Germany and died in Kansas in May, 1894. 
Of their five children only two are living. Minna 
is the wife of John Ayres, who is engaged in 
farming on the home place. Anna married Jo- 
seph Eble, also a farmer of this neighborhood. 



r~RANCIS C. HERR, M. D., of Ottawa, is 
1^ descended from ancestors who were promi- 
I ' nent in the professional circles of Pennsyl- 
vania during the early days of its settlement. 
The Herr family was very prominent in the 
Swabish precinct in Germany and had its coat- 
of-arms and other insignia of rank. During 
the latter part of the seventeenth century some 
of the name came to the United States and set- 
tled at Lampeter, Lancaster County, Pa., where 
they wielded a large influence in business and 
church affairs. Francis Herr, who was born in 
Lancaster County, married a relative of Capt. 
Jeff Neff, of Civil war fame, and their son, Amos 
F. , was for years a prosperous farmer, actively 



engaged in agricultural pursuits, but he is now 
living retired, at his beautiful country place in 
Lancaster County. In religion he is of the Men- 
nonite faith. Notwithstanding his eighty-two 
useful years, he has full possession of his facul- 
ties and retains his interest in the world of 
thought and progress. He married Anna, the 
daughter of Christian Frantz, who was a farmer 
at Eden, Lancaster Count}', and descended from 
an old German family. She is still living and is 
now seventy-two years of age. 

The ten sons and daughters comprising the 
parental family are as follows: Ida E., who re- 
sides in York, Pa. ; Francis C. ; Homer A. , a me- 
chanical engineer living in Philadelphia; Horace 
N. , who died at thirteen years; Mary C. and Anna 
A., who are living in Lancaster County; Edith, 
of Waynesboro, Pa.; Lottia, who is with her 
parents; Harry, a civil engineer in Lancaster; 
and Willis N., a commercial traveler, living in 
Strasburg, Lancaster County. The only mem- 
ber of the family not in Pennsylvania is Dr. 
Herr, the subject of this sketch. He was born 
in Lancaster Countj', Pa., December i, 1852, 
and received his primary education in a private 
school maintained by Herr Brothers. After 
spending a year in Lehigh University, in 1875 
he became a student in the Jefferson Medical Col- 
lege, Philadelphia, where he took the full 
course, graduating in 1879, with the degree of 
M. D. After his graduation he spent a year as 
interne in the Southwestern hospital of Philadel- 
phia, and then engaged in practice. In 1884 he 
came west and opened an ofBce in Ottawa, where 
he has since successfully carried on a general 
practice. In June, 1897, ^^ was appointed a 
member of the United States board of pension ex- 
aminers, and he is now secretary of the board 
and has his headquarters in the office of the pen- 
sion examiner. At one time he held the ofiice 
of city physician. On the Republican ticket, in 
1888, he was elected county coroner, and this of- 
fice he held for one term, after which he declined 
renomination. His affiliations have always been 
with the Republican party, whose principles he 
upholds b}' his ballot. He is identified with the 
Kansas State Medical Society and takes an inter- 



646 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



est in every movement connected with his pro- 
fession. In religion he is connected with the 
Episcopal Church and officiates as a vestryman of 
his congregation. He has held office as examin- 
ing physician both for the Modern Woodmen and 
the Woodmen of the World. 

In Harrisburg, Pa., Dr. Herr married Eliza- 
beth, daughter of Jacob Seiler, ex-sheriff of 
Dauphin County, and a sister of Prof. Jacob 
Seiler, for years principal of Harrisburg Academy . 
She was born in Harrisburg and received an ex- 
cellent education in a private school in that city. 
The only child of Dr. and Mrs. Herr, Parvin S., 
died of smallpox in 1895, when eleven years old. 



(lOHN FRITZEL, who is proprietor of the 
I Jersey dairy in Wakarusa Township, Doug- 
O las County, has built up a good business in 
Lawrence and runs three wagons in this city. 
He is the owner of eightj'-five acres on section i, 
most of which is used for pasturage, and he also 
controls one hundred and sixty acres of rented 
land. His herd of cattle consists of about one hun- 
dred and twenty-five head, all of the best grades, 
and the milk which he sells has no superior in 
the market. Besides his cattle he owns about 
fifty head of hogs. Five wells and one cistern 
furnish an abundance of water for familj' use and 
for the stock. Besides his dairy business he de- 
votes some attention to raising fruit and has an 
orchard with both large and small fruits and also 
a vineyard with different varieties of grapes. 

Born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, April 10, 
1858, our subject is a son of George and Mary 
(Weissensee) Fritzel, being the second of five 
children and the only one now in America. His 
father served in the war with France, 1 870-1 871. 
He was a man of weight in his community. For 
fifteen years he held office as postmaster, in 
addition to which he was a large farmer, liverj'- 
man and dairyman. When twenty-one years of 
age our subject came via steamer to America, 
landing in New York, thence proceeding to 
Kansas, where he secured employment on a 
farm, remaining from August to March. He 
then rented a farm owned by Mr. Anthony, which 



he cultivated for two years. He then sold his 
stock and implements and began to work for the 
seed firm of Barteldis & Co., with whom he re- 
mained for six and one-half years. The work, 
however, proved too confining for him and he 
was advised to seek other occupation. Not 
knowing what to turn his hand to, he took a 
position in the street department of the city and 
spent some months at that work. Meantime he 
had bought a house and lot and a few cows, so, 
upon leaving the city employ he purchased 
other cows and started in the dairy business. As 
his trade increased the need of more room caused 
him to trade his house and lot for part payment 
on his present place, consisting then of ten acres 
of land destitute of improvements. Here he 
began with a house of only two rooms, but to 
this he afterward added, and now has a comfort- 
able home. From time to time he has put up 
needed buildings, and now has three large barns. 
Besides his sixty-five milch cows he has many 
young cows and calves, and his business is on a 
prosperous basis. 

Fraternally Mr. Fritzel is connected with the 
Sons of Herman, Turner Society, Ancient Order 
of United Workmen and Acacia Lodge No. 9, 
A. F. & A. M. In religion he is a Lutheran, 
and in politics independent. August 31, 1879, 
he married Miss Maggie Snyder, who was born 
in Germany, but at the time of their marriage 
was living in Eudora. They have seven children: 
John, Charles, Marj\ Minnie, Josephine, Henrj' 
and Arthur. 



3AC0B WINKELMAN is one of the reliable 
farmers of Leavenworth County, and for 
some years has owned and successfully 
operated a tract of land in Sherman Township. 
When he began for himself he was entirely with- 
out means, but he was energetic and determined, 
and worked out bj' the day, carefullj- hoarding 
his wages until he had sufficient to invest. He 
is the owner of sixty-two acres of farm land, and 
has three blocks of city property that was origin- 
ally a part of the estate, but has now been laid 
off in town lots in Linwood. 

In Union County, Pa., in 1843, our subject 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



647 



was born, a son of Frederick and Barbara (Gar- 
man) Winkelman. His father, who was born, 
reared and married in Union County, removed in 
1845 to Indiana and settled in Miami County, 
where he made his home for five years. From 
there he removed to northern Missouri. During 
the early days of the settlement of Kansas he 
came to this state, locating in Cherokee County 
in 1S59 and continuing there for four years. In 
1863 he settled in Johnson County, this state, 
and for several years engaged in farm pursuits 
there. When seventy years of age he came to 
Leavenworth County, and two years later died in 
Lenape. Throughout his entire active life he 
engaged in farming. His wife died in Johnson 
County when seventy years of age. They were 
the parents of five children, namely: Catherine, 
wife of James Smith, of Davis County, Mo. ; John, 
of Oklahoma; Caroline, who married Wilmer 
Morse; William, a farmer in Reno, Leavenworth 
County; and Jacob. 

Accompanying his parents in their various re- 
movals, our subject came with them to Kansas 
in 1859 and afterward continued with them until 
his mother died and his father went to Lenape. 
He then bought a farm adjoining Linwood, and 
here he has since devoted his attention to farm 
work. Being an industrious man, he is meeting 
with success in the cultivation of his place. He 
is a member of the Fraternal Aid Association. 
In 1870 he married Eliza Woolley, and they have 
five children now living. 



I EONARD T. SMITH. Few men who have 
It lived in Leavenworth have won the uu- 
IZJ qualified esteem and warm friend.ship of 
their fellow-citizens to so great a degree as did 
Mr. Smith. Coupled with acknowledged ability 
as a business man were traits of character that 
endeared him to all. He was genial and com- 
panionable, a frank and honorable man, whose 
memory will long be cherished in the cit}' to 
whose welfare he was so deeply devoted and 
whose progress he constantly promoted. From 
the time that he came to Leavenworth until his 
death he was a leader in movements for the pub- 



lic good. To his public spirit and indomitable 
energy is the city indebted for its splendid water 
works, the Soldiers' Home, the Union depot, and 
the creditable structures erected by the Atchison, 
Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company. He 
was the leading spirit in the following enter- 
prises: Missouri River; Leavenworth, Atchison & 
Northwestern; Kansas Central and Leavenworth 
Northern and Southern Railroad Companies 
(now a part of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 
system), the Leavenworth City & Fort Leaven- 
worth Water Company, and the erection of the 
first bridge across the Missouri at Leavenworth. 

A resident of Leavenworth from 1857, Mr. 
Smith was born in Bethany, Genesee County, 
N.Y. , December 2, 1827. His father, Thomas G., 
a member of an old family of New England, was 
born in Connecticut, January 7, 1789, was 
orphaned at an early age, removed to New York 
and settled on a farm near Bethany, where he 
died December 30, 1867, at seventy-nine years of 
age. He married Anna Burroughs, who was 
born at Skaneateles, N. Y. , and died November 
10, 1868, at the age of seventy-three. She wasa 
daughter of Daniel Burroughs, who started the 
first woolen mills in Skaneateles and was high in 
the Masonic fraternity. He died when almost 
ninety years old, and his wife was ninety-four 
at the time of her death. 

After having completed his education in the 
public schools of Genesee County the subject of 
this sketch turned his attention to business pur- 
suits. In 1852 he removed to Kalamazoo, Mich., 
and there engaged in the hotel business for five 
years, coming thence to Leavenworth in 1857. 
For three months after the opening of the Plant- 
er's Hotel he conducted it for the owners, after 
which he purchased the property and conducted 
it successfully for seven years. Afterward, with 
Alexander Caldwell, he engaged in government 
contracting and freighting across the plains. He 
was active in the building of railroads, and 
assisted in building what is now the Missouri Pa- 
cific from Kansas City to Leavenworth and from 
this point to Atchison. He was also active in 
the building of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa 
Fe from Leavenworth to Holliday. In 1880, 



648 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



upon the inauguration of the system of water 
works, he became the head of the enterprise, and 
continued its proprietor and president of thecom- 
panj' until his death. In national politics he ad- 
hered to the Democratic party. In response to the 
urgent solicitation of his many political friends he 
accepted the nomination and was elected a mem- 
ber of the first legislative assembl3- held under 
the .state constitutions, but for himself he never 
sought office, and his only participation in poli- 
tics was in the interests of friends who were can- 
didates for office. In 1867 he purchased the 
property where he afterward made his home and 
where, surrounded by his relatives and friends, 
many of his happiest hours were spent. 

In Bethany, N. Y. , November 3, 1853, Mr. 
Smith married Miss Helen L. Kendall, who was 
born in that village. Her father, Charles Ken- 
dall, a son of Peter Kendall, of Revolutionarj' con- 
nection, was born in Thetford, Vt., in 1799, and 
engaged in farming at Bethany, where he died at 
sixty-three years. He was a believer in the doc- 
trines of the Presbyterian Church and reared his 
children in that faith. His wife, Nancy Dodgson 
Kendall, was born in Gloversville, N. Y. 

Mr. Smith died suddenly of heart failure at the 
Iturbide hotel in the City of Mexico, April 15, 
1 89 1. But a few days before a party of friends 
had joined him, in a contemplated tour of the re- 
public, but the trip was thus suddenly and sadly 
ended. His remains were conveyed to his former 
home and placed in the family vault at Mount 
Muncie. The following editorial, which appeared 
in the Kansas City Journal at the time of his 
death, shows the esteem in which he was held 
among the people of this section of country. 
" Len Smith is dead. Nobody ever knew him as 
a 'Colonel' or an 'Honorable' or anything 
else than ' Len,' and that fact tells the whole 
story. He was one of the most genial, congen- 
ial, companionable, frank, manly men we ever 
knew. He was an active man in all departments 
of life, but not ofiFensivelj- so in anything. He 
was often active in politics, but always for some 
friend, never for himself. He had a business fac- 
ulty for large affairs, but in everything he under- 
took advantage to his locality and his neighbors 



went hand in hand with benefit to himself. He 
was open-hearted, open-handed, open-minded, 
one of the salt of the earth to one who knows 
what that sort of salt means. He died away from 
his home in a strange country, while engaged in 
what to him was second-nature work, having 
others participate in enjoyments and pleasures 
with himself. He could not enjoy anything 
alone. He was successful in two things in this 
life: making himself comfortable in the enjoy- 
ment of the good things of living, and in 
making all who knew him his friends. After 
all, did not Len Smith live more wisely and 
to better purpose than if he had been ambiti- 
ous, for with all his qualities of head and heart 
he would have succeeded in any pursuit in life he 
had chosen. With his life work behind him, he 
cannot but sleep well and wake to continue his 
genial work ' over there.' " 



0R. WM. LEONARD BIRNEY (or Burney), 
of Rantoul, Franklin County, is the eldest 
of four children, sons and daughters of 
Alexander A. Burney (or Birney) and Eliza- 
beth Wakelyn Hall, his first wife. The father 
was born near Huntsville, Alabama, Februarj* 
3, 18 1 9. The family came to America in an 
early day from the north of Ireland, but is of 
Scottish origin. The mother was born in Ken- 
tucky July 18, 1819, the only child by his .second 
wife (Elizabeth Wakelyn), of Mahlon Hall, of 
that state. Her family is of English and Welsh 
extraction. 

In the year 1835 the parents of the subject of 
this sketch, then in their youth, found them- 
selves, with their parents, in LaFayette County, 
Mo., where they were married in 1837. Of this 
union Dr. Birney was born January 19, 1839. 
At five years of age his parents began his educa- 
tion. There were no public schools in Missouri 
then, but there were private schools and compe- 
tent teachers, and to these they kept him in 
pretty steady attendance. He does not remem- 
ber to have ever attended a free school in his life. 
When he was seven j'ears old he was enrolled in 
the primary department of the Plea.sant Hill 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



649 



Academy, where he attended until the death of 
his mother, which occurred February 18, 1848. 
He was then sent to a select school in Harrison- 
ville for one year. His education was now con- 
tinued in private schools until the years 1856 and 
1857, when he attended the Harrisonville High 
School. 

In the spring of 1855, having an opportunity 
to ' ' cross the plains " in an easy position and at 
good wages, he availed himself of it, with the 
consent of his father, and visited Fort Union, Las 
Vegas, Santa Fe, etc. On this trip the caravan 
had some thrilling adventures with the wild 
Indians, but no blood was shed. About this 
time, like every third youth of that day , he had 
a desire to be a lawyer; and the winter of 
1857-58 he spent in the law office of the late Wm. 
McNeil Clough, at Parkville, with the view of 
getting some notion of the study of the law and 
of the law business. He was favorably im- 
pressed, and determined to prepare himself for 
law school. To this end he purchased a set of 
text books and continued the study of law, 
meantime teaching school during the winters. 

The political excitement which had for several 
years run so high at length brought about a 
rupture between himself and one of the School 
Board, which, at the close of his second term, 
terminated his connection, as teacher, with the 
district. Young Birney having been brought 
up a Free Soiler, was opposed to the introduction 
of slavery into Kansas, and could not refrain 
from expressing his sentiments upon the ques- 
tions then agitating the countrj^, and was of 
course at once classed by the dominant political 
party as a "negro-worshiping, abolition enemy 
of our institutions, ' ' etc. On more than one oc- 
casion did he narrowly escape with his life dur- 
ing these hot discussions. At one time a so- 
called " Northern Methodist" preacher was for- 
bidden by secessionists to preach in a church 
which was the joint propertj' of other denomina- 
tions, and threatened with violence. They (the 
secessionists) had the key to the church and re- 
fused to admit him. Disgusted and indignant at 
this effort to thwart free speech even in the pul- 
pit, Birney, with one or two friends, waited on 



the debarred minister and bade him be of good 
cheer, telling him that a pulpit and a small audi- 
ence awaited him. They had placed the pulpit 
and seats at the "Camp-ground," near by, in 
order, and with a few friends of free speech were 
resolved to hear the minister preach if he so de- 
sired. He accepted the offer, and delivered a 
most temperate, though pointed and scholarly, 
discourse, considering the circumstances. This 
preacher was soon afterwards seized by a mob, 
and after suffering much personal violence was 
ordered, on pain of death, to leave the country; 
and Birney was told that but for his youth and 
standing in the community the "Committee" 
would have treated him " to the same dose." 

In the fall of 1859, in quest of quiet in which 
to pursue his studies, he entered the law office of 
a relative in Otterville, Mo., where he remained 
until the close of the political campaign of i860. 
He would have supported Lincoln if he dared; 
but did next best, supporting Bell, and taking 
editorial charge of the paper devoted to that 
interest. After the election, the vigor of his edi- 
torials having attracted the attention of the own- 
ers of the Warsaw Democrat, he was asked to 
take charge of that paper. After some negotia- 
tions the office was offered to him for sale, and a 
most unlucky bargain for him was made; and in 
December, i860, he took charge of the paper. 
The Southern States were then in rapid succes- 
sion seceding from the Union, and the excitement 
was very great. 

Dr. Birney had been brought up a Democrat 
of the school of Jefferson, Jackson and Benton, 
and had early adopted the latter as his political 
preceptor. Hence the idea of a dissolution of the 
Union was to him the most horrible of political 
heresies, and secession a crime no less than trea- 
son. His editorials were in strict accord with 
this belief, and in the innocence of unsophisti- 
cated youth he published them as fearlessly in 
the land of the " slickers" as he would if he had 
been in the heart of Kansas. It was not long, 
however, before there began to fall upon him a 
storm of indignation, together with a shower of 
threatening letters from every part of that wild 
valley of the Osage. The feeling against him 



650 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



was much greater than he knew. One day Col- 
onel M. L. Means called him into his office and 
said: " Birnej-, I am a friend of yours, and I 
don't want to see you killed. You seem to have 
no idea of the danger you are in here. These 
fellows will kill you as certain as you are stand- 
ing there, if you continue to write and ]>ublish 
such sentiments as yours. I will admit that you 
are right — in fact I know you are right — but 
what does that signify? I tell you, sir, this 

country is going to ju.st as fast as time can 

carry it, and if you don't stop your cant about 
the Union you will find yourself some fine morn- 
ing hanging to a limb, dead! Mark what I tell 
you. I felt it to be ray duty, and I warn you as 
I would a son." This was not wholly a revela- 
tion to the young Unionist, but it was so in part. 
He had not suspected that he stood in peril of his 
life. He said to Colonel Means: "You agree 
that I am right. If I am right I will take the 
consequences." These were not long delayed. 
A party of secessionists "waited on him " one 
evening and told him they had resolved that he 
should either turn over the paper to its former 
owners and " go North," or advocate secession. 
He declined to assent to either proposition. 
They then ordered the printers to set no more 
type in the office until further orders. The next 
morning he found the office in the hands of a 
lawless mob, styling itself "The Committee." 
The printers were at work at the cases, and said 
the paper had " flopped." Of course he took in 
the situation at a glance. As he returned to his 
hotel the most unfriendly expressions were made 
in his hearing. That evening in a room below 
him he plainly heard men, among whom were 
several county officers, discussing the question 
of hanging him. The sheriff said he would will- 
ingly tie the rope. But they were not all of one 
mind. Tom Murray, chief clerk of the house of 
representatives, was in the crowd, and strenuous- 
ly opposed mole.sting him in any way whatever. 
He urged that Birney had done nothing worse 
than to exerci.se the right of every freeman to ex- 
press his own sentiments; though he admitted 
the propriety of stopping his utterances in the 
paper. He said it would be a shame and dis- 



grace to murder a mere boy for so .small an of- 
fen.se, though it might not be improper to keep 
watch over him, and he volunteered to do the 
watching himself. "Give him a chance," he 
said, "to collect his accounts and settle up his 
business." With a heart full of gratitude 
toward that splendid young fellow did the imper- 
iled object of the fireeater's wrath note that Mur- 
ray's counsel prevailed. Thus was his business 
taken from him; and though he was permitted to 
live, and nominally permitted to collect what 
was due him, upon his first effiart to do so, it was 
pretended that he was attempting to collect what 
l)elouged to another. He was thus forced to 
abaudcm all, glad to get away from such persecu- 
tion. At 8 o'clock on the morning of April 17, 
186 1, at the front door of the Henry House, 
where he boarded, he took a stage coach for L,ex- 
ington, near which place, at his maternal uncle's, 
he remained until September i. He then made 
his wa3^ through a country swarming with armed 
.secessionists to Kansas City, and thence to Frank- 
lin County, where he remained at his father's 
until the next year. 

In April, 1862, he began to recruit from 
among the Missouri refugees then in Kansas, a 
company for the 2nd Batt. Cav. M. S. M. On 
April 12 he received orders to report with his 
men, 19 in number, to be mustered in. At the 
muster the various skeleton companies were con- 
.solidated, and there were not commissioned 
offices enough to go around. Birney was mustered 
as a First Sergeant, Co. C, Capt. Albert J. 
Briggs, and served with the company until Aug- 
ust 7, when the Governor appointed him a Lieu- 
tenant and assigned him to the 22d Infantry Mo. 
Vols., Col. F. H. Manter. He had but just re- 
ceived his appointment when, while ascending 
the stairs at his hotel in Kansas City, whither he 
had gone under orders from Gen. B. F. Loan, 
he was stricken with a functional disease of the 
heart, developed by exposure and a severe attack 
of measels, which he had recently suffered. 
After an illness of two months, his recovery be- 
ing but imperfect, on the advice of his physician 
and friends he abandoned active service, and 
sought and obtained the appointment of Dep. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



651 



Prov. Marshal, 6th Dist. of Mo., and was 
assigned to Clinton Co. for duty under the En- 
rollment act, where he remained in the service of 
the government until the close of the war. 

The Missouri State convention having by or- 
dinance vacated all the ofifices of Clerk of the Cir- 
cuit Court in the State, empowering the Gover- 
nor to fill the same by appointment until the 
next general election, Birney was appointed 
Clerk of the Circuit Court of Clinton County, 
Maj' 9, 1865, for an unexpired term of twenty 
months. December 8, 1S65, he issued the first 
number of the New Constitution, a newspaper de- 
voted to the principles of the Republican party ; 
the first paper of that politics ever published in 
that county. By means of this paper he organ- 
ized the Republican voters of his county so ef- 
fectually that they carried the general election of 
November 3, 1866, the first and only time the 
Republicans were ever victorious in that county. 
At that election Biruey was elected Clerk of the 
Circuit Court and Recorder of Deeds for four 
years, from January i, 1867. At the expiration 
of his term of office he had already begun the 
study of medicine. His observations while clerk 
had disgusted him with the practice of the law. 
After diligent and conscientious study for several 
years, he entered the Missouri Medical College at 
St. lyouis, in September, 1877, graduating from 
the same March 5, 1879, with the degree of 
M. D. Returning to Clinton County he opened 
an office in Plattsburg, where he practiced his 
profession for two years. Just before he left 
there he was chosen professor of anatomy and 
physiology in Plattsburg College. 

In September, 1881, he came to Kansas, and 
settled in Rantoul, where he has since followed 
his profession, building up a good practice and 
gaining a reputation as a progressive, reliable 
and competent physician. He is a member of 
the county medical society. With his family he 
holds membership in the Cumberland Presbyter- 
ian Church, which he serves as an elder. Fra- 
ternally he is connected with the Odd Fellows, 
though not a member of a lodge at present, there 
being no lodge at Rantoul. 

The marriage of Dr. Birney, in 1865, united 



him with Miss Laura E. Maupin, by whom he 
has two daughters: Leonora W., wife of John 
W. Rouse; and Ada A. Mrs. Birney was born 
in Richmond, Missouri, and received a good edu- 
cation in that state. Her father, Nicholas Mau- 
pin, was a double cousin of Simeon Maupin, for 
many years chairman of the faculty of the Uni- 
versity of Virginia. He was connected with the 
Washington family and traced his lineage to 
people of prominence in the pioneer days of 
America. 



Gl BEL HENSLEY. In point of years of busi- 
Li ness activity Mr. Henslej' is the oldest 
I I merchant of Pomona, and he also ranks 
among the influential citizens of the town. He 
is the senior member of the mercantile house of 
A. Hensley & Son, besides which he operates a 
corn and feed mill, and carries on an exchange 
bank for the accommodation of his customers and 
friends. In Pomona Township he owns a farm 
which he rents. For some years he conducted a 
tannery and engaged in the manufacture of har- 
ness and collars on an extensive scale, and he is 
now "proprietor of a harness shop in Pomona, be- 
sides which he carries on a large livery business. 
In 1896 he erected a business block on Main 
street, and he has also built several dwellings, 
stores and a liverj' barn in this place. 

A son of James and Mary (Johnson) Hensley 
(both of whom died in Illinois) the subject of 
this sketch was born in Clark County, 111., in 
1847. He grew to manhood on a farm and at an 
early age became interested in brick manufactur- 
ing, in which he engaged for several years. In 
1874 he went to Marysville, Nodaway Count}', 
Mo., where he engaged in the restaurant busi- 
ness. Two years later he loaded a car of goods, 
which he shipped to Newton, Kans., and opened 
a store at Wellington, this state, for a short time 
selling goods and trading for land and stock. 
In December of 1876 he came to Pomona, Frank- 
lin County, and formed a partnership with his 
brother-in-law, J. L. Hatfield, purchasing a 
small stock of goods and acting as business man- 
ager for the firm. Later the title of the firm was 
changed to Paul & Hensley, but in 1868 Mr. 



652 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Hatfield again became interested in the business, 
and the firm of Hensley & Hatfield continued 
until 1S93, when Mr. Hensley purchased his 
partner's interest and carried on the business 
alone. In 1896 he took his son into partnership, 
and the two have since continued together, by 
energy and good judgment adding to their busi- 
ness and establishing an enviable reputation for 
integrity and fair dealing. 

Interested in the political questions of the day, 
Mr. Hensley adheres to the principles of the Re- 
publican party and supports its candidates. 
Among the local offices he has filled are those of 
town treasurer and school director, in both of 
which he worked in the interests of the people of 
his community. A successful business man, his 
success is due not to luck, but to steady, persever- 
ing industry, and he merits his pre.sent pros- 
perity. B}' his marriage to Matilda J. Sprague 
he has a son, Frank J. (his partner in business) 
and a daughter, Rosie E., who is the wife of 
Hiram O. Bird. 



'JjEGRGE H. LINCK, a talented mu.sician of 
_. Leavenworth, is the leader of Linck's 
J orchestra, which furnishes the music for the 
opera house and for the finest parties and cotil- 
lions in the city. The orchestra was organized 
in 1897 under his personal supervision and con- 
sists of six pieces; the high reputation gained 
and the popularity of the orchestra in this part of 
the state is due entirely to his excellent leader- 
ship. He also plays the B flat cornet in the 
Mascot band, and is engaged as a teacher of vio- 
lin and harmony, in which he has a growing 
class. 

Mr. Linck was born in Leavenworth August 
24, 1874, and is a son of George Linck, of this 
city. He was educated in the Morris school. 
From boyhood he has been fond of music and has 
devoted considerable time to this art. He 
studied first under Richard Schubert, the then 
leading musician of Leavenworth. Afterward 
he was a pupil of Geza von Dome, a celebrated 
Hungarian musician. When the latter went to 
Chicago during the World's Fair, Mr. Linck de- 
cided to go to Europe, in order that he might 



have the advantages of musical studj- under the 
best masters. In the summer of 1893 he went 
to Leipsic and entered the Royal Conservatory 
of Music, where he studied under the celebrated 
teacher, Robert Bolland. He continued there 
for some time, devoting himself assiduously to 
his art and becoming one of its mo.st proficient 
disciples. When he graduated from that institu- 
tion, in April, 1896, he stood among the highest 
in his class in violin, pianoforte and harmony. 
After traveling in German}- for a short time he 
returned to America in 1896 and has since made 
his home in his native city. The attention 
which for yeats he has given to his profession 
and the talent which he possesses in this art 
combine to place him in a high rank as a musi- 
cian, and he is considered one of the best teach- 
ers of music in his state. For two years he was 
musical director of the Turner Singing Society. 
He is identified with St. Joseph's Catholic Church 
of Leavenworth. His marriage, in this city, Au- 
gust 10, 1898, united him with Miss Alma Retter, 
who was born in Montana. 



(TJTANCE L. MEYERS, who is under .sheriff 
/\ of Leavenworth County, was born in the city 
\~J of Leavenworth July 16, 1S65, and is a 
descendant of a colonial familj- of Maryland. His 
father, John L. Meyers, who was born and reared 
in Baltimore, and who learned the plasterer's trade 
in youth, crossed the country to Kansas in 1859, 
settling in Leavenworth, where he engaged in 
the wholesale tobacco business, and later in con- 
tract plastering. After many j-ears of active 
connection with the business interests of his 
town he retired from business cares in 1897, ^"<1 
has since lived quietly, in the enjoyment oftlio.se 
comforts rendered possible by former indu.stry. 
During the Price raid he served as a member of 
a Kansas regiment. He married Mary Strobel, 
who was born in Bavaria, Germany, and at three 
years of age was brought to America by her par- 
ents, settling in Baltimore, where she was reared. 
At this writing (1899) she is fifty-five years of 
age, while her husband is seventy- two. The 
children born of their union are named as follows: 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



653 



Stance!,.; Louis J., who graduated in medicine 
from a college in St. Louis, returned to Leaven- 
worth and here died ; Joseph , who was accidentally 
drowned in Missouri; Aloysius, who is traveling 
auditor for the Leavenworth, Kansas & Western 
Railroad; Frank, who graduated from St. Bene- 
dict's, in Atchison, and from St. Meinrad Col- 
lege, in Indiana, and is now priest of a Roman 
Catholic Church at Mitchell, 111.; Charles, who 
resides with his parents; and Minnie, widow of 
A. W. Brown, of Osage City, Kans. 

In the Cathedral parochial school the subject 
of this sketch received his education. While still 
very young he worked as a newsboy. In 1878 
he became the regular carrier of the Leavenworth 
Times, and after filling that position for two 
years Colonel Anthony appointed him mailing 
clerk, and he continued in that capacity until 
1883. His next position was that of city circu- 
lator of the Leavenworth Times, and this position 
he held until 18S7, after which he held a similar 
place with the Leavenworth Evening Standard. 
October i, 1897, he resigned the latter position, 
and January i, 1898, Sheriff Everhardy appointed 
him as his deputy, which position he has since 
efficiently filled, having charge of all of the office 
work. 

The marriage of our subject took place in 
Leavenworth, October 3, 1887, and united him 
with Miss Elizabeth Logan, who was born in Fort 
Leavenworth, and by whom he has a daughter, 
Irene. Mrs. Meyers is the daughter of P. Logan, 
one of the territorial settlers of Kansas, who came 
here in the government employ and was for a 
time a soldier in the regular army. 

Active in politics, our subject is a well-known 
Democrat of Leavenworth County. At different 
times he has been secretary of the county and 
city central committees, and has also filled the 
position of treasurer in the same. He has been 
a delegate to county and state conventions of his 
party and has taken a warm interest in all mat- 
ters pertaining to the Democracy. Fraternally 
he is connected with the Foresters and the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is a 
member of the Cathedral and a contributor to its 
work. A member of the Catholic Knights of 



America, he is president of the Kansas branch of 
the order, and has also served as supreme dele- 
gate from Kansas to the national convention of 
the organization. 

(lOHN Z. CLARK, proprietor of the Ottawa 
I steam laundry, secretary and manager of 
(*/ the Chautauqua Assembly, and former post- 
master of Ottawa, has made this city his home 
since 1878. He was born in Cambridge, Ohio, 
February 14, 1851, a son of John L. and Mar- 
garet (McCartney) Clark. On the paternal side 
he descends from an Irishman who migrated to 
Pennsylvania during the latter part of the seven- 
teenth century. His father, a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, went to Ohio at an early age and there 
learned the miller's trade. In 1851 he settled in 
Monmouth, Warren County, 111., where he im- 
proved a farm and continued to reside until his 
death, in 1893. His wife, who was a native of 
the north of Ireland, accompanied her parents to 
Ohio in girlhood and died in Illinois in 1897. 
In her family there were seven sons and two 
daughters, of whom all are living except two 
sons. Capt. William H. Clark, who enlisted in 
Company F, Eighty-third Illinois Infantry, at the 
opening of the Civil war, was assigned to the 
Army of the Cumberland, and for meritorious 
conduct was promoted to the rank of captain in 
June, 1864, .serving until May, 1866; in 1868 
he settled in Ottawa, where he has .since been an 
influential member of the bar and for a time 
served in the state legislature. The remaining 
members of the family are: Henry, of Biggsville, 
111.; Nancy, who lives in Monmouth; Mr.s. 
Elizabeth Drennan, of Armour, Neb.; David M., 
a business man of Chicago; John Z.; and James 
H., a merchant of Greeley, Colo. The deceased 
sons are Andrew W. , who died in Monmouth, 
and Robert N., who died in Denver, Colo. 

The education of our subject was obtained in 
public schools and Bryant & Stratton's Commer- 
cial College in Burlington, Iowa. Owing to ill 
health, in 1876 he traveled in the mountains of 
the west. In 1878 he came to Ottawa and be- 
came a member of the firm of Clark Brothers, 
dealers in books and stationery, with an office on 



654 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Main street. In the fall of 1889 President Har- 
rison appointed him postmaster at Ottawa, which 
office he held until the fall of 1894. He then 
bought a steam laundry plant, which he remod- 
eled and enlarged, and from that time he has suc- 
cessfully conducted a laundry business. In De- 
cember, 1897, he moved to the brick building at 
No. 113 South Main street, and refitted and en- 
larged the plant which now has a capacity equal 
to many in large metropolitan cities. In the fall 
of 1S98 he was elected secretary of the Chautau- 
qua Assembly, which he has since managed, and 
in connection with the same he publishes the 
Assembly Herald. The Chautauqua Assembly is 
one of the most elevating and helpful enterprises 
ever inaugurated in Ottawa. Forest park is 
utilized for a.s.sembly grounds and every effort is 
made to provide the best talent and most uplift- 
ing associations for the Chautauqua conventions. 
Politically Mr. Clark is a Republican. He is 
a ruling elder in the United Presbyterian Church 
and an active factor in the progress of its work. 
Fraternally he is connected with the Knights and 
Ladies of Security. In Ottawa occurred his 
marriage to Miss Carrie L. Webb, who was born 
in Pennsylvania and came west with her father, 
Stephen E. Webb, a railroad engineer now resid- 
ing in this city. They have three children, 
Edith, Gertrude and Margaret. 



j EWIS F. KNAPP. Since e.stabli.shing his 
I C home upon his present farm Mr. Knapp has 
|_y become known as one of the enterprising 
farmers of Kickapoo Township, Leavenworth 
County. The property which he owns comprises 
one hundred and seventy-five acres, upon which 
he is engaged in the raising of cereals (with a 
specialty of wheat) and at the same time he car- 
ries on a stock business. As a farmer he is meet- 
ing with success, and, having devoted his active 
life to this occupation, is familiar with every de- 
tail connected with agriculture. 

The subject of this sketch is a son of Adam 
Knapp and was born January 5, 1856, upon the 
farm now occupied by his brother, Thomas H., 
to whose sketch the reader is referred for the 



family historj'. Lewis was educated in the com- 
mon schools and at an early age became familiar 
with farm work. Being reared upon a farm, it 
was natural that he should select agriculture for 
his calling in life. He began farming for him.self 
when he was twent3'-one years of age. With 
money he had saved, in 1883 he purchased the 
place where he has since engaged in stock-raising 
and general farming. 

The marriage of Mr. Knapp took place Oc- 
tober 28, 1878, and united him with Miss Amanda 
Maget. The children born of their union are 
named as follows: Barbara E., Albert M., 
Nora E., Lewis F., Jr., Walter W. and 
Ethel Irene. The family are highly respected 
by their acquaintances. While Mr. Knapp has 
given his attention quite closely to his farm work, 
he nevertheless keeps posted concerning matters 
that affect the public welfare, and is especially 
interested in everything that will advance the 
farming interests of Leavenworth County. In 
politics he votes the Democratic ticket. Mrs. 
Knapp is a member of the Baptist Church. 



QOHN W. LOAR. There are few of those 
I now living in Leavenworth whose advent in 
(2) this city antedated that of Mr. Loar. It was 
in 1853 t'^^t he crossed from Missouri to Kansas 
and settled near what is now Leavenworth. He 
took up a quarter-section of land on the Delaware 
reservation, this land being the northwest quar- 
ter of section 22, township 9, range 22, property 
now occupied by M. M. Jewett. At once he be- 
gan the improvement of farming land, and in 
time he transformed the place into one of the best 
improved in the neighborhood. In connection 
with the raising of cereals he engaged in the 
stock business, and the grade of hor.ses raised on 
his place was so high that he won many prizes in 
state and county fairs and was considered one of 
the best exhibitors of stock in the state. In 1896 
he bought a home in the city, where he lived re- 
tired, except for such duties as are connected with 
the supervision of his moneyed and property inter- 
ests. At this writing he is living on his farm. 
The Loar family originated in Germany and was 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



655 



early represented in Maryland, whence later gen- 
erations removed to Ohio and Kentuckj'. Our 
subject's father, Nathan Loar, had four brothers 
who served in the war of 1 8 1 2 . He married Mary 
Taylor, and afterward they moved to Hampshire 
County, W. Va., settling there in 1816, when 
their son, John W. , was four years of age. The 
latter afterward received common school advanta- 
ges. When of age he went back to his birthplace 
in Ohio, and there remained for seven years, en- 
gaged in contracting in brick and stone-mason 
work. In 1840 he moved to Boone County, Ky., 
where he followed his trade for several years, 
meantime making his home in Florence, where 
he erected a residence. In that town he also 
carried on a mercantile business. In 1851 he re- 
moved to St. Joe, Mo., and two years later came 
to Kansas, where he has since resided. On his 
farm he engaged in raising horses, cattle and 
mules; he is known as the best judge of horseflesh 
in the state. During the Civil war he rented his 
farm and moved into Leavenworth, while he be- 
gan to take contracts with the government to 
furnish horses and mules for Forts Leavenworth 
and Scott. While the exact number of horses he 
sold to the government cannot be estimated , it is 
probable there were about two thousand. In 
1865 he built a fine brick residence on his farm 
and afterward made his home there until he re- 
turned to Leavenworth in 1896. He is the owner 
of a number of business and residence Ipts in the 
city and also has fifteen acres within the limits; 
he also owns claims in diiferent parts of the state. 
At the time of the dispute between Great 
Britain and the United States regarding the 
Canadian boundary line, he volunteered for service 
in the regular army. In politics he is a Demo- 
crat and takes an interest in local affairs. For 
several years he served on the school board of 
district No. 8. In 1857, having been ordered by 
the court to open a road through his farm, he built 
the territorial road between Leavenworth and 
Lawrence. While his membership is in the 
Christian Church, other religious movements have 
also felt the impetus of his aid and generosity, 
and progressive enterprises have been aided by 
him to the extent of his ability. In 1849 he 



married Lucinda, daughter of Joseph Hoskins, of 
Ohio; she was an estimable lady, and her death, 
February 24, 1895, was a heavy bereavement to 
her husband, to whose welfare she had been af- 
fectionately devoted during their long married 
life. 



WlAJ. ROBERT C. CAMPBELL, a resident 
y of Ottawa and the owner of Riley Medium 
CS No. 2150, record 2:io>^, one of the finest- 
bred horses in Kansas, was born on the Susque- 
hanna River, near Milton, Union County, Pa., a 
son of William and Hannah (Parks) Campbell, 
natives respectively of Scotland and Pennsylvania. 
When his father was about one year old the 
grandfather, William Campbell, Sr. , brought the 
family to America and afterward spent two years 
in New York, thence going to Union County, 
Pa., and settling on a farm. In addition to agri- 
cultural pursuits William Campbell, Jr., also 
engaged in lumbering. He died in Union Coun- 
ty when sixty-three years of age, and his wife 
died in the same county. Of their six children 
three sons are now living, one of whom, John, is 
a lumberman on the Susquehanna River. Will- 
iam, who is also a farmer and lumberman in 
Union County, enlisted in the Union army when 
a mere lad, and was made captain of a company 
in the Fifty -second Pennsylvania Infantry, in 
which he served until he was wounded and cap- 
tured by the Confederates; afterwards he was 
confined in Libby prison for one year. 

On the farm where he was born May 13, 1845, 
the subject of this sketch passed his years of early 
boyhood. At the age of thirteen he went to 
make his home with an uncle. Judge James 
Parks, of Fremont County, who was then serv- 
ing as sheriff. In youth he learned the car- 
penter's trade and followed that occupation. At 
the first call for volunteers he determined to en- 
list in the Union service. In April, 1861, he was 
made a musician in Company D, Sixty-ninth 
Ohio Infantry, and was sent to the south, serving 
until the order was issued to muster out all regi- 
mental bands, and he was honorably discharged 
in 1862. He then became second lieutenant of 
Company K, Eighty-sixth Ohio Infantry, in 



656 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



which he remained for six months, meantime en- 
gaging at Cumberland Gap and in other south- 
ern battles. He was honorably discharged at 
Cleveland, Ohio, in the spring of 1864. His 
next enlistment was in Company D, Thirteenth 
Ohio Veterans' Corps, of which he was second 
lieutenant until honorably discharged, in Au- 
gust, 1865. He was present at the battles of 
Cold Harbor, Whitehouse Landing, City Point, 
Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, took part in the 
siege of Petersburg and the surrender at Ap- 
pomattox Courthouse. He was wounded at Din. 
widdie Courthouse while making a charge; his 
horse slipped in a sandhole and threw him, after- 
ward falling upon him, and while he lay there the 
whole brigade passed over him. When he re- 
covered consciousness he insisted on accompany- 
ing the troops in the charge, but the injury was 
such a serious one that it crippled him for life. 
He was wounded also by a sabre cut in the hand 
and bullet in the leg. For meritorious service he 
was made captain and then major, in command 
of the battalion, and was finally mustered out with 
the rank of major. After the war clo.sed he 
served as provost-marshal in Powhattan County, 
Va. He was honorably discharged in Columbus, 
Ohio. 

From the time of his discharge until 1870 
Major Campbell engaged in the livery- business 
in Oxford. He then came to Ottawa, Kans., 
where he has since been proprietor of a livery 
and has engaged in raising standard-bred horses. 
He is also president and manager of the Phar- 
macist mine in the Cripple Creek district. 

For some j-ears Major Campbell was superin- 
tendent of the Driving Park Association. From 
the start of the Franklin County Fair Associa- 
tion he was interested in it and served as an of- 
ficer until recently. He is connected with George 
H. Thomas Post No. 18, G. A. R.; Ottawa 
Lodge No. 128, A. F. & A. M. In religious 
belief he is a Methodist. Politically he always 
supports Republican principles. For four years 
he served as councilman for the first ward and he 
has also been a member of the school board. 
His finst wife was Helen M. Bard, who was born 
in Butler County, Ohio, and died in Ottawa, 



Kans., in January, 1896. The children born of 
their union are named as follows: Frank K., 
who is in Texas; Mrs. Mary M. Giller, of Den- 
ver, Colo.; Mrs. Ida O. Luce, of Kansas City; 
and Mrs. Lola M. Jones, wife of A. D. Jones, of 
Colorado Springs, Colo. The second marriage 
of Major Campbell took place in Mishawaha, 
Ind., and united him with Mrs. Ella M. (Laid- 
law) Mason, a native of that state. 

Among the horses now owned by Major Camp- 
bell is Icarus, by Onward, fir.st dam by Dicta- 
tor. In his stable at No. 113 West Second 
street he also has Riley Medium, a dark brown 
horse, fifteen and three- fourths hands high, bred 
by Gen. W. T. Withers, at Lexington, Ky.; 
sired b}' Happ}- Medium No. 400, he sired by 
Rysdyk's Hamblelonian No. 10, first dam, 
Maud R. , by Mambrino Patchen, by Mambrino 
Chief Riley Medium is the sire of Bob Riley 
2:10, Kate Medium 2:io//4', and other horses that 
have made records for speed. He is a horse of 
beautiful conformation and great strength and is 
one of the finest of the sons of Happy Medium, 
which has to his credit ninety-three trotters, the 
fa.stest being Nancy Hanks 2:04, besides six 
pacers, the fastest of which is Riley Medium. 



30HN McCORMICK, a pioneer of '38 in 
Leavenworth, was born in County Longford, 
Ireland, June 24, 1832, a son of Andrew and 
Margaret (Trimble) McCormick, also natives of 
that county. His father, who followed farming, 
died at seventy years of age, while his mother, 
daughter of Thomas Trimble, died in early 
womanhood. In the family there were two sons 
and two daughters, all of whom came to Aiuer- 
ica and three are living. John was a youth of 
seventeen years when he crossed the ocean from 
Liverpool on the sailing-vessel "Susan Lord," 
which anchored in New Orleans after a voyage 
of seven weeks and three days. He remained in 
that city for a month and then came up the 
Mississippi and Ohio Rivers to Cincinnati, where 
he remained about eight years, meantime learn- 
ing the bricklayer's trade. He then went to 
Chicago, where he worked at his trade. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



657 



In April, 1858, Mr. McCormick came to Leav- 
enworth. Soon he found employment at his 
trade. For seven years he was employed as fore- 
man for others. In 1873 he began contracting 
for himself, and two years later started a brick 
yard in the west part of the town. Since then he 
has engaged in contracting and building. He 
owns a yard of six acres, containing an abundance 
of good clay, and here he manufactures a good 
quality of brick. He has had the contracts for 
some of the most substantial public buildings 
and private residences in Leavenworth, among 
them those for the large cathedral school, the 
Catholic orphan asylum, the Sacred Heart 
Church, the colored Catholic Church, Peter Ever- 
hardy's residence and store. Dr. Thomas' build- 
ing, Cribbs block, Chrismeyer building, two 
buildings for O'Rourke and two for Erhart, also 
a number of buildings at the Soldiers' Home and 
the fort. He built the residence which he owns, 
at No. 819 North Sixth street. 

March 7, 1859, at Davenport, Iowa, Mr. Mc- 
Cormick married Margaret, daughter of James 
McCormick, both natives of Ireland. Her father, 
who was a farmer, brought his family to the 
United States in 1836 and settled in Monmouth 
County, N. J. When sixty-two years of age 
he enlisted in the Union army, becoming a mem- 
ber of the Twenty-ninth New Jersey Infantry, in 
which he served for nine months. Three days 
after he was honorably discharged he again en- 
listed and returned to the front, serving about 
two years. He was wounded in the battle on 
the James and was sent to a hospital in Wash- 
ington, where he died from the effects of his 
wounds. His wife was Mary Farrell, a native of 
Ireland, and who died in New Jersey. Their 
six children attained years of maturity and all 
but one are still living, Mrs. McCormick being 
next to the oldest. She was reared in New Jer- 
sey and received such advantages as district 
schools afforded. By her marriage to our subject 
there have been born six children now living, 
namely: Mary J., a sister in Mount St. Mary's 
convent; Annie and Richard, of Leavenworth; 
Margaret and Louise, who are married and live 
in this city; and William, now in Alaska. 

30 



Politically Mr. McCormick has always been a 
Democrat. He has rendered acceptable .service 
on city and county committees and has attended 
county and state conventions of his party. From 
1887 to 1895 he represented the fourth ward in 
the city council, and during his term of ofiice 
many improvements were made that greatly pro- 
moted the welfare of the city. For one term he 
was a member of the board of county commis- 
sioners. He is connected with the cathedral and 
is also a member of the Catholic Mutual Benevo- 
lent Association, of which he has been treasurer 
for some time. 



NENRY G. VAN NESTE. In spite of the 
fact that his residence in Kansas covers only 
a brief period, Mr. Van Neste has already 
gained an assured standing among the stockmen 
of Leavenworth County. He resides in Reno 
Township, upon what was formerly known as 
the C. J. Buckingham farm, where he has eight 
hundred acres of land. While to some extent 
he engages in general farming, his specialty is 
the buying and selling of stock, and he usually 
keeps on hand from five to six hundred head, 
many of which are Polled-Angus cattle, and he 
also has a number of fine horses. As a stock- 
dealer he is a careful, judicious buyer, and closely 
watches the markets in his sales, so that he is 
establishing a profitable business. 

As the name indicates, the Van Neste family 
is of Holland-Dutch extraction. They emi- 
grated to America in an early day and one of the 
family was the first white child born on the pres- 
ent site of New York City. George H. Van 
Neste, who was a native of the Mohawk Valley, 
removed to Illinois in 1854 and became a leading 
farmer of Iroquois. He is now retired from active 
cares and makes his home in Onarga, 111. A man 
of local prominence, he has held the various 
township offices and has contributed largely to- 
ward the development of the resources of his 
county. He married Emily J. Shottenkirk, who 
died at the old homestead in 1870; they became 
the parents of six children, four of whom are 
living, namely: AnnaF., wife of J. F. Schmeltzer, 
of Manteno, 111. ; Charles E. , a farmer and stock- 



658 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



man of Brewster, Neb. ; Nellie, wife of E. J. Viall, 
of Maiiteno, III. ; and Henry G. The last-named 
was born in Iroquois County, 111., in 1866, and 
was educated in Grand Prairie Seminary and 
Onarga Commercial College. 

From an early age Mr. Van Neste was inter- 
ested in agriculture. He bought his father's 
homestead and there engaged in raising stock and 
cereals until December, 1897, when he removed 
to Kansas and established his home on the farm 
where he now lives. While in Illinois he was an 
active worker in the Republican party in his lo- 
cality and aided much in promoting local enter- 
prises. Nor has he been less interested in town- 
ship and county matters in his new home. At 
this writing he is serving as committeeman for 
Reno Township. He became a member of the 
Modern Woodmen of America and the Independ- 
ent Order of Odd Fellows in his native county, 
and in the lodge of the latter order he passed all 
of the chairs. He is not identified with any de- 
nomination, but is a Methodist in doctrine and 
faith. In 1889 he married Dora, daughter of 
William B. Crider, of Illinois. They are the 
parents of four children: George Crider, Charles 
Foster, Nellie and Zebulon. 



HUBERT KNIPE. Among those from other 
countries who have long been identified 
with the business interests of Leavenworth, 
and who have labored to develop the conmiercial 
welfare of the city, mention belongs to the sub- 
ject of this sketch, a pioneer of '56. He was one 
of those brave men who, at the first call for vol- 
unteers during the Civil war, enlisted in the 
Union service, and marching to the front, fought 
for the stars and stripes on many a bloody battle- 
field. By his valiant service he earned recogni- 
tion as a true citizen of his adopted country. 

Mr. Knipe was born in Cappelen, Rhine Prov- 
ince, Prussia, April 17, 1845, a .son of Dennis 
and Margaret (Krohn) Knipe, natives of the same 
place as himself His maternal grandfather, 
Andrew Krohn, was a soldier in the Napole- 
onic wars and afterward carried on a bakery 
business in his home town. Dennis Knipe, who 



was a farmer by occupation, crossed the ocean in 
1852 and settled on a farm near Weston, Mo. 
Two years later his family joined him there. In 
1856 he brought them to Leavenworth, where he 
participated in the troubles of border warfare. 
During the Civil war he was a member of Com- 
pany B, Eighth Kansas Infantry, in which he 
remained for two years, and was finally dis- 
charged on account of physical disability. He 
was sixty-three years of age at the time of his 
death, in 1879. His wife is still living, and 
makes her home with her only living child, Hu- 
bert. 

When the family came to America Mr. Knipe 
was a boy of nine j-ears. The voyage from 
Havre to New Orleans on the sailer "Saxony" 
consumed sixty-one days. From New Orleans 
the family proceeded on the steamer "Michigan" 
up to Cairo; there the ice was so thick and dan- 
gerous that passengers were transferred to a 
wharf boat, which, burning, caused the loss of all 
of their property. They came up the Missouri 
River to Weston, where the father met them. 
From the farm there they removed to Leaven- 
worth May I, 1856. 

September 12, 1861, the name of Hubert 
Knipe was enrolled as a member of Company B, 
Eighth Kansas Infantry, which was stationed at 
Leavenworth for .six months and then joined 
Buell's army in the south. He took part in the 
battle of Perryville, after which he was under 
Rosecrans at Stone River, Chickamauga and 
Chattanooga. At the last-named place he was 
wounded, November 25, 1863, being shot 
through the right hip. He fell on the field and 
was picked up by two Confederate prisoners. 
Unconscious, he was taken to the hospital at 
Chattanooga, and there he lay for a month. 
When at last he left the hospital he was obliged 
to use crutches. Returning to Leavenworth, he 
remained here until April, 1864, when he was 
transferred to Company F, Sixth Regiment, Vet- 
erans' Reserve Corps, and was stationed at 
Washington for three months. At the expiration 
of his term of service he was honorably dis- 
charged, September 13, 1864. 

On returning to Leavenworth Mr. Knipe se- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



659 



cured employment as clerk in a grocery. In 
1870 he opened a store on the corner of Sixth 
and Miami streets, and here he has since engaged 
in the grocery business, having built on this 
corner the store which he occupies, and also four 
residences, besides building in other parts of the 
city. He is a believer in Republican principles 
and votes the regular party ticket. Custer Post 
No. 6, G. A. R. , numbers him among its mem- 
bers. Fraternally he is connected with Hiram 
Lodge No. 68, A. F. & A. M.; Leavenworth 
Lodge No. 2, I. O. O. F. , of which he is treas- 
urer, and also belongs to the encampment. His 
marriage in Leavenworth united him with Miss 
Sybilla Hensler, who was born in Baden, Ger- 
many, a daughter of Bernhart Hensler, who 
brought the family to Leavenworth in 1865 and 
engaged in the merchant tailoring business here. 
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Knipe are as 
follows: Hubert, Jr., a grocer in Chicago; Mar- 
garet, at home; Henry C, who assists his father 
in business; Edith, Nellie and Benjamin H., at 
home. 



HON. ACHILLES B. WADE, deceased, came 
to what is now Douglas County in March, 
1854, before the Shawnee treaty had been 
ratified, and was one of the very earliest white 
settlers in this section of the state. He was born 
in Franklin County, Mo., in June, 1829, a son of 
John and Mary Wade, natives of Kentucky, but 
for years residents of Missouri, where they died. 
He was the fifth among eleven children and was 
reared upon the home farm. At the discovery of 
gold in California he determined to seek his for- 
tune in the great west. Accordingly he crossed 
the plains, overland, with an ox-team. As he 
passed through Kansas he noted with admiration 
the fertile soil and broad prairies, but the Indians 
were in possession, and settlement was, therefore, 
impossible. He proceeded on his journey and was 
gone two years, returning to Missouri and settling 
upon a farm. However, he did not feel contented 
there, and again started westward. With a cousin, 
Mr. Kaufman, he engaged in surveying the 
country and arriving at Blue Mound they struck 
for claims. The cousin staked a claim on what 



is now Massachusetts street, Lawrence, while 
Mr. Wade put his stake down about one-quarter 
of a mile away, in what is now West Lawrence. 
There he broke the soil, planted a crop and en- 
gaged in farming for one season. Meantime he 
built the first log house in Lawrence. After a 
year he and his cousin sold out to the Lawrence 
Town Company and settled two miles northwest 
of the present site of Lawrence. His second 
claim was for one hundred and sixty acres, but 
the adjoining claims overlapped his so that he 
had only one hundred and twenty acres. There 
he built a large brick house, a substantial barn 
and other farm buildings, and placed the land 
under cultivation, making of it one of the finest 
farms for miles around. He continued to reside 
on the same place until 1890, when he rented the 
farm and located at No. igio Haskell street, 
where he had fifteen acres of fruit land. During 
the Price raid he enlisted in the Kansas militia 
and started for the front with his command, but 
was severely injured by being thrown from his 
horse and was obliged to return home. During 
the early days he was sheriff of Douglas County 
and he was also a member of the first territorial 
legislature. For many years he served as a mem- 
ber of the school board and his helpful sugges- 
tions were of the greatest value in promoting 
the welfare of the schools. As a citizen he was 
progressive and public-spirited. His long-time 
associates in Douglas County tested him by the 
varying vicissitudes of many years, and had reason 
to know the manner of man he was, the strength 
of his friendship, the generosity of his nature, 
the integrity of his purpose, and the sincerity of 
his life. It was, therefore, with a feeling of per- 
sonal loss and bereavement that news was received 
of his death, at his home in Lawrence, October 
6, 1891. His passing from earth deprived the 
city of one who had from earliest days been de- 
voted to its welfare and interested in its pros- 
perity. 

In Franklin County, Mo., February 10, 1847, 
Mr. Wade married Miss Nancy Davidson, who 
was born March 13, 1828, in Lancaster County, 
Ky., a daughter of Jordan and Sarah (Naylor) 
Davidson, natives respectively of Kentucky and 



66o 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Virginia. Her grandfather, Jesse Davidson, a 
native of Virginia, was a pioneer farmer of Ken- 
tucky, from which state her father moved to 
Franklin County, Mo., and engaged not only in 
farming, but also in carpentering and building. 
In 1855 he came to Kansas and took a claim four 
miles from the home of his son-in-law, continuing 
on the farm until he died. His wife, who was a 
daughter of Thomas Naylor, a native of Vir- 
ginia, spent her last years in the home of her 
daughter, where she died. They were the parents 
of twelve children, eight of whom attained mature 
years, but only two are now living. Three of the 
.sons took part in the Civil war as members of a 
Kansas regiment, while four of Mr. Wade's 
brothers also served in the Federal armj-. Like 
her husband, Mrs. Wade has been a consistent 
member of the Methodist Episcopal denomination 
since childhood and is now'identified with the First 
Church in Lawrence. She was eight years of 
age when her parents moved from Kentucky to 
Missouri, and in the latter state she passed the 
years of girlhood. Since the death of her hus- 
band she has superintended their property and 
maintained a general oversight of their interests. 
They were the parents of seven children, two of 
whom died in childhood, and Nancy at the age of 
sixteen. Four are living, viz.: Mrs. Mary Mitch- 
ell, who graduated from Lane University and is 
now living in Rockford, 111.; Mrs. Dora Garrett, 
a graduate of the University of Kansas, and now 
residing on the home farm near Lawrence; Ed- 
ward, of Kansas City, Mo.; and Franklin, who 
is proprietor and manager of a theatrical company . 



|~ C. SCHULTE, a successful business man of 
1^ Leavenworth, has been at the head of a re- 
I tail grocerj' since January, 1889, when he 
bought the business with which he has since 
been identified. A stanch Republican in politics, 
Mr. Schulte has served as delegate to local and 
state conventions and has been a member of the 
county committee, also chairman of the citj- cen- 
tral and county central committees. In 1S93 he 
was elected, on the Republican ticket, to repre- 
sent the third ward in the city council. Two 



years later he wasreelected, ser\'ing from April, 
1893, to April, 1897. During hisconnection with 
the council he was active on different committees, 
and for one year served as chairman on the ways 
and means committee. While he was a member of 
the council the bridge across the Missouri River 
and terminal improvements were built, the elec- 
tric street railway franchise was granted and the 
road completed. 

Mr. Schulte was born in Westphalia, Germany, 
January 2, 1865. He was the first of the family 
to come to America, and crossed from Hamburg 
to New York in September, 1882. For two years 
he remained in New York, where he was em- 
ployed as a clerk in a grocery. In 1884 he came 
to Leavenworth and secured employment with 
Rohlfing & Co., with whom he continued until 
he returned on a visit to Germany. He was mar- 
ried in Leavenworth to Sophia, daughter of 
Christian Mej-er, who settled in this city in terri- 
torial days and engaged in the grocery business. 
Mr. Meyer died in 1887 and two years later Mr. 
Schulte bought the grocery business which he 
had established. 



0UDLEY H. WIGGIN, a retired dairyman 
of Wakarusa Township, Douglas Countj', 
was born in Carroll County, N. H., April 
21, 1832, a son of Mark Wiggin, also a native of 
New Hampshire. His paternal grandfather was 
one of three brothers who emigrated from Eng- 
land and settled in the northeastern part of our 
country. While he was the owner of a farm, 
Mark Wiggin gave his attention principally to the 
mason's trade and was known as one of the best 
workmen in his locality. In religion he was a 
Congregationali.st, and, in politics, favored the 
Democratic party. He died in 1S47, one year be- 
fore his wife's death. Of their six children two 
died in infancy, Mark in 1880, and George about 
1875. Hannah P., who is eighty-two years of 
age, and our subject are the sole survivors. 

In boyhood our subject had few advantages. 
He attended school only eight weeks out of the 
entire year. At the age of seventeen he went to 
Salem, Mass., and learned the trade of brick- 
layer and plasterer, which he followed in that city 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



66 1 



for a year. Later he went to Boston, and while 
holding a responsible position there, as foremas 
of twenty men, he determined to go further west, 
believing the change would be beneficial to him 
financially. Accordingly he removed to Cincin- 
nati. For a few months he was employed on the 
fast mail train between Cincinnati and Columbus, 
but, owing to an injury to his eyes, he was obliged 
to resign the position and resume his trade. He 
went to Lafayette, Ind., and from there, in 1856, 
removed to Mount Pleasant, Iowa, where, and in 
Salem, Iowa, he spent two years at his trade. 

During the spring of 1858 Mr. Wiggin came to 
Lawrence, Kans. Two months later he went to 
Kansas City, and there he followed his trade un- 
til the fall of 1 861, when he again came to Kan- 
sas. After a year upon a farm he settled in 
Lawrence, where he built up a good trade in his 
cho.sen occupation. Many of the principal build- 
ings of early days were erected under his super- 
vision, and some of them still stand on Massachu- 
setts street; he also built many of the residences 
of those days. He was near the city at the time 
of the Quantrell raid, but escaped. With a part- 
ner, in 1873, he went to the Sac and Fox agency, 
where he built many of the government build- 
ings. With others, he was interested in erecting 
$40,000 worth of buildings at the Cherokee 
agency. When that work was completed he re- 
turned to Lawrence. Owing to poor eyesight he 
was obliged to give up his trade, and he then 
started in the dairy business. However, his eyes 
constantly grew worse, and he became threatened 
with the entire loss of sight. At that time, in 
1877, he went to Iowa and took a course of hy- 
giene treatment, a strict diet being rigidly ad- 
hered to. While this treatment caused a lo.ss of 
flesh, it saved his eyesight, and when he returned 
home after four months his eyes had materially 
improved. 

In 1882 Mr. Wiggin bought the Worden farm 
on the California road, where his son now resides. 
This he carried on, with the assistance of his sons, 
until 1892, when the property was divided, and 
his .son, Frank, has since conducted the place. 
He is now living retired, on a farm of fifteen 
acres, which he bought in 1868. The house has 



been enlarged and various improvements made, so 
that his home is a comfortable one. Its location, 
one mile west of Lawrence, is convenient. Here 
for some years he carried on a dairy business, and 
when he closed out he had about sixty head of 
cows, besides young stock. He was one of the 
incorporators of the creamery and is now a .stock- 
holder in the same. His first presidential vote 
was cast for John C. Fremont and he has since 
voted the Republican ticket at all elections. He 
is a member of the Methodist Church, with which 
his family is also identified. 

The marriage of Mr. Wiggin, in Kansas City, 
April 22, 1859, united him with Priscilla Baker, 
a native of Uniontown, Pa. They have five 
children: Frank D., who was born June 7, i860, 
and is engaged in the dairy business; Ida Belle, 
who was born September 14, 1862, and is the wife 
of J. R. Flasket, a farmer of this township; Bert, 
who was born June 3, 1865, and is now engaged 
in the stock business; Henry C, who was born 
October 11, 1868, and is now living in Michigan; 
and Alfred, who was born January 14, 1875, and 
is now connected with Wilder & Co. , in Lawrence. 



HON. CHARLES H. TUCKER, clerk of the 
district court, is one of the leading Repub- 
licans of Lawrence. For twenty years or 
more he has been a member of the county Repub- 
lican committee, of which he has served both as 
chairman and .secretary, having held the latter 
position as early as 1878. Frequently he has 
been a delegate to the state convention of his 
party, where his intelligence and judgment have 
been helpful in the settlement of important de- 
cisions. The offices to which he has been elected 
have been filled with accuracy and faithfulness, 
thus winning for him the confidence of the peo- 
ple. 

Born in County Cornwall, England, May 6, 
1857, the subject of this sketch was thirteen years 
of age when he came to America, settling in 
Lawrence in September, 1870. Here he spent a 
year in the public school and was employed by 
M. Newmark & Co., for two years. From 1875 
to 1890 he was engaged in the produce commis- 



662 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



sion business in Lawrence, the firm of Andrews 
& Tucker having a store on Massachusetts, and 
dealing in Colorado and California fruits. In 
1890 he became clerk to the count}' treasurer, 
J. C. Walton, remaining with his successor, 
A. L. Cox, and at the same time for four years 
he was cit}' assessor. In the fall of 1894 he was 
nominated to represent the fourteenth (now the 
thirteenth) district in the legislature and was 
elected bj' the largest majoritj- ever given any 
candidate for this position in the district. Dur- 
ing the session of 1895 he was a member of the 
ways and means committee and aided in securing 
appropriations for the University of Kansas, also 
assisted in securing the election of United States 
Senator Baker. In 1896 he was elected clerk of 
the district court by a large majority and took 
office in January, 1897. The following year he 
was re-elected by an increased majority, to serve 
until Januarj', 1901. 

In this city Mr. Tucker married Miss Jessie 
Flinn, who is a graduate of the high school and 
also attended the university. They have four 
children, Oliver Cromwell, George William, 
Dorothy and John H. In religion Mr. Tucker 
adheres to the faith of his father, who was a 
Methodist minister. Fraternally he is connected 
with the Knights and Ladies of Security; is past 
officer in the Modern Woodmen lodge, and past 
master workman in the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen, in which he has al.so been a repre- 
sentative to the grand lodge. 



QENJAMIN F. EDWARDS. The pioneers 
ro of Leavenworth County will always be held 
d/ in grateful remembrance. The hardships 
and privations that they endured in the early 
days of the settlement this county are being rec- 
ognized now more than ever before, as the re- 
sults of their labors are every year becoming 
more apparent. Among these early settlers prom- 
inent mention belongs to Benjamin F. Edwards, 
of Kickapoo Township. In the spring of 1855 
he crossed over from Missouri to Kansas and pre- 
empted a claim of one hundred and sixtj' acres 
where he now lives. Building a cabin, for two 



years or more he kept " bachelor's hall." As the 
years passed by he made valuable improvements 
on the place. At the same time he added to it until 
at this writing there are three hundred and sixty 
acres in the farm. He has engaged in general 
farm pursuits and in the stock business, making 
a specialty of raising Poland-China hogs. 

In Washington County, Tenn., in 1829, our 
subject was born, a son of John and Sarah (Hop- 
kins) Edwards. His paternal great-grandfather, 
Abel Edwards, emigrated from England to Amer- 
ica prior to the Revolutionary war and settled in 
Virginia, from which state he enlisted in the col- 
onial army. When the war closed he removed 
to Washington County, Tenn., and took up large 
tracts of land. About the same time his brother, 
John, settled in eastern Kentucky'. Thomas, son 
of Abel Edwards, was born in Virginia, but spent 
his life principally in Tennessee, where he died 
in 1850. His son, John, was born in Tennessee 
in 1 800, and was a lifelong resident of Washing- 
ton County, where he owned five thousand acres 
of land and engaged in farming and stock-rais- 
ing. His .stock grazed for miles in the moun- 
tains, and proved a profitable source of revenue. 
During the Florida war he was captain of a 
Tennessee state company that served under Gen- 
eral Jackson. Active as a Whig in local politics, 
he held a number of offices, among them those of 
deputy sheriflF and justice of the peace. During 
the war his sympathies were strongly with the 
Union, and he was killed by Rebel soldiers at his 
home in 1864. His body was laid to rest on the 
sixtj--fourth anniversarj' of his birth. 

The wife of Capt. John Edwards was born in 
Alabama and was a granddaughter of Stephen 
Hopkins, a signer of the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence. Benjamin P. Hopkins, her father, was a 
soldier in the war of 18 12, serving under An- 
thony Wayne. She died at the home of her son, 
our subject, in 1888, when eighty-one j-ears of 
age. Her nine children who attained maturity 
were named as follows: William, of Martins- 
ville, Ind. ; Nancy E., deceased; Benjamin F. ; 
Thomas, who lost his life at Stone River, while 
serving in the Union army; Mrs. Rebecca Rick- 
man, of Nebraska; John, who was a captain in the 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



663 



Third North Carolina Infantry during the Civil 
war and is now living in Rush County, Kans. ; 
Samuel A., of Carroll County, Mo., who was a 
soldier in the Confederate army during part of 
the war; Sarah, Mrs. Henry Simons; and Zachary 
T., living in Chautauqua County, Kans. 

When eighteen years of age our subject volun- 
teered for service in the Mexican war, and served 
until the close of the conflict, when he was trans- 
ferred to the regular array. During the five 
years of his service he was stationed in different 
parts of New Mexico and Colorado and assisted 
in defending the western settlers from the depre- 
dations of the Pawnee Indians. More than once 
the Indians attacked him and their arrows found 
lodgment in his clothes. He was mustered out 
August 20, 1852, at Fort L,eavenworth. After a 
short visit to his old home he started for Califor- 
nia, but on reaching Missouri settled in Bu- 
chanan County and engaged in farming there. 
In the spring of I S55 he removed to Kansas, where 
he has since built up a fine farm and become a 
prosperous agriculturist. Before his marriage, 
for two years he taught school during the winter 
months and farmed in summer. 

In politics Mr. Edwards is a Republican. For 
four years he held the office of deputy sheriff" and 
he has also filled a number of township offices. 
In 1876 he was his party's candidate for the leg- 
islature, but was defeated. In the exciting times 
before the Civil war he was outspoken in his sup- 
port of the free-state movement, and his frank- 
ness brought upon him the enmity of pro-slavery 
men. More than once his life was in great 
danger on account of his opposition to slavery, 
but, while he was aware of his peril, he refused 
to become sileutly acquiescent to southern sym- 
pathizers. A brave, outspoken man, he feared 
neither friend or foe. During the war he was a 
member of Company A, Seventeenth Kansas In- 
fantry, and also acted as recruiting officer for the 
Seventh and Fifteenth Kansas Cavalry. Among 
the engagements in which he bore a part were 
those at West port. Mo., Mine Creek and New- 
tonia. He was slightly wounded at Westport, 
and, while in the Seventh, was disabled by the 
kick of a horse. He is a member of Custer Post 



No. 6, G. A. R. In Kickapoo Lodge No. 4, 
A. F. & A. M., of which he is a member, he 
has passed all of the chairs. 

The marriage of Mr. Edwards, in 1857, united 
him with Sarah Jane Dooley, of Platte County, 
Mo. They have ten children, namely: Sarah, 
who married Joseph Cleavinger; Alice, wife of 
O. T. Sprong; John, a farmer; William Grant, 
who resides with his parents; Albert M., a far- 
mer of Leavenworth County; Ida, Mrs. John 
Sprong; Agnes, wife of George H. Faulkner; 
Benjamin F., Jr.; Myrtle and Lyman. The 
family attend the Christian Church. 



I ANSING VAN VOORHIS, a farmer of 
IC Douglas County, came to Kansas in 1880, 
|_2f hoping that the climate might prove advan- 
tageous to his health, which had been injured by 
his service in the Civil war. Purchasing one 
hundred and twenty acres of his present farm in 
Wakarusa Township he has since given his at- 
tention to agricultural pursuits. At the time of 
his settlement here thirty acres of the farm were 
still covered with timber, and no improvements 
had been made in any portion of the property. 
At once he set about the task of clearing the land 
and preparing it for cultivation. The work re- 
quired constant effort and untiring labor, but it 
was not done in vain, for he now has a valuable 
homestead. He erected a residence and barn, 
built fences, set out an orchard, and in 1890 built 
a tenant house. All the conveniences of a 
modern farm may now be found on the place. 
Besides his agricultural interests he was for 
some time connected with the Soldiers' Home at 
Dodge City, Kans. In 1892 he was appointed a 
member of the board of managers and later was 
chosen president of the board, while for six 
months he also acted as commandant of the home, 
which at the time had between four and five 
hundred inmates. 

Maj. Rowe Van Voorhis, who founded this fam- 
ily in America, came from Holland in 1663 and 
settled in Fishkill, N. Y., afterward taking an 
active part in the early wars of the country. His 
descendants served in the Revolution and other 



664 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



wars. They were people of prominence and 
held positions of trust in New York and other 
states. Our subject's grandfather, Court Van 
Voorhis, a farmer, was one of the earlj' settlers 
of Otsego County, N. Y. , where his second son, 
James, was a farmer, an active worker in the 
Whig party and the incumbent of local oflBces. 
By the latter' s marriage to Jane Magee ten chil- 
dren were born, nine of whom attained maturity, 
viz.: Caroline, deceased; lycroy, who lives at 
Templeton, S. Dak.; Abraham, formerly a physi- 
cian, now deceased; Edelmer, a farmer in Orleans 
County, N. Y. ; Adoniram, who died in boyhood; 
Lansing, our subject, who was born in Otsego 
County, N. Y., January 14, 1839; Maribah, Cora 
and Adelaide. Our subject's great-grandfather 
on the maternal side established the Magee family 
in America and taught the first English school in 
Albany, N. Y. His son, John Magee, our sub- 
ject's grandfather, enlisted at sixteen j-ears in 
the Revolutionary war, and after its close settled 
on a farm in Otsego County. 

When nineteen years of age our subject com- 
menced to teach school, which occupation he fol- 
lowed at intervals until he was thirty-six. He 
remained in New York state until his removal to 
Kansas. In August, 1864, he enlisted in the 
Third New York Cavalrj', being a raw recruit in 
an old regiment inured to hard marches and 
fatiguing experiences. This was the regiment 
which led the charge at Richmond and gained 
fame on many a bloodj' battlefield. His ser\'ice, 
however, was principally in vidette duty. Since 
the organization of the Grand Army he has been 
identified with it. In politics a Democrat, he 
has served as delegate to many conventions. 
Although his localitj' is Republican, the influence 
of his personality was sufficient to secure his 
election to the oSice of justice of the peace. He 
is interested in the work of the Baptist Church 
and during much of the time since he came west 
he has taught the Bible class. He is connected 
with the Sons of the Revolution and served as 
vice-president of the state branch in his congres- 
sional di-strict. 

By his marriage to Electa Jane Brown, which 
was solemnized in New York March 7, 1861, he 



has three daughters. Lena A. is the wife of Olin 
Templin, one of the faculty of the University of 
Kansas; both are graduates of this university and 
after their marriage spent two years in study in 
Germany. The second daughter, Cora A., re- 
sides with her parents. The youngest, Myrtie 
M., is the wife of B. M. Gregory, who is a 
farmer in Wakarusa Township, also an active 
politician, and at one time served as clerk of the 
district court. 



Gl LBERT C. SHINN. The farm and stock 
LI interests of Franklin Count}' have an in- 
/ I fluential and prosperous representative in 
Mr. Shinn, a well-known resident of Hayes 
Township. Shortly after the close of the Civil 
war, in which he .served with faithfulness, he 
came to Kansas for the purpose of selecting a 
suitable location for a home. In March, 1866, 
he took up one hundred and sixty acres in Hayes 
Township. The land was then raw and un- 
broken. He set about the task of improving the 
place, which he placed under good cultivation. 
From time to time he added to it until he now 
owns five hundred acres, all in one bod}\ Short- 
horn cattle, Poland-China hogs and standard- 
bred horses may be seen upon his farm, with 
descendants that have records between 2:16 and 
2:14. 

Born in Harrison County, W. Va., October 12, 
1842, Mr. Shinn is a son of John K. and Tabitha 
(Ogden) Shinn, and was one of twelve children, 
of whom three sons are in Kansas. His father, a 
native of Harrison County, engaged in farming 
there, but in 1848 removed to Illinois, of which 
he was a pioneer. In politics he was first a Whig 
and later a Republican. When our subject was 
twenty years old, in 1862, he enlisted in Com- 
pany G, Tvvelfth Illinois Cavalry, which was 
assigned to the armj' of the Potomac, and after 
it was veteranized the regiment was ordered to 
the department of the Mississippi. His service 
was such as to reflect credit upon his valor and 
his patriotism. Since the war he has been iden- 
tified with the Grand Army. 

In political matters Mr. Shinn stands by him- 
self, not adhering to the lines of any party, but 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



665 



believing firmly in the declaration of independ- 
ence, the principles of abolition and the free 
coinage of silver. To the last-named cause he 
has given thought, time and attention. Fond of 
reading and having a good library, he has kept 
well posted concerning the issues which the peo- 
ple confront, and has never idly drifted with the 
tide of public opinion, but has been an original 
thinker. Since the American bimetallic union 
was organized in 1889 he has been one of its act- 
ive members, and he is still connected with its 
national committee. He was one of the Weaver 
electors and his name appeared on the Alliance 
state ticket in 1890. His influence has been felt 
in his community in the promotion of local en- 
terprises and the increased prosperity of this lo- 
cality. During the existence of the Grange and 
the Alliance he bore prominent parts in both. 

October 7, 1865, Mr. Shinn married Frances E. 
Bride, of lUinois. They are the parents of five 
children, namely: Tabitha Eveline, wife of O. E. 
Haley; Esther A., who married John M. Conard; 
Phoebe Clara, Mrs. W. A. Rodgers; Jacob Elwin, 
of Linn County, who has built up a business in 
abstracts of title; and Clay Bride, at home. 



pCJlLLIAM R. WILLIAMS, who came to 
I A/ Lawrence in 1879, has since made his 
V V home in this city. In that year he in- 
vented, patented and copyrighted Williams' per- 
fection tailor system of dress-cutting, and since 
then he has added new features and made many 
improvements, which also have been copyrighted. 
This system he has introduced all over the United 
States and Canada, and even into South Africa 
and parts of Europe. He is a man of inventive 
genius and hence is deeply interested in all mat- 
ters pertaining to invention and discovery. Since 
settling in Kansas he has given some attention to 
stock-raising. He owns a farm of four hundred 
acres in Wakarusa Township, Douglas County, 
nine miles southwest of Lawrence, on the old 
Washington creek bottom. This property he 
has improved by substantial buildings and on it 
he has engaged in raising Hereford cattle and 



other fine stock. He also owns a farm near 
Lawrence and considerable property in the cit}^ 
A director in the old Douglas County Bank, 
when it was merged into the Lawrence National 
Bank he remained on the directorate of the latter 
institution. 

In Swansea, Glamorganshire, South Wales, 
our subject was born July 22, 1848, and was one 
of five children, of whom two besides himself are 
living: Mrs. Elizabeth E. Button, of Hastings, 
Neb., and Daniel T. (a member of the One Hun- 
dred and Thirty-eighth Illinois Infantry during 
the Civil war), of Morris, 111. The father, Will- 
iam, son of William, Sr. , was born near Cardiff, 
South Wales, and was employed on the butte 
docks in his native town. In 1S50 he brought 
his family to America, settling at Morris, Grundy 
County, 111., where he engaged in contracting 
and building until his death, in 1865. He mar- 
ried Mary, daughter of Richard Williams, who 
was a shoe manufacturer at Merthyr-Tydvil, 
South Wales. She was born there and died in 
Morris, 111., in 1884, at seventy-four years of 
age. Though bearing the same family name, 
she was not related to the gentleman whose wife 
she became. 

When two years of age our subject was 
brought by his parents to America on a sailing- 
vessel, "James Wright," which spent six weeks 
and two days between Liverpool and New York. 
He was educated in Mount Morris Seminary and 
in the State Normal School at Normal, 111. , and 
paid his own expenses partly by teaching school. 
Upon leaving the normal he secured employ- 
ment as traveling salesman, and for several years 
followed this vocation, his route being in Illi- 
nois, Indiana and Michigan. Since then he has 
made Lawrence his home, and has been con- 
nected with the business and agricultural inter- 
ests of Douglas County. He is a member of the 
American Hereford Cattle Breeders' Association. 
In politics he is a Republican. For two terms 
he served in the city council from the second 
ward; and was chairman of the committee on 
city property and enthusiastically in favor of the 
plan of placing a fountain in the city park. He 
is treasurer of the board of trustees of the Method- 



666 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



ist Episcopal Church and served upon the build- 
ing coniniittee at the time of the erection of the 
new church. 

In Wilmington, Will County, 111., February 3, 
1872, Mr. William.s married Miss Martha A. 
Stovvell, who was born in that county; she is a 
daughter of Charles Stowell, a farmer, who was 
somewhat versed in law and was called upon to 
serve for several years as justice of the peace. 
Mr. and Mrs. Williams are the parents of three 
children, namely: Arthur R., who graduated 
from the department of law, University of Kan- 
sas, in 1899; Roger M., a student in the high 
school; and Rolland R. 



EHARLES F. AVENARIUS. The name of 
this family was originally Haverman, but 
about four hundred years ago, in the time of 
Luther, a learned professor of Leipsic changed it 
to the Latin language, the Haver becoming 
Avena, to which was added the Latin terminal 
' 'ins. ' ' Under the Latin name his descendants have 
since been known. Ernst Phillip Avenarius was 
born in Dietz-Nassau, Germany, and was edu- 
cated for the medical profession in his native 
land, after which he engaged in practice at 
Dinxperlo, Holland. Next in line of descent 
was Dr. Bernard T. Avenarius, who was born in 
Dinxperlo, Gelderland, Holland, in 1777, and 
married Hendrina Luimes. G. B. Avenarius 
was born in 1818 in Dinxperlo and in , boy hood 
learned the baker's trade. In 1864 he brought 
his family to America, and the following year 
settled in Waupun,Wis., where he carried on the 
Exchange hotel. In 1870 he came to Kansas 
and took up a homestead and pre-emption claim 
near Tescott, Ottawa County, to which he after- 
ward added, becoming the owner of about two 
sections of land, where he carried on a cattle and 
sheep business. Now retired from active cares 
he is making his home with his son, the subject 
of this sketch. For two terms he ser\'ed as jus- 
tice of the peace. In religion he is a Lutheran. 
He married Antoinetta Kaiser, who was born in 
Amsterdam, Holland, a daughter of Heinrich 
Kaiser, and died in Tescott, Ottawa County, 



March 31, 1894. There were in the family nine 
children, all but two of whom attained mature 
years and six are now living. The oldest .son, 
Benhard T.. died in Topeka, Kans. Mrs. Boland 
lives in Claflin, Kans.; Henry J., in Catherin, 
Colo. ; Charles F. ; Mrs. Thompson makes her 
home in Tescott, Kans.; Gerrit A. is a photog- 
rapher in Ellsworth, this state; and Mrs. Allet 
Needhaui lives in Catherin, Colo. 

The third of the sons, our subject, was born in 
Gelderland, Holland, September 15, 1854. In 
1864, with the others of the family, he left Rot- 
terdam for London by steamer, and from London 
crossed the ocean in a sailing vessel, which ar- 
rived in New York after a voyage of six weeks. 
In the spring of 1865 he accompanied his parents 
to Waupuii, Wis., where he attended school. In 
the fall of 1870 the family came overland to Kan- 
sas, spending six weeks on the road and buying 
a herd of cattle near St. Joe, Mo. He at once 
began to assist in herding the cattle, in which 
business he continued until 1881. He then en- 
gaged in the livery business at Ellsworth. In 
March, 1884, he came to Ottawa, and entered 
the employ of R. C. Campbell, with whom he 
continued for eighteen months, after which he 
spent a similar period with William B. Kiler. 
The latter was burned out in June, 1887, and 
shortly afterward the firm of Kiler & Avenarius 
was formed and bought a livery barn on Second 
and Hickory streets. After "eight months Mr. 
Avenarius sold out to Mr. Kiler and bought the 
old Mammoth, which he carried on for a short 
time. Next he bought the Cannon Ball stables, 
in which he had worked for $12 a month on com- 
ing to Ottawa. On buying this property, in the 
spring of 1896, he moved his rolling stock here, 
refitted and painted the barn, and made it the 
finest in the city. He is well posted concerning 
horses and has some fine ones in his barn. 
Among them is South Side Medium, Reg. 
No. 31284, who won the three-year-old trot of 
Franklin County, and made a trial record of 2:28 
at that age, also won second premium at Mober- 
ly, Mo., in the stallion roadster class, over a field 
often stallions of all ages, and has taken the first 
premium for best stallion roadster at the Frank- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



667 



Hn County fair ever since he was six months old, 
also took first premium in Miami Count}' in 1898. 
This stallion is a brown roan, sixteen and one- 
half hands high, and weighs one thousand and 
one hundred pounds. Without doubt no finer 
stallion has ever been brought to this section 
His pedigree is as follows: Happy Heir, bred by 
B. J. Tracy, of Lexington, Ky., sire of fifteen 
stallions with fine records for speed; and Amor- 
ette, registered in the great brood mare list; 
Happy Heir sired by Happy Medium (sire of 
Nancy Hanks) , dam Heiress; Happy Medium 
sired by Hambletonian, sired by Abdallah, by 
Mambrino. The pedigree is not only noted for 
speed, but also for size, soundness, high breeding 
and other valuable qualities. Among the other 
horses owned by Mr. Avenarius are Sunshine 
Wilkes by Favorite Wilkes; and Croppy P. , Reg. 
No. 16364, which has a colt. Cannon Ball Me- 
dium, sired by South Side Medium, and the fin- 
est colt in the city. 

Politically Mr. Avenarius is a Democrat and a 
member of the county committee of his party. 
He is connected with the Knights of Pythias. 
Octobers, 1886, at Tescott, Kans., he married 
Miss Anna B. Zaugg, who was born in Berne, 
Switzerland, and accompanied a brother to Kan- 
sas. She is a member of the Lutheran Church, 
to which Mr. Avenarius contributes. They have 
one child, Lena A. 



(lACOB RODENHAUS, who has been identi- 
I fied with the history of Kansas since 1856, was 
C2/ born in Marburg, Kur-Hessen, Germany, 
January 20, 1833, a son of John and Margarita 
(Peters) Rodenhaus, also natives of Kur-Hessen. 
His father, who was the son of a soldier in the 
Napoleonic wars, engaged in farm pursuits in his 
native place until he died. In the family there 
were six children who attained years of maturity 
and four of these are now living, one son being 
in South Dakota. The subject of this sketch was 
reared in Marburg and received his education in 
a gymnasium. In 1852 he went to Liverpool, 
where he embarked on a sailing vessel, and after 
twenty-three days he arrived in New York. 



Going to New Bremen, Ohio, he joined an uncle, 
Mr. Metz, and afterward clerked in a general 
.store there. In 1855 he went to Dayton, Ohio, 
where he worked in a grocery for a year. 

May, 1856, found Mr. Rodenhaus in Kansas, 
desirous to do his part toward making it a free 
state. From Kansas City he came to Leaven- 
worth, thence went to the border counties and 
spent six months trying to get hold of land, re- 
turning to Ohio in the fall. The spring of 1857 
found him again in Leavenworth, where he was 
employed as a waiter in the Planters' hotel, kept 
by McCarthy & McMecken, remaining in that 
position until Smith & Rice bought the hotel. 
He then went to the Osaukee land sale and bought 
one hundred and sixty acres, which he sold seven 
days afterward at a profit of $150. Then, in 
company with a man from Iowa, he traveled by 
team through Kansas, and in Andenson County, 
near Greeley, took up one hundred and sixty 
acres of land. In company with six men he lo- 
cated claims and then sold them. Mount Gilead, 
one-half mile from Greeley, was occupied by 
General Blount. The men located claims around 
Shannon City (now Garrett) and sold them at 
good prices in the fall. Going to Lecompton in 
the fall, Mr. Rodenhaus pre-empted his land with 
a land warrant and engaged with Hoyt in selling 
land warrants. Next returning to Leavenworth, 
he stopped at the Mansion house, the headquar- 
ters of General Lane, and whose proprietor was 
a Mr. Perry, a radical Abolitionist. In 1858 he 
voted at polls on the corner of Shawnee and 
Main streets. This was the most exciting elec- 
tion he ever experienced. The climax between 
the free-state and pro-slavery parties had been 
reached, and, to keep the peace, the town had 
been placed under the protection of the military 
from the fort. The election brought victory to 
the free-state party, but did not end the disturb- 
ances between the two factions, trouble contin- 
uing until the war closed. During the existence 
of the Union League Mr. Rodenhaus was one of 
its members, under Colonel Clough. 

About the time of purchasing one hundred and 
twenty acres in Johnson County and one hundred 
and sixty acres in Pottawatomie County, Mr. 



668 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Rodenhaus also opened a cigar store on Second 
street, between Delaware and Shawnee, in Leav- 
enworth. In 1859 and i860 he clerked in the 
Leavenwortli house on Cherokee street, after 
which he conducted a billiard hall on Delaware 
street for two years. When the war broke out 
he bought for $175 a tract of eighty acres of land, 
near Olathe, from Captain Kimball, who raised 
a company of volunteers with the money he re- 
ceived; this property he afterward sold at a good 
profit. In 1863 he occupied what afterward be- 
came the county poor farm. In 1 864 he was pro- 
prietor of a restaurant on Delaware street, be- 
tween Second and Third. After nine months in 
that business he started a store on the corner of 
Lawrence street and Pennsylvania avenue, and 
this, in 1874, he sold to Gus Schmeckel, who had 
been his clerk for years. In 1871 he vi.sited his 
relatives and friends in Germany, and in 1875 
took a trip to California. For nine months in 
1876 he engaged in the hide business, and in the 
fall of 1877 he became interested in the pork-pack- 
ing business with William Wettig. 

At the time of the Dead wood excitement, in 
1877, Mr. Rodenhaus shipped his pork to that 
place, taking it by rail to Cheyenne (by way of 
Denver), and thence by team three hundred and 
twenty-five miles to Deadwood. From 1877 to 
1885 he was in partner.ship with his brother in a 
store, but in the latter year sold out to his brother 
and started in the cattle business in South Da- 
kota, having as partners Messrs. Herman, Lange, 
Stein and Pryzbylowicz. At the same time he 
engaged in raining and in buying and selling 
farms and town property. Every year he spent 
.several months in Deadwood. This trip he made 
by stage from Cheyenne, Sidney and Fort Pierre, 
and later, via railroad, over the Elkhorn and the 
Burlington & Missouri. These long trips on 
stage coaches were not only tedious, but even 
dangerous, owing to the number of robbers who 
laid in wait for the coaches. However, only once 
was the coach in which Mr. Rodenhaus traveled 
held up by road "agents." At that time there 
were nine passengers, but the men had been 
shrewd enough to bring with them only enough 
money to pay for their meals, so the robbers se- 



cured nothing from them. However, the only 
lady passenger in the party had $250 which she 
was bringing with her from California and this 
money they secured. 

The possessions of Mr. Rodenhaus include 
farms in Delaware and High Prairie Townships, 
residence property in Leavenworth, a .store build- 
ing in Deadwood and a farm near that town, also 
.stock in the Leavenworth Mutual Building & Loan 
Association. He was also a stockholder in the Ger- 
man Bank and the Plumraer Evaporating Com- 
pany, which are now out of existence, and German 
Building Verein Association. In Leavenworth 
he married Miss Gertrude Feldhausen, who was 
born in German}', and accompanied her parents 
to America, settling first in Green Bay, Wis. 
Their union has resulted in the birth of seven 
children, viz.: Mrs. Minnie Sutorius, of Kansas 
City, Mo.; Mrs. Annie Schmeckel, of Leaven- 
worth; Jacob H., who is a conductor on the city 
street railroad; Mrs. Lottie Mueller, of St. Louis, 
Mo.; Mrs. Frances Sutorius, of Omaha; Mrs. 
Etta Armstead, of Leavenworth; and Eugene, 
now at school in St. Louis. • 

In early life Mr. Rodenhaus was a Whig. 
After he came to Kansas he was a free-state Re- 
publican, and he is proud of the fact that he has 
voted for every Republican presidential candidate 
from the time he had a right to vote up to the 
present time. From 1883 to 1894, with the ex- 
ception of two years, he was city a.ssessor. In 
1894, on the Republican ticket, he was elected 
county commissioner for the second district, and 
served from Jainiary, 1895, to January, 1898, be- 
ing chairman of the committees and the most ac- 
tive member of the board. At the same time he 
was a commissioner of the poor for the city. He 
is a director of the Sick Relief Society, financial 
secretary and trustee of the Turn Verein, a past 
grand officer in the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, and for twenty years a member of the 
volunteer fire company of Leavenworth, of which 
he served during part of the time as secretary. In 
the early days of his residence in the west he be- 
longed to a militarj' company under Captain 
Zesh, and was orderly sergeant, under Captain 
Mehle, at the time the company took part in the 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



669 



inarch against Price, he being assigned with Bat- 
tery A and three cannons, to Shawneetown. His 
long and intimate connection with the history of 
Leavenworth entitles him to rank among its 
foremost and honored pioneers, to whose self- 
sacrificing efforts the present generation owes a 
debt of gratitude that can never be paid. He 
has proved himself a loyal citizen of his adopted 
country, and is one of the most patriotic citizens 
of the great commonwealth of Kansas. 



J LI J. WHERRY, a farmer of Eudora Town- 
^ ship, Douglas County, residing at No. 1040 
^ Vermont street, Lawrence, was born in 
Washington County, Pa., March i, 1844, a son 
of James and Catherine (Patterson) Wherry, na- 
tives of the same county. The Wherry family 
originated in Wales, but several generations re- 
sided in Switzerland, from which country one of 
the name emigrated to America prior to the Rev- 
olutionary war, becoming one of the earliest 
settlers of Washington County. In the latter 
county, John, a son of the emigrant, was born, 
reared, married and engaged in farm pursuits 
until his death. James, who was a son of John 
Wherry, spent his entire life on a farm which was 
one of the largest in the county and which he 
successfully cultivated. During the existence of 
the Whig party he supported its principles and 
after its disintegration he became a Republican. 
Though active in politics he never aspired to 
office. His death occurred when he was seventy 
years of age, and his wife passed away in 1894, at 
the old homestead, where some of the family still 
live. They were the parents of ten children, 
eight of whom are still living. 

The third son of the family was Eli J., the 
subject of this sketch. He received such advan- 
tages as common schools afforded. At the age 
of twenty-one he came west to Kansas and set- 
tled in Douglas County, first following the car- 
penter's trade in Eudora. In 1867 he moved to 
Johnson County and purchased a tract of land, 
upon which he made his home for twenty years. 
In 1887 he came to Lawrence in order that his 
children might enjoy the splendid educational 



advantages which this city aflfords. He still 
owns two hundred and forty acres in Johnson 
County, and one hundred and sixty-two acres in 
Douglas County, and gives his attention closely 
to the supervision of his properties and the rais- 
ing of stock. At one time he was a Republican, 
but now he is active in the Prohibition party and 
works earnestly in behalf of the temperance cause. 
During almost the entire period of his residence in 
Kansas he has served as a member of the school 
board. Besides his property in this state he is 
the owner of real estate in Chillicothe, Mo. He 
was one of the organizers of the Eudora Cream- 
ery Company. Both he and his family are active 
in the work of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
and he also contributes to other worthy move- 
ments for the benefit of religion, education or 
morality. Fraternally he is connected with the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen. 

December i, 1864, Mr. Wherry married Fran- 
ces A., daughter of Henry Weaver, to whom 
reference is made in the sketch of John F. 
Weaver. Their union has been blessed by five 
children, named as follows: Jennie, who is the 
wife of Charles Jewett; Curtis A., a practicing 
physician of Ogden, Utah; Stiles W., who is a 
dental graduate and now practices his profession 
in Ogden; Arthur C, a graduate of Lawrence 
high school; and Linley P., the two last named 
being still with their parents. 



HON. JOHN H. HARRISON, probate judge 
of Franklin County, was born near Ladoga, 
Montgomery Countj', Ind., February 22, 
1830, a son of Robert and Mary (Hammer) Har- 
rison, natives of North Carolina. His paternal 
grandfather, Abraham Harrison, was born in 
North Carolina, of English descent, and be- 
longed to a prominent Quaker family of the 
south. The maternal grandfather, Isaac Ham- 
mer, was also identifieti with the Society of 
Friends in North Carolina and was a farmer by 
occupation. 

Near Guilford Courthouse, in Randolph Coun- 
ty, N. C, Robert Harrison was born in 1786. At 
twenty-one years of age he removed to Ohio and 



670 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



settled near Dayton, where he engaged in farm- 
ing. Next he went to Indiana, where he culti- 
vated a farm and also followed the cooper's trade. 
When a young man he took part in the war of 
1812. He was a Baptist in religious belief and a 
man of philanthropic spirit and kind heart. He 
died in 1839, and was long survived by his wife, 
who passed away in 1875. They were the parents 
of si.\ children, namely: Allen, who is living in 
Montgomery County, Ind. ; Mrs. Elizabeth Bald- 
win, who died in Indiana; Mrs. Cortney Hostet- 
ter, who died in Indiana; Mrs. Sarah Brookshire, 
who resides in that state; Robert, who died at 
twentj' seven years; and John H. The last- 
named was reared on the home farm, and at- 
tended a subscription school held in a log build- 
ing, with slab benches, puncheon floor, and a 
writing desk that ran along the side of the wall. 
It was in such a school as this that he taught for 
a time. He po.sses.sed abilitj- as a mechanic and 
early worked at that occupation, later devoting 
himself especially to carpentering. It was his 
custom to go into the woods, hew the timber, 
haul it to the saw-mill, then take the lumber and 
use it in the construction of bridges, barns, etc. 

Coming to Kansas in 1869 Mr. Harrison bought 
a farm five miles south of Wellsville, and the 
next year he located his familj- there. For a 
time he devoted himself exclusively to the culti- 
vation of his farm of three hundred and twenty 
acres, and in a few years he bought other farm 
propertj'. After some time he resumed contract- 
ing and building, and soon became known as an 
expert in this business. On the People's partj- 
ticket, in 1894, he was nominated for probate 
judge, but was defeated by one hundred and fiftj- 
votes. Two years later he was again the nomi- 
nee of the Populists and fusion Democrats, and 
this time he was elected by a majority of almost 
four hundred. In 1898 he was again nominated 
and elected, his term to expire Januarj-, 1901. 
He has bought property in Ottawa, where he ex- 
pects to make his permanent home. 

In Indiana Miss Nancy Wilson, daughter of 
Henry Wilson, became the wife of Mr. Harrison. 
She was born in Kentucky and died in Indiana, 
leaving six children, namely: Mrs. Lucj' Gregg, 



of Kansas City; Mrs. Sarah Davis, of Wellsville, 
Kans. ; Robert, who occupies the old home farm; 
Allen, who is in Van Buren, Ark.; Oliver, a 
contractor and builder in Wellsville; and Eva, 
Mrs. Binford, of Kansas City. The second wife 
of Mr. Harrison was Mrs. Martha E. Lamb, and 
was born in Illinois, but at the time of their mar- 
riage was living in Wellsville. 

During his residence in Indiana Judge Harri- 
son served as justice of the peace for four years. 
For one term he was mayor of Wellsville, for 
many years served as town clerk, member of the 
school board and clerk of the same. In former 
years he was very prominent in the Grange. In 
1873 he was elected, on the Grange ticket, to the 
state legislature and served for one term, during 
which time he was a member of various commit- 
tees and assisted in electing ex-Governor Harvey 
to the United States senate. Fraternally he is 
connected with the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows. 



^EORGE E. McGILL, who has made his 
|_ home in Leavenworth since 1865 and is one of 
^J the enterprising businessmen of this city, was 
born near Toronto, Canada, July 11, 1840, a son 
of John and Mary Ann (Learnad) McGill. His 
paternal grandfather, George McGill, a jeweler 
by trade, served for a time as sheriff of his native 
town of Paisley, but during the weaver's rebel- 
lion, in 1814, he emigrated to America, settling 
in Canada and starting in the jewelry business 
in Oshawa. Fraternally he was an active Mason. 
He had several brothers who were officers in the 
British army and all, upon retiring from the serv- 
ice, settled in Canada, receiving grants to large 
tracts of land that are still in possession of the 
family. At the time the family crossed the ocean 
John McGill was a child of six years, and he after- 
ward made his home in Canada, where he fol- 
lowed the carpenter's trade. His last years were 
spent upon a farm and there he died at eighty- 
three. His wife, who was also eighty-three at the 
time of her death, was born in New Hamp.shire, 
member of an old Revolutionary family. Six chil- 
dren were born to their union, and all but one 
are now living. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



671 



When a youth of eighteen the subject of this 
sketch began to teach school. In 1859 he went 
to Boston, where he graduated from a commer- 
cial college, and afterward for one year he studied 
medicine in McGill University under his uncle. 
Dr. William McGill. In 1863 he enlisted in the 
One Hundred and Fourteenth Massachusetts In- 
fantry, but was rejected. Two years later he 
came to Leavenworth, where he engaged in the 
practice of medicine for three years, and after- 
ward traveled for a Leavenworth firm, later being 
commercial traveler for H. W. King & Co., of 
Chicago. He traveled for various firms for fif- 
teen years, his territory comprising Kansas, west- 
ern Missouri and southern Nebraska. In 1886 
he retired from the road and began to raise Jer- 
sey cattle, also engaged in the breeding of road- 
sters. He has since given considerable attention 
to this business, and has bred some Wilkes and 
Hambletonian standards which have been sold at 
high prices. He now has a dairy, with nearly 
forty milch cows, and also owns a number of fine 
horses, with good records. His farm of seven 
acres is situated in the city, on Limit and Maple 
avenue, and he also rents land adjoining. In the 
fall of 1897 he became interested in the improve- 
ment of real estate, and, with Mr. Jameson, has 
since had charge of all the additions to the town. 
His office is at No. 1 16 South Fifth street. 

Politically a Republican, on this ticket Mr. 
McGill was elected to the city council from the 
sixth ward and served for one term. During that 
time he was a member of the committees on 
streets and grades, and fire department, also 
chairman of the committee on public improve- 
ments, and private secretary to Mayor Hook. 

In Leavenworth occurred the marriage of Mr. 
McGill to Miss Mary E. Riley, who was born in 
Springfield, 111., and came to Kansas during ter- 
ritorial days. Two sons were born to the union 
of Mr. and Mrs. McGill. The older, John Frank- 
lin McGill, M. D., is a graduate of the Kansas 
City Medical College, class of 1888, and is en- 
gaged in practice at Galena, Kans. The younger 
son, D. Wallace McGill, is a graduate of the 
Kansas Conservatory of Music, in which he is 
now professor of musical composition and theory, 



also instructor in psychology. He is also a grad- 
uate of the Blind Institute at Kansas City. For 
the last three years he has been recording secre- 
tary of the National Association for the Higher 
Education of the Blind. Possessing a gifted mind, 
broadened by study and observation, he is a 
young man of prominence, whose prospects for 
the future are the brightest. As a public lectur- 
er his services have been in demand in various 
parts of the state. 

(JOHNM. CONARD, an enterprising stock- 
I man of Hayes Township, Franklin County, 
O was born in La Salle County, 111., January 
24,1867. His father, William Conard, a native 
of Ohio, was taken to Illinois at the age of two 
years, and was reared and educated there. En- 
tering active life as a stock-raiser, he soon met 
with gratifying success in this industry, and also 
engaged in selling and shipping stock as well. 
For some years he has been to a large degree re- 
tired from active labors. He is an influential 
citizen of La Salle County, where he is living in 
quiet retirement from the busy cares of life. In 
political matters he formerly advocated Republi- 
can principles, but in more recent years he has 
been in sympathy with Democratic principles in 
national issues. Frequently he has been selected 
to serve in local offices of trust, among his most 
important positions being that of county com- 
missioner, which he filled for many terms. Dur- 
ing the Civil war he was a stanch patriot. In 
1862 he enlisted in an Illinois infantry regiment, 
in which he continued until the close of the war. 
Twice, during engagements, he was wounded, 
but neither time seriously. By his marriage to 
Sarah Dominy he had five children, of whom 
John is the eldest and the only one in Kansas. 

The education of our subject was obtained in 
grammar and high schools and the college at 
Streator, 111. Until twenty-one years of age he 
was with his father in the stock business, after 
which he came to Kansas. With his father as 
partner he bought eight hundred and fifty acres, 
partly in Hayes and partly in Ottawa Townships, 
Franklin County. At the time of settling here 
he gave his attention] wholly to raising farm pro- 



672 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



duce, but later he became interested in the stock 
business. In 1890 he bought his father's inter- 
est in the property and has since been sole owner 
and proprietor. In 1893 he leased the farm 
and moved to Ottawa, where he lived for six 
years. In 1899 he erected on his farm a resi- 
dence of pressed brick and frame, 58x36, which, 
with its stained shingle trimmings and fine interior 
equipments, is one of the finest farm houses in 
eastern Kansas. It is presided over with grace- 
ful dignity by his wife, Esther A., daughter of 
Albert C. Shinn, a lady of education, whose po- 
sition in social circles is the highest. Thej' were 
married January 21, 1891, and are the parents of 
a daughter, Alberta B. 

While Mr. Conard has never cared to identify 
himself with public afFairs, he is well informed 
concerning all subjects brought before the people 
to be solved and in his sympathies is a strong 
Democrat. 



'HOMAS W. HARRISON, a veteran of the 
Civil war, came to Kansas in 1866 and pur- 
chased his present farm in Harrison Town- 
ship, Franklin County, since which time he has 
given his attention to transforming its one hundred 
and sixty acres from raw prairie to a well-im- 
proved estate. For some years he has filled the 
ofl5ce of township trustee and he has also served 
as a school director. He is a charter member of 
the Grange in his township and takes a warm 
interest in all matters pertaining to the stock 
interests of his locality. 

A son of Wilson L. and Mary (Goodbar) Har- 
rison, our subject was born in Porter County, 
Ind., March 31, 1844. His father, a native of 
Shelby County, Ky., moved to Indiana in 1828, 
settling first in Montgomery County and after- 
ward following the tanner's trade in different 
parts of the state, being for several years in Rus- 
sellville, Putnam County. In 1866 he came to 
Kansas and settled on the Ottawa Indian reser- 
vation, purchasing land south of Ottawa, where 
he followed farm pursuits during the remainder 
of his life. In 1871, with another gentleman, 
he petitioned the board of county commissioners 



to divide the Ottawa reservation and organize the 
southern half in a new township. The division 
was finally made and the township was named 
Harrison in his honor. He held several local 
offices, such as trustee and member of the school 
board. His death occurred in 1893, when he was 
eighty-one years of age. 

Joshua Harrison, our subject's grandfather, 
moved from Shelby County, Ky., to Montgomery 
County, Ind., in 1828, and there he spent the bal- 
ance of his life. He was an early settler of the 
county, among whose farmers he occupied a high 
position. During the war of 1812 he enlisted in 
the army and was a.ssigned to service on the fron- 
tier. He died when ninety-three years of age. 
The family of which lie was a member was rep- 
resented among the pioneers of Kentucky and its 
members were people of unusual abilitj^ and in- 
telligence. He was an own cousin of Gen. 
William Henry Harrison. 

The mother of our subject was born near 
Wheeling, in Hancock County, W. Va., and was 
a daughter of John Goodbar, a Virginian, who 
moved to Kentucky and thence to Montgomery 
County, Ind., dying in the latter place at ninety- 
one years of age. His daughter, Mrs. Harrison, 
passed away in 1885, when seventy-five years of 
age. Of her children, Sarah R. is the wife of 
Thomas Scott, of Franklin County; Nancy P. is 
deceased; Marj' C. died in 1895; and John N. lives 
in Ottawa. Our subject, who was fourth among 
the five children, was reared in Indiana, but has 
made his home in Kansas since early manhood. 
In i86i he enlisted in Company D, Fifty-fifth 
Indiana Infantry, and took part in the battle 
of Richmond, Ky. At the expiration of three 
months he was honorably discharged. In 1863 
he again enlisted, becoming a member of Company 
K, Thirty-ninth Indiana Infantry, which was af- 
terward mounted and became the Eighth Indiana 
Cavalry. He served until the close of the war, 
when he was mustered out as corporal. During 
his term of service he took part in thirty-five en- 
gagements, but was never wounded nor taken 
prisoner. He accompanied General Sherman on 
his famous march to the sea. In his possession 
he has a piece of the table on which the terms of 




JfDGE JAMRS F I.FGATE. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



675 



surrender between Johnston and Sherman were 
written. He is now a member of George H. 
Thomas Post No. 18, G. A. R., in Ottawa. 

October 5, 1876, Mr. Harrison married Miss 
Lillias Perkins, daughter of Elijah Perkins, a 
pioneer of Ottawa. By their marriage they have 
two children: Bertha Bernice and Bruce Magill. 



(Judge JAMES F. legate, a pioneer of 
I Kansas, now living retired in Leavenworth, 
G/ was born in Leominster, Mass., November 
23, 1828, a son of William M. and Nancy (Had- 
ley) Legate. The family of which he is a mem- 
ber has been identified with American history 
since 1659, and eight geneiations in succession 
have occupied the homestead where our subject 
was born. His father, who was born in the same 
house as himself, followed a seafaring life for 
twenty-seven years, and made his home in Mas- 
sachusetts, where his death occurred at the age 
of seventy-eight. During the war of 1S12 he 
served as commander of a vessel in the naval 
service. 

The grandfather of our subject, Thomas Leg- 
ate, who served in the Revolutionary war as 
a captain, was a son of Thomas Legate, Sr. , who 
was a colonel in the same regiment. The father 
of Col. Thomas Legate bore the same name as 
himself and was a soldier in the early Indian 
wars. The latter's father, Thomas, was born in 
what is now Boston, and was a son of the founder 
of the family in America, Thomas Legate (ist), 
a native of England, and the third among the 
four sons of Lord Hardcastle. During his serv- 
ice as a captain in the navy he came to Boston 
in charge of a small squadron. Again.st the 
wishes of his family he married a French girl, 
and for this was disinherited; but in 1659 the 
family relented and obtained for him a grant of 
land in Massachusetts. 

In the family of William M. Legate there were 
eleven children, eight of whom are living, the 
eldest being eighty-five and the youngest sixty- 

31 



two. William M. is still living in the Massachu- 
setts town where he was born and is in good health 
in spite of advanced years; Caroline, Mrs. James 
W. French, died at thirty-nine years; Clar- 
inda died when sixty-five years of age; Laura, 
the widow of Thomas Fisher, of Hartford, has 
four children, of whom one son is a preacher in 
Dakota; Franklin resides on the old homestead ; 
Walter was twenty-two at the time of his death; 
James F. was seventh in order of birth; Sidney 
resides in Michigan; Almira died at twenty-two 
years; Sarah is living in the east; and Francena 
is the wife of Andrew Smith, of Stratham, N. H. 
The mother of this family died at seventy-eight 
years. 

When a boy Judge Legate received excellent 
public-school and academic advantages. Going 
to Lowell, Mass., he studied law with Ben Butler 
for sixteen months, and then went to Olive Branch, 
Miss., to assist a cousin in his private sqhool. 
During the eight months he remained in this po- 
sition he made the acquaintance of Judge Miller, 
with whom he finished his law studies. He was 
admitted to the bar under Judge Smith, in Mis- 
sissippi, in 1848, and practiced law with Judge 
Miller until 1854, when he came to Kansas, ar- 
riving in Fort Leavenworth on the 5th of July. 
During his residence in Mississippi, in 1852, he 
canvassed the state in the noted gubernatorial 
campaign where Messrs. Foote and Davis were 
candidates, espousing the cause of Foote. At 
the session of the legislature in 1853 Judge Leg- 
ate made a speech in the caucus of the legislature 
favoring the return of Jefferson Davis to the 
United States senate, and thereby gained the 
friendship of Mr. Davis. Aftercoming to Kansas 
he spent two months in Lawrence, and then 
went to Washington, D. C, where he again met 
Mr. Davis. On his return to Lawrence he de- 
clared himself a Democrat, but opposed to slavery 
in Kansas. In 1856 he became identified with the 
Free State party; this was merged, in 1859, into the 
Republican party, with which during later years 
he was actively and prominently connected. In 
fact, for many years the history of his life and of 
the party in Kansas was almost one and the same. 



676 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Recognizing his fitness for public service the 
fellow-citizens of Judge Legate frequently chose 
him to represent them in offices of trust. He 
was a member of the first legislature and has 
since served seventeen terms as representative of 
this district, either in the house or the senate. He 
was appointed bj- President Lincoln United States 
assessor of internal revenue, for the district of 
Kansas, in 1862. In 1872 he was appointed 
governor of Wa.shington Territory by President 
Grant, but owing to the collapse of Senator 
Pomeroy he never went there. From 1868 to 
1872 he was superintendent of the mail depart- 
ment in Kansas, Nebraska, Indian Territory-, New 
Mexico and Colorado. During both the terri- 
torial and state historj' of Kansas, up to and in- 
cluding 1884, he was a member of every state 
convention of his party, and took a prominent 
part in all. At the close of President Arthur's 
term of office, in 1884, he was made a receiver of 
the land office in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and or- 
ganized the -same, remaining there for three years. 
In 1889 he was returned to the legislature, where 
his services in behalf of his constituents were of 
the greatest value. Being at variance with the 
Republican candidate for governor in 1894, he 
declared himself for Llewellen, the Populist can- 
didate, in whose interest he made eighty-four 
campaign speeches, assisting materially in secur- 
ing his election. Since then he has been less act- 
ive in politics than during former years. How- 
ever, he has continued to be interested in public 
affairs, and assists in enterprises of undoubted 
public value. His long and close connection 
with politics has made his name one of the best 
known in Kansas and he has ranked among the 
leading politicians in the state. 

Since 1863 Judge Legate has made Leaven- 
worth his home. He married Miss Jane Phillips, 
who was born in Keene, N. H. They have three 
children now living, namely: Nellie; Gertrude, 
wife of Albert H. Fuller; and Harry, who is 
storekeeper at the Federal prison. Fraternally 
Judge Legate is a member of Leavenworth Lodge 
No. 2, A. F. & A. M., and Leavenworth Chap- 
ter No. 2, R. A. M. Mrs. Legate is a member of 
the Congregational Church. 



EAPT. THOMAS GETCHELL, deceased, 
formerly one of the best- known citizens of 
Williamsburg, Franklin County, was born 
in Wolfboro, N. H., in 1831. The years of boy- 
hood he passed in his native county of Carroll. 
At the age of seventeen he went to Buffalo, N. Y., 
where he secured employment at the cooper's 
trade. From there he went to Hartstown, Pa., 
where he was similarly employed. He remained 
in the latter city until 1876, when he came to 
Kansas and opened a lumber yard in Princeton. 
During the eight years of his residence in that 
place he built up a good trade and became known 
as a reliable business man. 

Selling out in 1885, Mr. Getchell left Prince- 
ton and established his home in Williamsburg, 
where he opened a dry-goods store. Two years 
later he disposed of his stock of goods and pur- 
chased the lumber business of S. A. Brown & Co. 
From that time until his death he carried on a 
lumber trade, furnishing building material of 
all kinds, and becoming known as a reliable, 
honest and upright man. While he was a stanch 
Republican and a worker for his party, he would 
never accept official positions, although always 
willing to assist his friends who were candidates. 
At the breaking out of the Civil war he enlisted 
as first lieutenant in the One Hundred and Fif- 
tieth Pennsylvania Infantry, Company K, and 
soon afterward he was promoted to the rank of 
captain. His company was selected to serve as 
a body guard to President Lincoln in Washing- 
ton and in this way the captain became a warm 
personal friend of the president, who.se assassina- 
tion he witnessed. He became a member of the 
Grand Army Post in Princeton and served as its 
treasurer. 

In 1865 Captain Getchell married Lottie R. 
Swift, who was born in New York and reared in 
Penn.sylvania. Tliej- became the parents of one 
son now living, Martin F., who is his father's 
successor in the lumber business at Williams- 
burg. Captain Getchell was a man whose hon- 
esty and uprightness commanded the respect of 
all. Fearless of public opinion, he always pur- 
sued the course he believed to be just and right. 
He was a man of public spirit and favored meas- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



677 



ures for the public good. He was recognized as 
a good citizen and an exemplary man in everj' 
respect both in business and private life. In all 
of his work he was aided by his wife, whose coun- 
sel and sympathy were of the greatest assistance 
to him. During the last three years of his life 
his health gradually and steadil}' failed. He vis- 
ited Hot Springs, Ark., hoping to be benefited 
b)' the waters there, but found no relief, and re- 
turned to his Kansas home, where he died, Nov- 
ember 19, 1893, after sixty-two useful years. 



HERMAN SEIDEL, who has resided in 
Leavenworth since boyhood, was born in 
Nuremberg, Germany, November 10, 1864, 
a son of August C. and Margaret (Vogel) Seidel, 
both natives of Germany. His father, a black- 
smith by trade, brought his famil}' to America in 
1869 and settled in Leavenworth, where he has 
since been employed at his trade. Of his family 
of eight children six are now living, Herman be- 
ing the oldest of all. He was five and one-half 
years of age when the family embarked on a sail- 
ing vessel at Bremen and started for the new 
world. The voyage lasted for eight weeks, and 
finally, when the harbor was almost reached and 
the passengers were congratulating themselves 
that soon they would be on land, smallpox broke 
out, and for eight more weeks the ship was forced 
to remain in quarantine. Leaving Bremen in 
May, it was on the loth of September when the 
ship cast anchor at Castle Garden, New York, for 
the debarkation of the passengers. 

At eleven years of age Herman Seidel was ap- 
prenticed to the butcher's trade in Leavenworth. 
He was with one man for two years and with an- 
other for two and one-half years, after which he 
was employed by Edward and Herman Bloch- 
berger for five years altogether. In this way he 
gained a thorough knowledge of the meat busi- 
ness. In the summer of 1886 he began in busi- 
ness for himself, opening a market at No. 800 
South Seventh street, which is an excellent loca- 
tion, and there he has since built up a large trade. 
His business is exclu.sively retail, and extends 
throughout his part of the city. In addition to 



his business property he built and owns his resi- 
dence at No. 106 Fifth avenue, and is al.so a 
stockholder in the Citizens' Mutual Building and 
Loan Association. 

In national politics Mr. Seidel is a Republican. 
He was made a Mason in King Solomon Lodge 
No. 10, of which he is still a member; and is also 
connected with Leavenworth Chapter No. 2, 
R. A. M.; also the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen, Modern Woodmen of America, and 
the Fraternal Aid Association. His marriage, 
November 24, 1884, in Leavenworth, united him 
with Miss Mathilda Kinsla, who was born in this 
city. Mrs. Seidel is a daughter of August 
Kinsla, who was one of the pioneers in the meat 
business in Leavenworth, and during the Civil 
war served in the Second Kansas Mounted In- 
fantry. The two children of Mr. and Mrs. Seidel 
are named Herman, Jr., and Lizzie, of whom 
the latter died April 3, 1899. 



^JEORGE W. HAMBLIN, deceased, formerly 
_ one of Ottawa's most enterprising citizens, 
J was born inSuffield, Conn., March 17, 1842, 
a son of Peter and Cornelia (Cole) Hamblin and 
on both sides of the house traced his lineage to Hol- 
land. His maternal grandmother, who bore the 
maiden name of Maria Bogardus, was a descendant 
of Anneka Jans. His father, who was born in 
Catskill, N. Y. , resided for some years inSuffield, 
Conn., thence removed to Toledo, Ohio, where 
he engaged in the manufacture of cigars, and in 
1 87 1 settled in Kansas. He died in Ottawa in 
1896, when eighty years of age. His wife, who 
was a daughter of a minister in the Dutch Re- 
formed Church, died in Toledo, Ohio, in January, 
1899, aged eighty years. They are the parents 
of five children, two of whom are living. George 
W., who was next to the youngest in the family, 
was reared in Toledo and attended the public 
schools in that city. In 1856 he accompanied his 
father to the Lake Superior region. His father 
soon went back to Toledo, but he remained in the 
north, and took charge of a book store in the cop- 
per mining district, at Negaunee, Mich. He was 
large for his age, with the appearance and build 



67S 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



of a man of mature years. When only eighteen 
he was appointed postmaster, and held the office 
for some time, it not being known that he was 
under legal age. From Michigan he went to 
Indiana, thence to Stryker, Ohio, where he en- 
gaged in the dry-goods business and acted as 
postmaster. 

The year 1869 found Mr. Hamblin starting in 
the real estate business in the new town of Otta- 
wa. He laid out Hamblin's college and factory 
additions, also Hamblin and Walton's addition in 
the .southeastern part of the town, and was instru- 
mental in the building up of the north side. He 
bought the old hotel property on the c6rner of 
Second and Main streets and remodeled the build- 
ing, which was opened as the Hamblin house 
and continued for years to be the leading hotel in 
the city. Many residences were erected by him 
personally, some of them being among the be.st in 
the city. He built the Masonic Temple, contain- 
ing the People's National Bank, which was one 
of the first large business blocks in the city. He 
has owned more pieces of property and put up 
more buildings by far than any other man in Ot- 
tawa, and a history of its material growth would 
contain much of his own life record. Being ener- 
getic and full of life, he carried forward his projects 
with enthusiasm and was always active, pu.shing 
and progressive. Nor did his activitj- abate in the 
least until his fatal illness, which ended in his 
death, September 26, 1882. In political belief he 
was a Republican an<l fraternally a Mason, but he 
was not identified closely with either politics or 
fraternal organizations, preferring to devote him- 
self wholly to private enterprises. 

The marriage of Mr. Hamblin took place in 
Stryker, Ohio, in 1868, and united him with Miss 
Amelia L. vSolier, who was born in New York 
City, and by whom he had four children, namely: 
Fred Burroughs, a traveling salesman; Cornelia 
Bogardus, a graduate of the Ottawa high school; 
Richard, and Marguerite, also a high school 
graduate. The family are identified with the 
Congregational Church. Francis Sober, father of 
Mrs. Hamblin, was born in Auvergne, France, 
and in early manhood came to the United States, 
for a time working as a saw- filer in New York 



City. He was an early settler at Lockport, on the 
Tiffin River in Ohio, where he bought and 
operated a saw-mill. Afterward he engaged in 
the mercantile business in Stryker, where he died 
in 1868. He married Catherine C. Barbier, a 
native of Valentigny, France, and daughter of 
Pierre Barbier, whose farm lay on the banks of the 
Doubs. Mr. and Mrs. Solier were the parents of 
four sons and two daughters, of whom two .sons 
are deceased. Both of the daughters, Mrs. 
Hamblin and Mrs. Fred Waddle, reside in Ottawa. 



pQlLSON McELHENY, superintendent of 
\ A / the Leavenworth Construction Company, 
V V oi Lawrence, came to Kansas in the fall of 
1859 and had many interesting experiences during 
the early days of his residence in the west. He was 
born eleven miles north of Logansport, in Fulton 
County, Ind., April 24, 1840,3 descendant of a 
Scotchman who settled in Pennsylvania. His 
grandfather represented the first generation born 
in America. He moved from Pennsylvania to 
Ohio, settling near Dayton, where he spent his 
remaining years. The father, Moses McElheny, 
was a native of Lancaster County, Pa., and set- 
tled on a large farm in Indiana, where he cleared 
two hundred acres of land. On selling that place 
he moved to Fletcher's Lake and finally estab- 
lished his home on the old Michigan plank road, 
where he died. ' He was a man of upright char- 
acter and a Presbyterian in religious belief. He 
married Amelia King, who was born in Ohio and 
died in Indiana in 1845. Of their union seven 
children were born, four of whom are living, 
Wilson being next to the youngest. Two of the 
sons, Robert and Samuel, enlisted in an Illinois 
regiment during the Civil war and were killed in 
battle. 

In 1854 our subject went to western Indiana, 
where he worked on a farm. Two years later he 
removed to Illinois, securing employment on a 
farm near Pekin. With another young man, in 
1859 he started on horseback for Kansas and ar- 
rived in Leavenworth a month later. He secured 
work as stage driver for the Missouri Stage Com- 
pany, driving between Leavenworth and Kansas 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



679 



Citj', and later making a trip to Pueblo. In 
1862 he entered the employ of the Kansas Stage 
Company between Leavenworth and Topeka. 
After having been with them for five years he 
became an employe of the Southern Kansas 
Stage Company (Parker & Tisdale), for whom 
he drove six months and was then made super- 
intendent of the eastern division of tire company, 
with headquarters in Ottawa. For thirty years 
he was with this company, and during that time 
started and operated a street-car line in Law- 
rence. From 1S78 to 1882 he was in Texas 
in charge of the company's stock, then moved 
the herd to New Mexico, between Socorro and 
Whiteoaks and Socorro and Fort Stanton. As 
the railroad encroached he moved further out. 
From New Mexico, after six months, he went to 
Lyon County, Kans. , and settled on a farm that 
he owned, where he engaged in farming for sev- 
eral years. At that time Mr. Tisdale wrote ask- 
ing him to take charge of the omnibus business 
at Wellington. He went there and spent two 
years in straightening affairs, after which he took 
charge of the business at Arkansas City, re- 
maining there for eighteen months. In October, 
1888, he came to Lawrence to take charge of the 
street-car line here, acting as manager of the 
same until the road passed into the hands of 
a receiver, in August, 1896. He continued with 
the receiver for a time, after which he accepted a 
position with the Douglas County Land Invest- 
ment Company. He is still, however, manager 
of the omnibus and street railway lines in Law- 
rence. 

In Ozawkie, Jefferson County, Kans., Mr. 
McElheny married Miss Mary Morgan, daugh- 
ter of Roland Morgan, a farmer of that county. 
She died in Humboldt, Kans. , leaving one son, 
George A., a grocer of Humboldt. By the sec- 
ond marriage of Mr. McElheny, which united 
him with Miss Ellen Gardner, a native of Ire- 
land, he has two daughters, Minnie Ellen and 
Ida May. 

During the Price raid Mr. McElheny was a 
member of the Third Kansas Militia that was 
ordered to assist in driving the Confederate gen- 
eral out of Kansas. He is a member of Lawrence 



Lodge No. 6, and was master of Medina Lodge 
No. 252, of Castroville, Tex. He belongs to the 
Royal Arch chapter in San Antonio, Tex., where 
he also joined San Antonio Commandery No. 7, 
K. T., in 1 881; he was demitted from the Texas 
Commandery to the Arkansas City Commandery 
No. 30, of which he was a charter member. 
From it he was demitted to DeMolay Com- 
mandery No. 4, of which he was prelate for two 
years, and from which he is now demitted. He 
is connected with the Knights of Pythias, Fra- 
ternal Aid Association and Modern Woodmen. 
With his wife he belongs to the Eastern Star, 
they being charter members of the order at Con- 
way Springs, where he was one of the officials. 
In religion he is a spiritualist, and his wife an 
Episcopalian. Politically he votes the Demo- 
cratic ticket. 



GlUGUST L. KRIPP. One of the well-known 
LJ business houses of Leavenworth is situated 
/ I at the corner of Pennsylvania street and 
Tenth avenue, and is owned and operated bj' Mr. 
Kripp, who is a man of business ability, qualified 
to conduct intelligently and successfully an im- 
portant enterprise such as this. In January, 1893, 
he started in the grocery business, renting a store 
building a block from his present site. The next 
year he built his present store building and resi- 
dence on Pennsylvania street and Tenth avenue, 
and has since built the two-story frame residence 
adjoining the store. In his store he carries a full 
line of staple and fancy groceries, besides flour, 
feed and hay. 

In Galena, Jo Daviess County, 111., Mr. Kripp 
was born August i, 1862. His father, B. H. 
Kripp, was a native of Germany, where he was 
reared and educated, and learned the stone-ma- 
son's trade. Upon coming to the United States 
he settled in Galena, where he followed his trade 
until his death, in 1877. He married Canada 
Saner, who was born in Germany, and died in 
Clay Center, Kans., in 1889. Of their six chil- 
dren the youngest was the subject of this sketch. 
He was educated in common schools and the nor- 
mal school at Galena. After traveling for a jear 
with his brother-in-law, Mr. Buche, he settled in 



68o 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Clay Center, Kans. In iS8i he went to Topeka 
and secured employment in the bridge and civil 
engineering department of the Santa Fe Railroad, 
covering the territory from Kansas City to Las 
Vegas. For three years he remained with the 
company, after which he came to Leavenworth, 
and was employed in the painting department of 
William G. Hesse & Sons, continuing with them 
until he started in business for himself. 

The Democratic party received the allegiance 
of Mr. Kripp. Fraternally he is connected with 
the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the 
Degree of Honor. He was married May i8, 
1 88 1, at Clay Center, Kans., to Alice Morton, 
who was born near Kirksville, Mo. Her father, 
P. W. Morton, a native of Kentucky, was a 
member of the family to which belongs Levi P. 
Morton. He was engaged in farming in Missouri 
and held a position of prominence as a citizen. 
For sixteen years he filled the of^ce of justice of 
the peace. In 1879 he removed to Clay Center, 
from there to Topeka, thence to Lawrence, and 
in 1887 settled in Leavenworth, where he has 
been employed as a contracting stone-mason. He 
is now seventy years of age. He married Harri- 
ett Roberson, who was born in Iowa, and died in 
Kansas in 1888. They were the parents of twelve 
children, all of whom are still living. Mrs. 
Kripp received excellent educational advantages. 
She is a graduate of the State Normal School in 
Kirksville, Mo., and at one time was engaged in 
educational work. In religion .she is identified 
with the Presbyterian Church, which Mr. Kripp 
also attends and assists in supporting. 



""DWIN D. F. PHILLIPS, M.D., a leading 
^ physician of Lawrence, is a lineal descend- 
^ ant of Capt. Josiah Phillips, an officer in 
the Revolution and a planter in North Carolina, 
whither the family had migrated from England. 
The captain's son, Absalom, who was a planter 
in the same state, removed from there to Martins- 
ville, Morgan County, Iiid., where he improved 
a tract of wild land and died at the age of seven- 
ty-eight. He married a Miss Thomas, whose 
parents settled in Virginia when she was a girl. 



but later removed to North Carolina. Their son, 
Rev. J. S. Phillips, a native of North Carolina, 
was in the Methodist ministry all through his 
active life, but gave his services gratuitously, 
supporting his family by the cultivation of his 
farm. Some years ago he retired, and now, at 
eighty-four years of age, is making his home 
with his son, Isaac Q. He married Sarah Ed- 
wards, who was born in Chatham County, N. C, 
a daughter of Nathan and Nancj- (Dickinson) 
Edwards, natives respectivel}' of Ireland and 
Scotland. Her grandfather, Noah Edwards, who 
was born in the north of Ireland, settled with his 
family in North Carolina, where he cultivated a 
plantation. He was of Scotch descent, and in 
religion adhered to Presbyterian doctrines. His 
son, Nathan, removed to Indiana in early days 
and improved a farm there. Mrs. Sarah Phillips 
died in 1895, at the age of eighty-one years. Of 
her six children four sons are living, Edwin D. F. 
being the oldest. John M., a graduate of' a 
Kan.sas City medical college, is a practicing phy- 
sician in Linwood, Kans.; Charles W., who wasa 
lieutenant in the Civil war, is engaged in farming 
in Leavenworth County; and Isaac Q. resides in 
Douglas County. 

Dr. Phillips was born in Martinsville, Morgan 
County, Ind., August 7, 1841. In 1846 he was 
taken by his parents to Waverly, the same coun- 
ty, and from there, in 1S49, to Richland, Keokuk 
County, Iowa, but after a year his father brought 
the family back to Indiana and purchased a farm 
in Hamilton County. In 1870 he came to Kan- 
sas and bought a farm in Tonganoxie Town.ship, 
Leavenworth County, but after five years re- 
turned to Indiana. The education of our subject 
was acquired principally in the Union high school 
at Westfield, Ind., where he graduated in 1859. 
The two following years he devoted to the study 
of medicine. October 25, 1861, he enlisted in 
Company H, Fifty-seventh Indiana Infantry. 
Two months later he was made hospital steward 
of the regiment and continued as such until 1862, 
when he was detached for similar work at a hos- 
pital in Gallatin, Tenn. In the fall of 1863 he 
joined his regiment and was present during the 
last day at Chickamauga. In the battle of Mis- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



68 1 



sionary Ridge he took a sick man's gun and 
fought until its close. Afterward he was de- 
tached as clerk in the office of the adjutant- gen- 
eral of the second division, fourth corps, with 
which he remained until February, 1865, when 
he was mustered out at Huntsville, Ala. , after 
three years and three months of service. 

Upon leaving the army Dr. Phillips spent two 
years in academic study in Indiana and he then 
began to teach school. In the spring of 1869 he 
went to Holden, Mo., and bought a drug store, 
which he conducted until 1870. He then moved 
the stock of drugs to Tonganoxie, Kans., where 
he continued in the business until 1874, mean- 
time carrying on the study of medicine. In 1874 
he entered the Kansas City Medical College, 
from which he graduated in 1876, with the de- 
gree of M. D. Afterward he engaged in prac- 
tice in Tonganoxie until 1879, when he came to 
Lawrence, and here he has since engaged in gen- 
eral practice, making a specialty of gynecology. 
He is serving his seventeenth year as a member 
of the board of education, of which he has been 
president two different terms; he was chairman of 
the building committee that erected the high 
school, also aided in superintending the erection 
of several grammar schools. When he first be- 
came identified with the school board, in 1880, 
there were sixty-five pupils in the high school 
and three teachers; now there are four hundred 
students and eleven teachers. He is now presi- 
dent of the board for the third time. For three 
years he was chairman of the committee on teach- 
ers and teachers' salaries. Under President Har- 
rison, and now under President McKinley, he 
has served as president of the United States 
board of pension examiners. For eleven years 
he was local surgeon for the Union Pacific Rail- 
road. He has been a member of the Interna- 
tional Association of Railway Surgeons, has 
served as vice-president of the Eastern District 
Medical Association, and is also associated with 
the State and Douglas County Medical Associa- 
tions. For seven years he held office as county 
physician. He is a member of Washington Post 
No. 12, G. A. R. In religion he is a Methodist. 

The marriage of Dr. Phillips, in Peru, Ind., 



united him with Miss Augusta E. Flagg, who 
was born in New Waverly, Ind., and received 
her education in Fort Wayne. They have four 
children. The eldest, Carl, a graduate of the 
University of Kansas, 1892, with the degree of 
Ph. G., was for some time hospital steward in 
the United States hospital at Fort Leavenworth, 
and is now a student in the Kansas City Medi- 
cal College. Mrs. Lola M. Russell, the older 
daughter, is a university graduate and now lives 
in Jefferson County. Mrs. Ethel Harding re- 
sides in Kansas City, where her husband is con- 
nected with the Carl Hoffman music house. The 
younger son, Fletcher, is a member of the class 
of 1 901, University of Kansas. 



r"REDERICK HAWN was for years inti- 
JM mately connected with the geological re- 
I searches in Kansas. He had the reputation 
of being the most advanced geologist in the west, 
and it is undoubtedly true that no one did more 
than he to advance this science here. His re- 
ports were the first that had ever been made of 
geology in Kansas. He discovered and reported 
several new forms of rocks and in other ways in- 
creased popular interest in, and knowledge of, 
this department of science. 

Of German descent, Mr. Hawn was born in 
Herkimer County, N. Y., a son of Conrad Hawn, 
who was the son of a Revolutionary soldier. 
Our subject was interested in civil engineering 
from his boyhood. For a time he -was employed 
on the New York Central Railroad, and after 
coming west held a position with the Hannibal & 
St. Joe road. It was about 1838 that he removed 
to the west. He located the coal mines of north- 
western Missouri on the Hannibal & St. Joe 
Railroad. During the Civil war he engaged in 
coal mining, developing some mines that he had 
located. He organized the Leavenworth Coal 
Company and located its shaft. This was the 
first of the coal companies organized in this city, 
and proved to be the nucleus of what developed 
into one of the most important industries in this 
city. 

In the midst of his busy life Mr. Hawn never 



682 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD, 



lost his love for geology and never failed to im- 
prove every opportunit}- for making geological 
researches. His reputation as a geologist was 
not confined to the United States, but extended 
into Europe, and his opinion upon subjects per- 
taining to this science was regarded as authorita- 
tive. He did much of the early surveying in the 
west, among his contracts of this kind being the 
surveying of a part of the city of Leavenworth, 
also the state line between Kansas and Nebraska. 
He was an active Mason and organized one of 
the first lodges in Mis.souri. His acquaintance 
with men of prominence made him a noticeable 
public figure. He was a brother-in-law of John 
C. Calhoun and an intimate friend of Stephen A. 
Douglas. In all his friendships he was firm and 
stanch, ever loyal to the interest of his friend, 
and was a man to be trusted under every circum- 
stance. He had attained the age of eighty-eight 
when he passed away, February 2, 1897. 

The wife of Mr. Hawn was Abigail Cutler, who 
was born in Springfield, 111. Her ancestors 
were originally from Massachusetts, and she 
was a direct descendant of Gov. John Carver. 
From New England they removed to Ohio, 
where her grandfather Cutler owned three 
hundred and sixty acres, comprising the present 
site of Cincinnati. Her father was a pioneer farmer 
of Illinois, where he died at the age of ninety- 
six years. Mrs. Abigail Hawn passed from earth 
when eighty-two years of age. She was the 
mother of two daughters and a son, viz.: Mrs. 
Maria Hemingwaj% of Louisville, Ky.; Mrs. 
Martha Lamar , of Leavenworth, Kans. ; and 
Laurens. 

QUDGE LAURENS HAWN, probate judge 
I of Leavenworth County, was born in 
Q) Weston, Mo., September 4, 1848. In his 
youth he was given excellent educational advan- 
tages. After having prepared for college he en- 
tered Cornell University and there he took the 
regular course of studies, graduating in 1875. 
From boyhood he assisted his father in surveys, 
thus gaining a practical knowledge of the busi- 
ness. In 1872 he served on a geological survey 
of Leavenworth County. Going to Salt Lake 



City in 1876 he studied law under Judge Hem- 
ingway, and the following year was admitted 
to practice before the bar of that territory. After 
engaging in practice there for a short time, in 
1878 he returned to Leavenworth and opened a 
law office. His time was given closely to his 
profession until 1882, when, as the candidate of 
the Democratic party, he was first elected to the 
office of county probate judge. He was re-elected, 
sometimes without opposition, in 1884, 1886, 
1888, 1890, 1892, 1894, 1896 and 1898. The 
duties of the position he has discharged efficiently 
and to the satisfaction of all. His thorough 
knowledge of the law, in the principles of which 
he is well grounded, enables him to meet the re- 
sponsibilities of his oflBce and acquit himself hon- 
orably and ably. 

The marriage of Judge Hawn united him with 
Miss Lilian Reyburn, who was born in Kentucky, 
but was reared in Leavenworth. He is identified 
with the Select Knights, the Knights of Pythias, 
in which he is past chancellor; and the lodge 
and encampment of Odd Fellows, being past 
noble grand of the lodge. 



pCjHlTSED LAMING, Jr., cashier of the 
\ A / Tonganoxie State Bank, and one of the in- 
VY fluential business men of Leavenworth 
County, was born at Lelant, near St. Ives, Coun- 
ty Cornwall, England, October 20, 1861, a son of 
Whitsed and Elizabeth (Caulton) Laming, na- 
tives of Spaulding, Lincolnshire, England. His 
paternal grandfather, Heurj' C. Laming, a na- 
tive of Lincolnshire, and a member of an old 
family, was a farmer by occupation; the mater- 
nal grandfather, John C. Caulton, was a farmer 
and a flax-seed raiser in Lincolnshire, and became 
quite wealthy through his energetic efforts. 

From Lincolnshire Whitsed Laming, Sr., 
moved to Cornwall and rented the Duchy farms 
of twelve hundred acres from the Prince of Wales, 
for which he paid $15 per acre. After continu- 
ing there for twenty-one years, in 1882 he came 
to the United States and settled on the Judge 
Delehay farm of seven hundred and twenty acres 
in Stranger Township, Leavenworth County, 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



683 



which property he had purchased two years be- 
fore. He had selected this location because the 
weak eyesight of one of his sons required a dry 
climate. At first he confined his attention to 
farming and stock-raising. In 1889 he and his 
sons bought the Farmers and Merchants' Bank 
at Tonganoxie and organized the Tonganoxie 
State Bank, with himself as president, Whitsed 
Laming, Jr., cashier, J. M. Phenicie, vice-presi- 
dent, and J. C. Laming assistant cashier. In 
June, 1894, he retired from business and returned 
to Spaulding, England, where he is now living 
retired and robust and hearty, in spite of his sev- 
enty-two years. He still owns the farm in Leav- 
enworth County and is also president of the 
bank. In religion he is a member of the Church 
of England. 

There were ten children in the family who 
passed years of infancy. Of these Samuel died 
in Leavenworth County at thirty-nine years of 
age; Polly is in England and Lizzie in Austra- 
lia; Carrie married Henry Tinsley, who rents a 
crown farm in England; Mrs. Sarah Frier lives 
at Spaulding, England; Rachel is the wife of H. 
Schultz, of Milwaukee, Wis.; Kate, who was the 
wife of Rev. Burt Barrel, died in Bombay, India; 
Henry Paul died in Cornwall at thirteen years of 
age; and J. Caultou is the youngest of the 
family. 

The subject of this sketch was fourth in order 
of birth among the children of the family. The 
first eleven years of his life were spent on the 
duchy farm. Between the years of eleven and 
fourteen he studied in Bath College. He was 
then apprenticed to the dry-goods business at 
Plymouth, where he remained for four years. 
Later he clerked in London. He came to 
America seven months before his father, and 
landed in New York February 22, 1882. From 
that time until 1888 he remained on the farm 
bought by his father in 1880, after which he 
spent a year in Europe. On his return he and 
his father bought the bank, of which he has been 
cashier. In 1890, while the population of Ton- 
ganoxie was still only five hundred, a fine two- 
story bank building, the first brick structure in 
the town, was erected; since that year the popula- 



tion of the town has more than doubled. In con- 
nection with J. M. Phenicie and J. H. Driesbach 
he bought the Tonganoxie roller mills, put in 
steam power, remodeled the building, and put in 
a new sifter plant, so that the mills are modern 
in every respect. The company operating the 
mills is incorporated and he is secretary and 
manager. There is a capacity of two hundred 
barrels. In the second story of the bank build- 
ing an opera house has been fitted up, provided 
with large stage, scenery, etc. Besides his other 
interests Mr. Laming owns four farms near Ton- 
ganoxie, comprising an aggregate of four hun- 
dred and eighty-five acres, and having four farm 
buildings. One of the farms consists of eighty 
acres adjoining the city and is used as a dairy 
farm. Through his efforts was organized the 
company that built the creamery, an enterprise 
that has been of inestimable value, both to farm- 
ers and to the city. For two years he operated 
the creamery personally and brought it to a high 
degree of success, but upon taking charge of the 
mills he retired from the management of the 
other enterprise, although he still owns his in- 
terest. The creamery supplies the fort at Leav- 
enworth, also two large hotels in Kansas City, 
and has a standing order from Armour & Co. , of 
Kansas City, for all the output at Elgin prices. 
Besides all his other interests Mr. Laming started 
the Tonganoxie Building and Loan Association, 
of which he is treasurer, and his brother, J. C, a 
director. 

In Leavenworth Mr. Laming married Martha, 
daughter of John Foster, who is at the head of 
the Foster Lumber Company at Kansas City; she 
is a graduate of an eastern college and is a very 
accomplished lady. The two children born of 
this marriage are Foster and Edith. 

Since 1893 Mr. Laming has served as city 
treasurer. In politics he votes with the Repub- 
licans. He has always been deeply interested in 
measures for the benefit of the town, and no citi- 
zen has been more active than he in promoting 
public-spirited projects. He laid out Laming's 
addition to Tonganoxie, which is platted in town 
lots. He is a member of the State Bankers' As- 
sociation. Fraternally he is past chancellor of 



684 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



the Knights of Pythias, treasurer of the Modern 
Woodmen of America, and a member of Tonga- 
noxie Lodge No. 190, A. F. & A. M. He is not 
a member of any church, but contributes to the 
maintenance of the Presbyterian Church, with 
which his wife is identified. 



(John CAULTON laming, assistant cash- 
I ier of the Tonganoxie State Bank, was born 
Q) at Lelant, St. Ives, England, January 12, 
1870. When twelve years of age he accompanied 
the family to the United States. His education 
was obtained principally in the Tonganoxie 
Academy, and after leaving school he was inter- 
ested with his father in the management of the 
home farm, remaining there until 1889. He then 
entered the Tonganoxie State Bank as assistant 
cashier, a position he has since filled. In addi- 
tion to this he has worked up the largest farm 
fire insurance business in Leavenworth County, 
and represents eight of the old-line American 
insurance companies, viz.: ^tna, Continental, 
German- American, Hartford, Niagara, Pennsyl- 
vania, Connecticut and St. Paul Fire and Ma- 
rine. 

Mr. Laming is a stockholder in the Tonga- 
noxie Building and Loan Association and in the 
creamery, also is a director in the Tonganoxie 
State Bank, besides which he has farm interests. 
Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of 
Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America. 
In Milwaukee, September 12, 1892, he married 
Daisy, daughter of Charles J. Poetsch, who has 
been city engineer of Milwaukee since 1882. 
They have two children, Leonora and Charles. 



fINA A. MASON, who is a well-known far- 
mer of High Prairie Town.ship, Leaven- 
worth County, came to Kansas in the fall 
of 1857 ^"'i fot" ''Ome years worked at the carpen- 
ter's trade. In the spring of i860 he went to 
Colorado and during the remainder of the year 
operated a quartz mill at Central Citj', after which 
he returned to Kansas and resumed carpentering. 
In 1S70 he bought forty acres on section 26, 



where he now resides. A few years later he pur- 
chased an adjoining tract of eighty acres and later 
forty acres more, so that he now has one hundred 
and sixty acres. Upon this land he is engaged 
in raising stock and cereals, his specialty in stock 
being horses. 

Mr. Mason was born in Summit County, Ohio, 
January 19, 1837. His grandfather, who was 
an Englishman, lived for some time in New 
Hampshire, but finally returned to England and 
died in Southampton. John R. Mason, our sub- 
ject's father, was born in New Hampshire in 
1790, and at fourteen years of age accompanied 
his parents to England. Soon after he left home 
and went on board ship, and for thirtj'-three 
years followed a seafaring life, the last few years 
being on Lake Erie. He was connected with the 
merchant marine service and visited manj- of 
the foreign ports and .several times doubled Cape 
Horn. For some time he was captain of a coast- 
ing vessel. Upon retiring from the sea he set- 
tled in Ohio and was engaged in ship-carpenter- 
ing and farming. In 1S53 he removed with his 
familj- to Iowa, where he followed farming. In 
1866 he went to Nebraska, where four years later 
he died in the home of his oldest son. His wife, 
whom he married in Connecticut and who bore 
the maiden name of Eliza Buell, was the mother 
of eight children, four of whom are living, viz.: 
Mary, Mrs. Latta, of Nebra.ska; Zina A.; Wes- 
ley, of Texas; and Albert, who is in Nebraska. 

The advantages for an education enjoyed by 
our subject in boyhood were very meagre: how- 
ever, through his own efforts, he acquired a thor- 
ough general knowledge that has been most help- 
ful to him. When nineteen years of age he 
started out for him.self. For one year he farmed 
in Iowa. He then went to Nebraska, but after 
one season, in the fall of 1S57, became to Kan- 
sas. He is one of the prominent and prosper- 
ous farmers of High Prairie Township and is a 
highl}' respected citizen. In 1863 he enlisted 
in Company I, Fifteenth Kansas Cavalrj', and 
served until October, 1865, taking part in the 
fights against Price. At first he was sergeant, 
but later became lieutenant, which position he 
held until he was honorably discharged. In pol- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



685 



itics he votes the Republican ticket and very fre- 
quently serves as delegate to conventions, where 
he assists in selecting candidates for local offices. 
For a number of years he has served as treasurer 
of the school board, but he has refused other po- 
sitions, preferring not to fill political offices. Fra- 
ternally he is a member of the Masonic order. 
During the existence of the Grange he was for a 
time its master. 

On Christmas eve, 1869, Mr. Mason married 
Mary J. Simpson, of Leavenworth County. This 
estimable lady died May 28, 1898, and was bur- 
ied May 30, in the High Prairie Cemetery. She 
left two daughters, one of whom, Elizabeth, is 
the wife of Dr. R. L- Boling, of Leavenworth, 
while the other, Mrs. Clara M. Reese, resides in 
Whitewater, Kans. 



QAMUEL M. HASTINGS, a farmer of Leav- 
?\ enworth Count}', owns five hundred and 
\z/ twenty acres in Alexandria Township. At 
the time of coming to this place he bought one 
hundred and eighty-one acres, to which from 
time to time he has added until the property has 
reached its present dimensions. He is extensive- 
ly engaged in stock-raising, for which the three 
springs and running water on his land render it 
especially suitable. At one time he made a spec- 
ialty of fine horses, but now confines his atten- 
tion to cattle, hogs and sheep. The grain and 
hay raised on the farm are used for feed in win- 
ter, while during the summer the cattle and sheep 
graze in the blue grass pasture that runs for a 
distance of one mile east from the house. The 
farm is amply provided with buildings for the 
shelter of stock and storage of grain, and also has 
the other improvements of a model estate. 

At the time the Protestants were expelled from 
Ireland our subject's grandfather came to Amer- 
ica in company with other exiles. Of his three 
sons the youngest, William Richard, was born 
and reared near Whitehouse, Pa., and followed 
the blacksmith's trade there for eighteen years. 
He is still living at his old homestead, but, at 
eighty-five years of age, is living in retirement 
from business cares. In politics he has always 



voted with the Democrats, and in religion is a 
Presbyterian. By his marriage to Mary Hissner 
he had nine children, viz.: Catherine, who mar- 
ried William Shriver, a captain in the Civil war; 
John, deceased; Samuel M.; Mary Frances, wife 
of William Miller, of Steelton, Dauphin County, 
Pa. ; Ellen Gilbreath, who married Daniel Um- 
holtz, a merchant of Neely, Kans., but is now 
deceased; Jennie, whose husband, William 
McKee, has for eighteen years been with the firm 
of Richards & Conover, in Kansas City; Annie, 
who married Harry Miller, of Cumberland Val- 
ley, Pa.; William Frederick, deceased; and 
Howard, a farmer in Cumberland Valley, Pa. 

The subject of this sketch was born in Cumber- 
land Valley, Pa., December 18, 1843. He was 
educated in grammar and high schools. March 9, 
1866, found him in Kansas, where for thirteen 
years he had charge of the government farm at 
Fort Leavenworth. During that time he also 
freighted for the government from Kansas to 
Cheyenne and Santa Fe. In his work he was 
remarkably successful. Coming to Kansas with 
only $10, at the end of seven years he had saved 
up $7,000. While on the plains he had several 
skirmishes with Indians, but, though there were 
fatalities in his train, he was never wounded. 
On retiring from the government employ he 
bought the land which forms the nucleus of his 
present farm, and has since given his attention 
largely to agriculture. 

Everyone who knows Mr. Hastings knows that 
he stands squarely for Democratic principles. 
For many years he was a member of the central 
committee of his party and he also attends the 
local and general conventions. For several terms 
he was deputy sheriff and for two terms township 
treasurer. For three years under President 
Grant and for a similar period under President 
Cleveland, he served as postmaster. During the 
three years he was postmaster at Jarbalo he con- 
ducted a mercantile business, erecting the first 
store building in the village. He also carried on 
a store while postmaster at Ackerland, his present 
home. He attends the Quaker Church at Spring- 
dale, of which his family are members. March 5, 
1S76, he married Ora Buxton, who was born in 



686 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Leavenworth Count}-, and is a daughter of Solo- 
mon and Martha (Mason) Buxton. They have 
four children: Clara, wife of Jesse Wood, of 
Alexandria Township; Ora Edna, wife of Lester 
Marklej', also of this town.ship; William and Jen- 
nie, who are with their parents. 



"HOMAS H. KNAPP was born in Kickapoo 
Township, Leavenworth County, in the 
house in which he still resides. He is a son 
of Adam Kuapp, Jr., a pioneer of Kansas and a 
native of Hessen, Germany, born November i8, 
1820. When a child of twelve years he was 
brought to the United States by his father, Adam 
Knapp, St., who spent some time in New York 
and later became a pioneer resident of St. Louis. 
As a youth, Adam Knapp, Jr., was reared to farm 
pursuits and throughout life he followed the oc- 
cupation with which he was most familiar. In 
1854 he came to Kansas and bought a squatters' 
claim of one hundred and sixty acres in Plum 
Creek Valley, Leavenworth County. Upon that 
place he continued to reside during the remainder 
of his life. Through his energy and persever- 
ance he was successful, and in time he became 
known as one of the leading men of his locality. 
He was a loyal citizen of his adopted country and 
took an interest in matters for the benefit of his 
township and county. His life, though unevent- 
ful, was a busy and useful existence, and when 
he died, Januarj' 24, 1892, at the age of seventy- 
two, there were many to mourn the loss of one 
who had been a good citizen and kind neighbor. 
He married Eva Barber Dressell, who came from 
Germany with her parents at the age of twelve 
years and who became his wife February 15, 
1844. Of their family, four sons and three 
daughters are now living, namely: Albert, a 
farmer of Jefferson County; John, of Leavenworth 
County; Lewis F. , whose sketch appears on 
another page; Julia, wife of Hezekiah Edgell; 
Thomas H.; Sophia E., who married John H. 
Roche; and Enuna L-, wife of William Drews. 
Since the death of her husband Mrs. Kuapp has 
continued to reside on the old homestead, which 
her son, Thomas H., owns and occupies. 



After completing the studies of the country 
schools our subject turned his attention to farm 
work. Prior to the death of his father he bought 
one hundred and seventy acres in Plum Creek 
Valley, where he has always made his home. He 
also owns eightj- acres adjoining. Here he en- 
gages in general farming and stock-raising. He 
raises large crops of wheat. It has never been a 
characteristic of the Knapp faiuilj^ to mingle in 
politics, and in this respect he is no exception. 
He prefers to give his attention to his personal 
affairs, although he does his dut}' as a voter and 
a citizen, and supports measures of undoubted 
benefit to his community. In the work of the 
Kickapoo Baptist Church, to which he belongs, 
he is deeply interested, and to it, as to other 
worthy objects, he has contributed as his means 
have permitted. November 20, 1884, he married 
Miss Eva Maget, of Wyandotte County, Kans., 
the daughter of William and Polly Ann (Roach) 
Maget, formerly of Platte County, Mo., now de- 
ceased. They have six children: Olive, Michael, 
Sophia, Laura, Edna and Andrew. 



aNSON C. HARDING, attorney-at-law of 
Leavenworth, is of southern parentage. His 
father, Henry Harding, and grandfather, 
William Harding, were born in Fairfax County, 
Va., and descended from a colonial family of the 
Old Dominion. The latter, who was a soldier in 
the war of 1812, removed in 18 15 to Ohio, .set- 
tling on a farm near Ripley and continuing to re- 
side there until his death, at about eighty years. 
The father, who was also an agriculturist in 
Brown Count}-, died in Aberdeen at fifty-six 
years of age; he had married Ann Gash, who 
was born in Lewis County, Ky., and died in 
Ohio in 1854. The four sons and four daugh- 
ters comprising the family are all living, but 
none except our subject is in Kansas. One son, 
Frank, now residing in Aberdeen, enlisted dur- 
ing the Civil war as a private in the Seventieth 
Ohio Infantry, and at the close of the war was 
major in command of his regiment. He went out 
with twelve hundred men, which number was in- 
creased, by recruiting, to twenty-two hundred. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



687 



Mr. Harding was born near Ripley, Brown 
County, Ohio, January 23, 1S44. He was reared 
on the home farm, and received his primary edu- 
cation in the public schools. At the opening of 
the war he responded to a call made, in August, 
1861, for three years' men. He was then six- 
teen years of age. He was mustered into service 
at Ripley, becoming a member of Company G, 
Seventieth Ohio Infantry. With his regiment he 
took part in the battle of Shiloh and the siege of 
Corinth, but, becoming ill, was sent to a hospi- 
tal in Cincinnati, where he remained until he 
was discharged, August 20, 1862, on account of 
physical disability. Returning home, he at- 
tended the high school at Manchester for one 
year. At the end of the year he enlisted in the 
one hundred day service, and was assigned to 
Company G, One Hundred and Thirty-eighth 
Ohio Infantry, in which he served the time of en- 
listment. Shortly afterward he re-enlisted and 
became a member of Company K, One Hundred 
and Eighty-third Ohio Infantry, which was as- 
signed to the Twenty-third army corps under 
General Schofield. He was commissioned orderly 
sergeant, and, with his command, took part 
in engagements at Franklin and Nashville, 
Tenn., andGoldsboro, N. C. After the surren- 
der of Johnston's armj' at Raleigh they remained 
in Salisbury until July 17, when they were mus- 
tered out and honorably discharged. 

After his return home Mr. Harding assisted in 
the cultivation of the farm for a year and then 
took a course in the National Normal School in 
Lebanon, Ohio, after which he engaged in teach- 
ing, being principal of schools and also superin- 
tendent. In 1878 he entered the law department 
of the University of Michigan, from which he 
graduated in 1880, with the degree of LL. B. 
Opening an office in Flora, 111., he began to prac- 
tice his profession. In 1884 he was appointed 
special examiner in the pension department in 
the field and this position he held for three years, 
meantime traveling in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and 
Minnesota. Under the Cleveland administration 
he resigned his position, and, in July, 1887, set- 
tled in Kansas City, Mo., but two years later re- 
moved to Leavenworth, where he has his law 



office at No. 113 South Third street, and, in ad- 
dition to his law practice, also engages in the real- 
estate business. His political affiliations have 
always been stanchly Republican. He is con- 
nected with the Union Veterans' League and Cus- 
ter Post No. 6, G. A. R. Fraternally he is iden- 
tified with the Masons and the Knights of Pythias. 
His marriage was solemnized in Kansas City, Mo. , 
in 1887, and united him with Miss Florence 
Webster, who was born in Alexander County, 111. 



(7 OSEPH JACKSON HARTNETT, agent for 
I the Union Pacific Railroad, and trainmaster 
\Z) for that road and the Leavenworth, Kansas 
& Western Railroad, was born in Mount Pleasant, 
Henry County, Iowa, July 8, 1852. He is a son 
of John Hartnett, a native of County Kerry, Ire- 
land, who emigrated to the United States in 1848, 
being led to seek a home in another country on 
account of his sympathies with the Smith and 
O' Brien insurrectionists. Settling in Mount Pleas- 
ant, he began contracting. He remained in that 
city until his death, which occurred at middle 
age during the Civil war. His wife, who bore 
the maiden name of Johanna Leahy, was married 
a second time and died at seventj'-three years in 
Iowa. Her first marriage resulted in the birth of 
four children, now living. Of these our subject 
was next to the youngest. He was reared in 
Mount Pleasant and had but limited educational 
advantages. When about eighteen he studied 
telegraphy at Batavia, Iowa, and upon the com- 
pletion of his studies, at Hopkins, Mo. (on what 
is now a part of the O road) , he was employed as 
operator, working in this capacity at various 
places. In the employ of the Kansas City, St. 
Joe & Council Bluffs (now the Q) Railroad, he 
went to Kansas City, Mo., in 1875, and remained 
in that city until 1884, being operator for two 
years, cashier for five years, and then chief clerk 
of the Western Railroad Association. He was 
also connected with the Santa Fe for a short time 
as clerk. In 1884 he became connected with the 
Union Pacific Railroad and was first tracing clerk 
in the Kansas City freight office, afterward be- 
coming local auditor. 



688 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



August I, 1887, Mr. Hartnett was appointed 
freight agent for the Union Pacific at Leaven- 
worth, which position he has since held, mean- 
time becoming known to the people of the city for 
his thorough familiarity with his duties and the 
accuracy which is noticeable in even the smallest 
details of his work. August 5, 1893, t^^^ duties 
of trainmaster at this point were added to his 
position, in which capacity he has two hundred 
men under him and acts in the capacity of division 
operator. 

During his residence in Kansas City Mr. Hart- 
nett married Miss Minnie Devine, who was reared 
there. They are the parents of eight children, 
Minnie, Gertrude, Antoinette, Joseph J., Jr., 
John Walter, Ellener, Ralph and Thomas. The 
family are connected with the Sacred Heart Ro- 
man Catholic Church, and Mr. Hartnett is also a 
member of the Catholic Knights of America. 
Fraternally he is identified with the Modern 
Woodmen of America and the Ancient Order of 
Pyramids. In political belief he is a Jacksonian 
Democrat, a stanch adherent of free trade and 
also of the gold standard of currency. As a rail- 
road official he is very accommodating to the 
general public, accurate in discharge of everj- 
duty, prompt, reliable and faithful, and stands 
high with the officials of the road. 



30HN BAUM started out in life for himself 
without means or influence, but has worked 
his way to a front rank in his special line of 
business, and, through the exercise of sound 
judgment, has accumulated a valuable propertj'. 
Coining to the United States a young man, with- 
out capital, a stranger in a strange land, the out- 
look might have discouraged some. However, 
he had energy, perseverance and determination, 
and through these qualities he has become well- 
to-do; while, by his service in the Civil war, he 
also proved himself to be a loyal citizen and 
patriot. 

The youngest of five children, Mr. Bauni was 
born in Klonheim, Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, 
April 29, 1840, a son of John and Elizabeth 
(Hoffinan) Baum. His parents and the other 



children continued to reside in Germany, he be- 
ing the only member of the family who crossed 
the ocean. Under his father, with whom he 
served an apprenticeship of three years, he 
learned the blacksmith's trade. lu 1857 he set 
sail from Havre, France, on the sailer "Trum- 
bull," which after a voyage of forty-nine days 
landed in New York. His first work was as a 
blacksmith in that city, on Twenty-seventh street, 
near Fourth avenue. In 1859 he came west as 
far as Fort Leavenworth, Kans., and for a time 
was employed on the steamer "Chippewa," run- 
ning on the Missouri River. He was also em- 
ployed as engineer on steamers between St. Louis 
and New Orleans. In January, 1861, he made a 
trip from St. Louis up the Missouri to Fort 
Benton, returning to St. Louis after three months. 

In July, 1861, Mr. Baum enlisted in Company 
I, First Missouri Light Artillery (called Buell's 
battery), and was mustered into service in St. 
Louis. Among the important engagements in 
which he participated were the following: Forts 
Henry and Donelson, Shiloh, siege of Corinth, 
battle of luka, second battle of Corinth, Corwin's 
Ferry, etc. Several times he was wounded, but 
never seriously. He was mustered out of service 
and honorably discharged in St. Louis in June, 
1864. 

Returning to Leavenworth in 1S65, Mr. Baum 
established his permanent home in this city. For 
some time he was employed as a traveling sales- 
man, first with Alexander McDonald & Co., 
then with Gillett & Insley, and later with Car- 
ney, Fenlon & Co. In 1872 he formed a busi- 
ness partnership with John Hannon, and the 
firm of Hannon & Baum embarked in business in 
the old market house. Afterward they moved 
acro-ss the street and finally transferred their 
plant to No. 511 Delaware street, between Fifth 
and Sixth streets. In 1887 Mr. Baum bought 
his partner's interest and removed to East Leav- 
enworth, but in 1892 returned to Leavenworth. 
In 1893 lie built the large brick block at No. 305 
Cherokee .street, where he has two stories and 
basement, 25x125 feet in dimen.sions. 

The residence of Mr. Baum stands on Maple 
avenue and is one of the fine homes of the city. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



689 



He has been twice married. His first wife, who 
was Mary German, a native of Hesse-Darmstadt, 
died in Leavenworth in 1875, leaving two sons: 
William, of this city; and Otto, who is in San 
Francisco, Cal. The second marriage of Mr. 
Baum took place in Leavenworth and united him 
with Miss Sophia Endebrock, who was born in 
Hanover and died in Leavenworth in 1886. The 
four children born of this union are as follows: 
John, who graduated from the Leavenworth high 
school in 1893, and now assists his father in busi- 
ness; Henry, who died at seventeen years; Her- 
man, a graduate of the high school, class of 
1898, and now assisting his father; and George, 
who is a member of the high school class of 1901. 
Fraternally Mr. Baum is one of the early mem- 
bers of the Turn Verein, of whose board of trus- 
tees he is a member. He is also connected with 
the Knights of Pythias and Germania Lodge 
No. 123, I. O. O. F. Formerly he was connected 
with, and commander of, Leavenworth Post 
No. 120, G. A. R., but is now a member of Cus- 
ter Post No. 6. 



V >JRS. AFRA KREZDORN. The business 

Y ability displayed by Mrs. Krezdorn in the 
(9 management of her important and valuable 

interests, and especially in the supervision of the 
store formerly owned by her husband, the late 
Henry Krezdorn, proves that she is a lady of en- 
terprise and sagacious judgment. For some years 
she has personally superintended the grocerj' 
business at No. 419 North Second street and has 
maintained the excellent standing of the store 
established by her husband. She is the owner 
of other valuable property, all of which she man- 
ages personally. 

A resident of Leavenworth .since 187 1, Mrs. 
Krezdorn was born in Byrne, Germany, a daugh- 
ter of Joseph and Afra (Daniel) Kirmeyer, also 
natives of Byrne, where the latter died when her 
daughter was ten years of age; the former, who 
was born in 1781, attained the age of ninety-three 
years. There were twelve children in the family, 
of whom three sons are in Leavenworth, 
Alois, Joseph and Michael Kirmeyer, all for some 
years active business men here. Mrs. Krezdorn 



was reared in Germany and came to America in 
1869, settling in Leavenworth two years later. 
Here she was married. May 12, 1S73, to Henry 
Krezdorn, a native of Baden, Germany. 

In early manhood, in 1833, Mr. Krezdorn came 
to the United States. At first he engaged in 
mining in Michigan. At the time of the dis- 
covery of gold in California he went to the Pacific 
coast, where he successfully engaged in mining 
for several years. He then returned to Germany 
and brought the other members of the family 
back to this country with him, settling in Lex- 
ington, Mo., in 1858, and opened a mercan- 
tile establishment. On account of his sympathy 
with the Union he came to Leavenworth in 1861 , 
and here his father died. For a time he con- 
ducted a bakery in this city, but afterward opened 
a grocery on Fifth and Miami streets, continuing 
in business at that stand for some years, and then 
buying the property on Second and Pottawatomie 
streets, where he continued until his death. In 
politics he was a Republican. Three times, with- 
out opposition, he was elected a member of the 
city council. Fraternally he was connected with 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the 
Turn Verein. One of his brothers, Carl, died 
in Leavenworth; the other, Herman, is a large 
jeweler at Saguin, Tex. 

In Lexington, Mo., in 1858, Mr. Krezdorn 
married Miss Agnes Hensler, who was born in 
Baden and died in Leavenworth. Four children 
were born of this union. Amelia is the wife of 
Alois Kirmeyer, of Leavenworth. Ernst G. is an 
attorney-at-law, notary public and one of the 
muster officers in Leavenworth. Otto, a mer- 
chant, died at the age of thirty; and Bertha is 
the wife of Robert Beller, of this city. 

The second marriage of Mr. Krezdorn united 
him with Miss Alfra Kirmeyer, by whom he had 
five children: Emma, wife of J. C. Davis, of 
Leavenworth; Laura, wife of John Kirsch, also of 
this city; Katie, Dominica and Henry, who are 
with their mother. The death of Mr. Krezdorn 
occurred December 16, 1883, when he was fifty- 
one years of age. His long and active connec- 
tion with the business interests of his city had 
brought him the confidence of his fellow-citizens. 



690 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



He was a loyal citizen of his adopted countrj', 
and public- spirited in his support of all pro- 
gressive movemeuts for the bene6t of the town. 



NGN. THKODORE A. HURD. During the 
long and intimate connection of Judge 
Hurd with the history of jurisprudence in 
I^eavenworth, he gained a reputation that was 
not limited to this city, nor indeed to the state of 
Kansas. He was fitted, by natural gifts and edu- 
cation, for the profession in which he so long and 
honorably engaged. His intelligence, his method 
of logical reasoning, his habitual self-pos.session, 
whether in the ordinary walks of life or in great 
emergencies, and his acumen made him a model 
attorney. Endowed with mental energy, he was 
prompt in forming and resolute in carrying out 
any purpose or plan of action on which he de- 
cided; and this habit of decision and force of will 
was one of the notable traits of his character. He 
continued his activity until the time of his death, 
and, spite of waning years, showed no diminution 
of his powers. To the last he remained the dig- 
nified, just, tactful and resourceful man he had 
ever been. 

Judge Hurd was born in Pawling, Dutchess 
County, N. Y., December 21, 1819, a son of 
Jarius Hurd, a farmer of that county. He ob- 
tained his education in Cazenovia Academy and 
afterward taught school for two years in Virgin- 
ia. He read law in the office of ex-Governor 
Horatio Seymour at Utica, later was with B. 
Davis Noxon, and graduated in the class of 1847 
at Utica. For a time he was a partner of Judge 
Joshua A. Spencer. While at Utica he formed a 
friendship with Roscoe Conkling, which was 
terminated only by the death of the senator. Dur- 
ing the '50s business brought him west, and he 
was so pleased with the prospects in Leaven\yorth 
that he decided to locate here. In 1859 he set- 
tled in this city, and during the same year he 
formed a partnership with H. Miles Moore, the 
firm of Moore & Hurd continuing until Mr. 
Moore entered the army at the opening of the 
war. After that Judge Hurd continued alone. 



He made a .specialty of constitutional and cor- 
poration law, in which he was recognized as au- 
thority. 

Upon the organization of the old Missouri Val- 
ley Life Insurance Company, Judge Hurd became 
its attorney, and this position he retained from 
the incorporation of the company through the 
long litigation following the appointment of a re- 
ceiver and the closing up of the company's busi- 
ness. When the Kan.sas Pacific Railroad was 
chartered he was chosen attorney for the com- 
pany, in which office he continued long after the 
road was merged into the Union Pacific Railway. 
While looking after the lands of this company he 
first became associated with W. A. Harris, then 
civil engineer for the company, now United 
States senator. He was also attorney for a Ken- 
tucky .syndicate that owned Fackler's addition to 
Leavenworth. For many years he acted as gen- 
eral attorney for the Great Western Manufactur- 
ing Company. His ability as an attorney brought 
him into prominence throughout Kansas, and his 
services were brought into requi.sition in almost 
every important case in his part of the state. 
Nor did his activity in the law decrease with ad- 
vancing years. Only a few days before his death 
he had completed a tedius case as referee, involv- 
ing thousands of dollars, and had made his report 
to the district court. 

In politics Judge Hurd was a stanch Democrat, 
but he never held an elective office except that 
of school director. Upon the resignation of Judge 
Brewer from the supreme court bench to accept 
an appointment on the bench of the United States 
supreme court, in April, 1884, Governor Click 
appointed Judge Hurd to fill the vacancy. He 
was a member of the Leavenworth and Kansas 
State Bar Associations, and represented the latter 
at a convention of the national association, while 
of the former he was once president. In early 
days he assi.sted in organizing the Leavenworth 
Commandery of Knights Templar, and was a 
charter member of Calvary Lodge of Masons, and 
when he died.his funeral was conducted with Ma- 
sonic honors. 

August 25, 1862, Judge Hurd married Miss 
Clara E. Moak, who was born in Schoharie 



c 



L. 




JAMKS I.. BYRRS. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



693 



County, N. Y., a daughter of Reuben and Mary 
(Taylor) Moak. Her father, who was of Ger- 
man extraction, was born in Schoharie County 
iu 1800, and for several years engaged in the 
mercantile business in Sharon, being the leading 
man of that village. He died of consumption in 
Wisconsin in i865. His wife, who was born in 
Schoharie County August 21, 1807, is still living, 
and makes her home with Mrs. Hurd. In relig- 
ion she is a Baptist. She is very well preserved 
for her years. Of her twelve children all but 
three attained mature years. She was a daugh- 
ter of Jacob and Philothete (Frary) Taylor, na- 
tives of Massachusetts. Judge and Mrs. Hurd 
had three children, but the only one now living 
is Clara May. 

The death of Judge Hurd was sudden and un- 
expected. For some days he had been ill with 
la grippe, but the illness was not considered seri- 
ous. Alarming symptoms, however, suddenly 
developed, and while he was seated in a chair, 
before a physician had reached him, his head fell 
against the back of the chair and he passed quiet- 
ly away, on the morning of February 22, 1899. 
Besides his immediate family there were many 
warm friends to mourn his loss. The citizens 
among whom he had so long made his home had 
come to esteem him highly for his known integ- 
rity and ability, and, as a unit, they paid to his 
memory the last tributes of respect and regard, 
and tendered to his family the heartiest sympa- 
thy in their bereavement. 



(lAMES Iv. BYERS, who came to Leaven- 
I worth in the fall of 1S55 and is now one of 
(2/ the oldest surviving settlers of this city, was 
born in Montgomery County, Ohio, in 1S24, and 
is of Scotch descent. His father, Robert Byers, 
emigrated from Belfast, Ireland, to America and 
settled in Pittsburgh, Pa., but soon removed to 
Dayton, Ohio, and bought a tract of land near 
that city. As soon as he was permanently set- 
tled he sent for his mother and brothers in Ire- 
land, and they joined him in Dayton. He became 
a successful farmer and stock-raiser and was a 
highly esteemed citizen of his community. In 

32 



politics he supported the Whig party and was a 
warm admirer of Henry Clay. He was a young 
man at the time of his death. His wife, Nancy, 
who was a sister of James and Alexander Laugh- 
lin, of Pittsburgh, Pa., passed away at the age of 
seventy-six years. They were the parents of 
seven children, four of whom are living, viz.: 
James I,., Robert, George, and Agnes, who is the 
wife of D. D. Marquis. 

The education of our subject was such as the 
common schools afforded. Being the oldest son 
at home he took charge of the farm at an early 
age, remaining with his mother until the younger 
sons were able to assume the management of the 
place. In 1851 he went to southern Illinois and 
for a few j'earswas in partnership with his broth- 
ers, Alexander and Robert, in a general mercan- 
tile business in Oluey and Louisville, 111. In 
October, 1855, he came to Leavenworth, bringing 
with him from St. Louis a stock of goods and 
opening a store in the town. The surroundings 
were unpleasant, owing to border warfare be- 
tween the free-state and pro-slavery parties. In 
1857 he sold his grocery, after which he carried 
on a real-estate business until i860. He then 
began freighting over the plains to points in 
Colorado and New Mexico, continuing in this 
occupation until the Union Pacific Railroad 
reached Denverin 1868. At that time he loaded 
his wagons with goods purchased in St. Louis, 
Mo. , and Leavenworth, Kans. , and drove through 
to Salt Lake, Utah, where he opened a store and 
sold his goods, cattle and wagons. It was dur- 
ing this time that the Union Pacific Railroad 
was completed to Ogden and Salt Lake City. 
Later he made a few trips to Boise City. 

In the spring of 1869 Mr. Byers took a stock of 
goods from Kansas by boat up the Missouri River 
to Fort Benton and then freighted the goods to 
Helena, Mont., where he opened a general store 
and remained for three j^ears, successfully en- 
gaged in merchandising. On his return to Leav- 
enworth he began to improve the lots and the 
several acres of land that he owned in the city. 
He built a one-story brick block on Shawnee 
street, which a few years later was destroyed by 
fire, He then erected a large block, which is one 



694 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



of the best in the neighborhood. At different times 
he has built other business houses and residences, 
some of wliich he still owns. He is also the 
owner of three hundred acres of farm land in 
Stranger Township. During his younger daj^s 
he was one of the most extensive buyers and sell- 
ers of property in Leavenworth. 

While in the main Mr. Byers has been success- 
ful, yet he has met with some heavy losses, but 
he has always managed to "keep his head above 
water," and has never become discouraged, no 
matter how dark the outlook. His success is 
commendable when it is remembered that in boy- 
hood he assisted in caring for other members of 
the family and had few opportunities for acquir- 
ing an education. When he started out for him- 
self he was without means, but by industry and 
honest dealing he has become well-to-do. He 
has never cared for office, but, wherever located, 
he has always taken an interest in local politics, 
and supports Republican principles. He is gen- 
erous in his dealings with all, a man of irre- 
proachable character, kind-hearted and whole- 
souled, with a good word for all. He has won 
and retained the confidence of the business men 
with whom he has dealt and stands high among 
his fellow-citizens. Fraternally he is connected 
with Leavenworth Lodge No. 2, I. O. O. F., in 
which he has passed all the chairs. 



HON. PERCIVAL G. LOWE, of Leaven- 
worth, was born in Randolph, Coos Coun- 
ty, N. H., September 29, 1828, a son of 
Clovis and Alpha Abigail (Green) Lowe. His 
father, who vi'as a merchant and dealer in real 
estate, took a prominent part in local affairs and 
was a leader of the Democratic party. He served 
his county in the legislature and for j'ears held 
office as justice of the peace. He died in Coos 
County when eighty-two years of age. His wife, 
who was born in Shelburne, N. H., was a 
daughter of Thomas Green, whose ancestors 
came from Scotland to New England and took 
part in the wars of the Revolution and 18 12. He 
married a Miss Evans, who was of Welsh de- 
scent. A man of fine physique, six feet and two 



inches in height, with broad chest and stalwart 
frame, he withstood the ravages of time and when 
he died, at ninety-seven years, was still in posses- 
sion of his faculties. 

The family of which P. G. Lowe was a mem- 
ber consisted of five children, four of whom were 
.sous. Of these Oscar died in Cambridge, Mass., 
in 1898; Pembroke, who was in the quartermas- 
ter's department in the Civil war, is now living 
in Phillips Count)', Kans. ; and Thaddeus, who is 
the most grifted member of the family, has at- 
tained national renown. During the Civil war 
he originated the plan of signalling with balloons, 
also of generating gas in the field, and was placed 
in charge of the balloon corps in the Army of the 
Potomac. Afterward he invented water gas and 
the refrigerator process. Perhaps his crowning 
work was the building of the railroad from Pasa- 
dena, Cal. (where he makes his home), up to the 
top of Mount Lowe, a feat of engineering which 
has seldom been surpassed. The road is operated 
by electricity and is visited by all of the eastern 
tourists as one of the greatest attractions of the 
Pacific coast. 

At fourteen years of age our subject went from 
Randolph to Lowell, Mass., where he worked as 
a newsboy and later as clerk in a dry-goods store. 
When sixteen he went to sea, and for two years 
was engaged in the coasting trade. On his re- 
turn to the life of a landsman he worked for six 
months at the daguerreotype business in Boston 
with a Mr. Plumb, after which he was with a 
Mr. Cannon for eight months. He was very de- 
sirous of going to California at the time of the 
discoverj' of gold there, but had not the $300 
necessary for the voyage, so instead went on a 
whaling voyage. From January, 1849, until the 
fall of the year he was on the whaling vessel 
"Jane Howes," around Porto Rico, Bermuda, the 
Azores and in the Gulf of Mexico. October 17, 
1849, he enlisted in the First United States 
Dragoons and was sent to Carlisle barracks, and 
was afterward assigned to Troop B. He went 
down the canal, over the mountains, on to Pitts- 
burgh, from there via steamer to St. Louis, and 
next to Fort Leavenworth. When only ninety 
miles above St. Louis the river froze up, and the 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



695 



men were forced to march to Fort l,eaveu worth, 
where they arrived on Christmas day of 1849. 

In April, 1850, Mr. Lowe joined his regiment 
at Fort Kearney. There he was mounted and 
sent on a scouting expedition against the Paw- 
nees. During the ensuing winter, which was 
spent at Fort Leavenworth, he was made a cor- 
poral. In the spring of 1851 he had charge of 
the paymaster's escort to Fort Laramie, and was 
there when a treaty was made with the Indians. 
Returning to Fort Leavenworth, he remained 
during the winter, and in 1852 was made first 
sergeant of the troop and campaigned after In- 
dians on the Arkansas, continuing this in 1853. 
In 1854 he was honorablj' discharged in New 
Mexico. Returning to Fort Leavenworth he was 
employed as wagon master in the quartermaster's 
department for five years, being master of trans- 
portation at Fort Riley in 1855; in 1856 in charge 
of transportation of supplies to troops in Kansas, 
and was stationed at various points in this state 
during the Kansas war; in 1857, master of trans- 
portation at the time of the Cheyenne war; in 
1858, in charge of trains to Utah during the Mor- 
mon war, going to Utah in August with a large 
train and returning in December, after a most 
remarkable trip, during which they traveled from 
Salt Lake to five hundred miles east, through 
snow that was from six inches to two feet deep 
on the trails. 

Going to Denver in 1859, Mr. Lowe engaged 
in the mercantile and jobbing business with 
George W. Clayton. In 1859 and i860 he made 
four trips from the Missouri River to Denver, 
hauling the goods purchased by the firm. In 
December, i860, he sold out to his partner, after 
which he returned to Leavenworth and began 
freighting for himself. With thirteen eight-mule 
teams he traveled over the Platte route to and 
from the west. Indians were hostile, but he 
avoided an encounter with them. In June, 1S61, 
he married and took his wife to Denver, where 
Governor Gilpin ofiered him a commission as 
lieutenant-colonel of the Second Colorado Infan- 
try, but thinking the war would soon be over he 
declined. On his return to Leavenworth he 
found the national aspect so serious that he sold 



his train to the quartermaster at Fort Leaven- 
worth and returned to Denver for his wife. Feb- 
ruary I, 1862, he entered the employ of the quar- 
termaster, filling out trains for the government. 
In August, 1862, he took six hundred horses and 
one hundred and thirty teams to Fort Union, 
N. M., returning to Leavenworth. In the spring 
of 1863 he visited his brother in the army of the 
Potomac at Chancellorsville. On his return to 
the west he resumed freighting and ran trains for 
the government to Colorado, doing a large busi- 
ness and continuing, with different partners, un- 
til the close of the war. From 1865 to 1868 he 
handled horses and mules and engaged in con- 
tracting for the government. In April, 1868, he 
took a contract to move all of the government 
freight from the Union Pacific Railroad to New 
Mexico and intermediate points, which was the 
largest freight contract made in the United States 
up to that time. During the year that he spent 
in carrying out the contract the gross receipts 
were nearly $1,000,000. The next year he was 
underbid by another firm, but at the solicitation 
of the parties interested Mr. Lowe became a mem- 
ber of the new firm and had charge of the busi- 
ness the same as the year before. In April, 1870, 
the route was made shorter by reason of the ad- 
vancement of the railroad further west. He se- 
cured the contract to move freight from Baxter 
Springs and Fort Gibson, to Forts Arbuckle and 
Sill, in the Indian Territory, and this contract 
consumed his time until April, 187 1, while at the 
same time he also had a contract for furnishing 
beef to the military post at Fort Leavenworth. 
In 1872 he obtained the beef contracts for Forts 
Leavenworth, Larned and Dodge and Camp Sup- 
ply and these contracts he filled successfully. On 
account of ill health he sold out his business in- 
terests in Leavenworth, and afterward traveled in 
Florida and Texas recuperating. 

During a trip he had made from New Mexico 
in 1862, Mr. Lowe had measured the military 
road from Fort Union to Fort Leavenworth, a 
distance of seven hundred and fifty-two miles, 
and the estimate he then made was afterward 
used in paying contractors for moving freight. 
Afterward, however, a dispute arose regarding 



696 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



the distance and suits were instituted. In 1876 
Mr. Lowe went as an expert with a government 
party which chained the road from Fort Leaven- 
worth to Fort Union. He returned in October 
and filed his report. Meantime, some of his 
friends had entered into a contract to furnish beef 
for the Indians at the time of the Sioux war. 
Trouble arose, and he was urged to assist them. 
At first he refused, but afterward consented to 
go for a month at least. Going to the Red Cloud 
agency, he investigated and made a report. He 
was kept there for eight months and the exciting 
events that meantime occurred would fill a vol- 
ume. He finally went back to Leavenworth, but 
was induced to return to the agency, where he 
spent a most trying winter and spring. 

In the fall of 1877 Mr. Lowe was elected sher- 
iff on the Democratic ticket, receiving a majority 
of seven hundred. At the end of the term he was 
re-elected and served until 18S2. Afterward he 
gave his attention to the improving of his farms 
in Kickapoo Township. In the fall of 1884 he 
was elected to represent the third district in the 
state senate, and served in the session of 1885, 
the special session of 1886 and the session of 
1887. During all of these sessions he was chair- 
man of the committee on manufacturing and in- 
dustrial pursuits; he also served as a member of 
the committees on mines and mining and cities of 
the first class. At the expiration of his term he 
retired from office, not being a candidate for re- 
election. From 1868 to 1870 he was president of 
the city council. In 1S76 he was again president 
of the council. He has always shown a deep in- 
terest in educational matters and for a time was a 
member of the board of education. For one year 
and a-half he was police commissioner of Leaven- 
worth, being appointed by Governor Humphrey. 
Fraternally he is connected with Leavenworth 
Lodge No. 2, A. F. & A. M., also the chapter, 
commandery and mystic .shrine. 

In Clay County, Mo., Mr. Lowe married Miss 
Margaret E. Gartin, daughter of Andrew Gartin, 
a native of Virginia, and an early settler of Mis- 
souri, later a pioneer government contractor and 
freighter across the plains to California. Four 
children were born to the union of Mr. and Mrs. 



Lowe, namely: Wilson G. S. and P. G., Jr.; 
Jane E., wife of Capt. L. S. McConnick, of the 
Seventh United States Cavalry; and Ellen, wife 
of Samuel H. Wilson, who is connected with the 
Great Western Manufacturing Company in Leav- 
enworth. 



pG|lLSON G. S. LOWE, who was for some 
\ A / years engaged in the practice of law in 
YV Leavenworth, Kans. , but is now an in- 
structor in the Michigan Militarj' Academy at 
Orchard Lake, Mich., was born in Leavenworth, 
Kans., May 7, 1862, a son of Hon. P. G. and 
Margaret E. (Gartin) Lowe. He traces his an- 
cestrj- to England, but the family has been repre- 
sented in New England from a very early period, 
and in the various wars its members have borne 
an honorable part. The ancestrj- in this country 
is traced back to Peregrine White, the first white 
child born in New England, and whose birth oc- 
curred on the ' ' Mayflower' ' in Boston Harbor No- 
vember 20, 1620. Peregrine White was a son of 
William and Susanna White, the former of whom 
died verj- shortly after the boat landed, and the 
latter afterward was married to Edward Winslow. 
It is said that she was the first mother, the fir.st 
widow and one of the first brides in New England. 
Her second husband, Edward Winslow, was the 
first provincial governor of Massachusetts, and 
her son, Josiah Winslow, was the first native 
governor of the colony. In the writings of that 
period Peregrine White is referred to as of "vigor- 
ous and manly aspect." He settled at Marsh- 
field, Mass., where the court, in consideration of 
his birth, presented him with two hundred acres 
of land. In that place he died July 22, 1704. 

The education of our subject was begun in the 
Leavenworth public and high schools. In 1879 
he entered the Pennsylvania Military College at 
Chester, from which he graduated in 1883, with 
first honors and the degree of C. E. He was 
senior cadet captain and the valedictorian of his 
class. After graduating he was appointed cap- 
tain of infantry, N. G. P., by Governor Pattison 
of Pennsylvania, and was adjutant and assistant 
instructor in mathematics and militarj' science for 
one year in his alma mater at Chester. From 



i 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



697 



September, 1885, to June, 1886, he was instructor 
of military science and mathematicsin the Michi- 
gan Military Academy at Orchard Lake, Mich. 
He began the study of law with Hon. L- B. and 
S. E. Wheat, of Leavenworth, and in 1888 was 
admitted to the bar, after which he took the regu- 
lar course of .study in the law department of 
Washington University, St. Louis, from which he 
graduated in 1891, with the degree of LL. B. 

After leaving the law school Mr. Lowe spent 
two years in Pasadena and Los Angeles, Cal., 
associated with the firm of Wells, Monroe & 
Lee, of Los Angeles. In 1893 he returned to 
Leavenworth, where he engaged in the general 
practice of law and was also attorney for the 
Union Savings Bank. He acted as military in- 
structor and captain of the Leavenworth high 
school cadets for two years. In 1899 he accepted 
a position with the Michigan Military Academy 
at Orchard Lake, Mich., as adjutant and tactical 
officer and instructor in law and civics. While 
at Chester he was for two years president of his 
class, and at St. Louis he was chancellor of the 
Fellows of Equity in the university. On the 7th 
of September, 1893, he married Miss Rosalie 
Clarice Holmyard, who was born in England and 
came with her brother to the United States in 
1889. Onechild blesses their union, Percy Stuart 
Lowe. 

EAPT. PERCIVAL G. LOWE, Jr.. of Com- 
pany F, Twenty-fifth United States Infantry, 
now in Manila, was born in Leavenworth, 
Kans., November 18, 1863, the second son of 
Hon. Percival Green Lowe, Sr. He was edu- 
cated in the schools of Leavenworth. In 1880 he 
entered the Penn.sylvania Military College of 
Chester, Pa., from which he graduated in 1883, 
with the degree of C. E. Returning to Leaven- 
worth, he was employed as assistant city engi- 
neer. For two seasons he made government sur- 
veys in western Kansas. September 29, 1885, he 
enlisted in Company B, Eighteenth United States 
Infantry, with which he served at the now aban- 
doned military post of Fort Hays, Kans. In due 
time he was made corporal and afterward pro- 
moted to be sergeant. February 11, 1889, he 



was commissioned second lieutenant of his com- 
pany. His successive locations were Forts Hays 
and Leavenworth, Kans., Clark and Bliss, Tex., 
Sherman, Idaho, and Sheridan, near Chicago, 
111. In 1895 he graduated from the infantry and 
cavalry school at Fort Leavenworth. 

The commission of first' lieutenant was given 
him April 22, 1896. He was assigned to the 
Fourth regiment of Infantry, but after a time was 
transferred, with Lieutenant Gregg, to his old 
regiment. While in command of Indian scouts 
he saved one of his men from drowning, and for 
this heroic act he was given the government life- 
saving medal. Just prior to the opening of the 
war with Spain he was ordered to Alaska on a 
government exploring expedition, and made a 
successful trip from Valdez inlet up Copper River 
to Tenna River, thence to Dawson, returning to 
Seattle in November, 1898, after an absence of 
about seven months. In the spring of 1899 he 
was made captain of Company F, Twenty-fifth 
United States Infantry, and was sent to the Philip- 
pines. Since then he has been selected by Gen- 
eral Lawton as his chief of scouts and is in com- 
mand of a select body of soldiers known as Lowe's 
scouts. 



(JOHN AARON, a retired farmer and stock- 
I dealer residing in Leavenworth, was born 
G) in Clarion County, Pa., April 3, 1828. His 
father, George, was born in Westmoreland 
County, Pa., and removed to Clarion County 
about 1830, settling upon a farm, and devoting 
the remainder of his life to .stock-raising and the 
lumber business. He was one of five brothers 
(the others being Joseph, Conrad, Thomas and 
Daniel), who migrated from Westmoreland to 
Clarion County and took up government land, 
becoming in time the owners of extensive prop- 
erties and opening up valuable iron works. They 
became so prominent that the neighborhood in 
which they located was known as the Aaron set- 
tlement. Daniel and George were the politicians 
of the family, and each held positions of trust 
and responsibility within the gift of their fellow- 
citizens. Their father, Joseph Aaron, was born 
in southern Germany, and during the battle of 



698 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Waterloo served as one of Bonaparte's life guards. 
When the struggle was over and Wellington had 
won the day, Mr. Aaron, for the last time 
saw his illustrious leader, who exclaimed as they 
met: " Oh, Joe, I thought you were among the 
missing." Immediately after the battle Mr. 
Aaron boarded a ship bound for America, and 
after a long voyage landed in New York. Later 
he settled in Westmoreland County, Pa., where 
he became a prominent man and reared a large 
family. 

At the time of his death, George Aaron was 
eighty-four years of age. His wife, who bore 
the maiden name of Mary Rufner, is still living, 
and makes her home with a daughter in Pitts- 
l)urgh. Pa. She is now ninety-seven years of age. 
Of their nine children, six are living, namely: 
James, who lives in Delaware Township, Leaven- 
worth County; Thomas H., of Illinois; John; 
Margaret, who married James Crow; Joseph, of 
Pennsylvania; and vSabilla, wife of Dr. Burgoon, 
a physician in Pittsburgh, Pa. 

In a log schoolhouse in Clarion County, Pa., 
the subject of this sketch gained the rudiments 
of his education, and to the knowledge there ob- 
tained he afterward added by self-culture. He 
made his start in life by working in the oil wells 
of Pennsylvania, and by taking small contracts 
for boring wells. In 1863 he went to Henry 
County, 111., and purchased a farm, upon which 
he began to raise cattle and hogs, and also en- 
gaged in raising cereals. His landed possessions 
aggregated six hundred acres. In 1875 he sold 
out in Illinois and came to Kansas, settling in 
the Salt Creek Valley in Leavenworth County, 
where he purchased land to the amount of 
$23,000 in value. He added to his original 
acreage, and finally acquired five hundred and 
forty acres of fine land, which he devoted to 
stock-raising and general farming. Associated 
with J. F. Taylor, he also farmed one thousand 
acres of rented land. He made a specialty of 
raising Poland-China hogs and Durham cattle. 
For twenty-four years he made his home upon 
the farm, but, finally, having accumulated a 
competency for his declining years, he built a 
comfortable home in Leavenworth and retired to 



private life. He still finds, in the supervision of 
his moneyed interests, sufficient to occupy his 
attention. He is the owner of a number of claims 
near Aspen, Colo., and has engaged in prospect- 
ing and mining quite extensively. 

January 17, 1849, Mr. Aaron married Mary 
Newhouse, the daughter of German parents. 
They are the parents of seven children: George, 
a farmer in High Prairie Township, Leavenworth 
County; Ellen, wife of John Davitts, a merchant 
at Oak Mills; Mary, who married John Hund, a 
farmer of Salt Creek Valley; Clara, wife of John 
Bollin, a prominent stock-raiser of Leavenworth 
County; John Augustine, who is engaged in the 
breeding of fine stock on the old homestead; 
Leo, a priest in the Roman Catholic Church, 
now in St. Benedict's College in Atchison; and 
Sarah, wife of Michael O'Neill, a retired farmer 
of Illinois. In politics Mr. Aaron has always 
been a Democrat, and has manifested an interest 
in local affairs, but has never sought political 
offices. 



RICHARD J. WOSSER has spent his entire 
life in Kickapoo Township, Leavenworth 
County, where he was born February 22, 
1869. He is a son of Richard Wosser, who was 
born in Ireland in 1808 and in early manhood 
emigrated to the United States, .spending some 
years afterward in Ann Arbor, Mich., and Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio, later making his home in Santa 
Fe, N. M. In the different towns where he re- 
sided he was engaged in contracting and build- 
ing. From New Mexico he came to Leavenworth 
about 1853 and was a pioneer of this town, some 
of whose earliest buildings were erected by him- 
self. In 1859 he moved to a farm six miles west 
of Leavenworth, and there he continued to 
reside, following his trade and cultivating his 
land, until he became too old to engage in active 
work. He was not interested in politics and never 
accepted any ofiBces. During the border rufiian 
days he stood firmly for the interests of his 
county, state and nation, displaying the greatest 
affection for the country of his adoption; but, 
being a cripple, he was excused from service in 
the army or militia. His death occurred in 1884, 



41 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



699 



at the age of seventy-six j^ears. In 1858 he mar- 
ried Miss Anna Donnelly, who is still living on 
the old homestead. They were the parents of ten 
children, namely: Mary, wife of Joseph Heintz- 
elman; Thomas; Johanna, wife of Thomas Cahill; 
Kate, who married Victor Heintzelnian; Victoria; 
John; Richard J.; Annie, a Sister of Charity; 
D. Edward and Nellie. 

The education of our subject was obtained in 
district schools and the normal school at Fort 
Scott. After his education was completed he 
returned home and, with the assistance of his 
brothers assumed the management of the home 
farm of four hundred and fifty acres, which they 
have since successfully cultivated. They have 
given much attention to the raising of apples and 
have on the land an orchard of four thousand 
trees in good bearing condition. In the Horti- 
cultural Society he has been secretary and vice- 
president. Besides his work as a farmer he has 
been salesman for a hardware company of lycaven- 
worth and has traveled in its interests through 
Kansas, where he has sold a large number of 
harvesting machines and farm implements. 

Politically Mr. Wosser is a Democrat. Upon 
that ticket he was elected township clerk for two 
years and constable for one term, also served as 
township trustee for a term. In 1894 he was the 
Democratic candidate for the legislature. In 
1893 he served as clerk of the legislature at To- 
peka, and while filling this position became well 
known in the political circles of the state. As a 
delegate from Leavenworth County he has at- 
tended a number of state conventions of his party. 
In the early days of the Farmers' Alliance he was 
one of its first members, and assisted in organizing 
a good many lodges throughout his county, serv- 
ing as secretary and vice-president at different 
times. Was also business agent. He was a dele- 
gate to the Industrial Conference at St. Louis, 
Mo., in 1892, when the People's party was or- 
ganized. Mr. Wosser has also been a frequent 
contributor to the local press. He believes it to 
be his duty to take an intelligent interest in pub- 
lic aflFairs and to keep posted concerning the 
issues of the age. He is a worth}' representa- 
tive of one of the pioneer families of Leaven- 



worth County, and has many warm personal 
friends among the people here. With his mother, 
his brothers, John and Edward, and his sisters, 
Victoria and Nellie, he occupies the old home- 
stead, which has for so many years belonged to 
the family and has, through their efforts, been 
brought to so high a degree of cultivation. 



GJNDREW J. PARNELL, Sr., a retired 
LI farmer, residing in Lawrence, was born in 
I I Buchanan County, Mo., August 8, 1841, a 
son of Andrew and Maria (Wilson) Parnell. He 
was one of eleven children, six now living: 
Pleasant, a farmer of Douglas County; Benjamin 
M., of Jefferson County; Martha J., widow of 
David Side, of Vacaville, Cal. ; Andrew J.; 
Nancy M., widow of James N. Sweeney, of Va- 
caville, Cal.; and Cynthia, wife of Frederick 
Hartman, of Atchison, Kans. The father was born 
in Kentucky, March i, 1800, and when a youth 
of sixteen accompanied his parents to Decatur 
County, Ind., where he married and engaged in 
farming. About 1834 he removed to Arkansas, 
but the surroundings being unpleasant, after two 
years he went to Missouri, settling near Dekalb, 
Buchanan County. In 1859 he established his 
home in Atchison County, Kans., and ten years 
later settled in Jefferson County, where he died 
in 1872. In religion he was a member of the 
Christian Church. He was a Democrat until the 
campaign of James Buchanan, after which he 
voted with the Republicans. His father, John 
Parnell, a native of Ireland, settled in Maryland 
in an early day and served in the Revolutionary 
war. 

The schools of the frontier being very poor, our 
subject had few advantages in youth. February 
13, 1861, he married Miss Elvira Thompson, 
who was born in Platte County, Mo., daughter 
of Benjamin A. and Nancy (Baxter) Thompson. 
Her father, a native of Kentucky, was in early 
life a school teacher and later a brick and stone 
mason. During early days he settled in Missouri 
and i860 removed to Atchison County, Kans., 
where he spent his last years. September i, 
1862, our subject enlisted in Company F, Fif- 



700 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



teenth Kansas Infantr}', and saw service in south- 
western Missouri and northwestern Arkansas, 
also in the Cherokee, Chickasaw and Choctaw 
nations, taking part in the battles of Prairie Grove 
and Cain Hill, the capture of Van Buren and the 
pursuit of Cooper. He was mustered out July 
20, 1865. Afterward he engaged in farming in 
Atchi-son Countj% Kans., for two years, then re- 
moved to Jefferson County, where he bought 
farm land and spent seventeen years. In 1884 
he came to Douglas County, and purchased a 
farm eight miles southwest of Lawrence, in Wa- 
karusa Township. There he resided until 1891, 
when he rented the place and removed to Law- 
rence. In politics a Republican, be has several 
times been a delegate to county conventions of 
his party. He is a member of the Chri.stian 
Church and Washington Post No. 12, G. A. R. 
Of his eleven children, seven are now living, the 
eldest being Andrew J., Jr., commissioner of 
Douglas County. The others are: Mary A., 
wife of Addison M. Bowen, a farmer of Wakarusa 
Township; Clara, wife of Charles Bunker, a taxi- 
dermist connected with the University of Kansas; 
Edward E., a jeweler of Kansas City; Cynthia, a 
student of the high school, residing with her 
father; Laura and Ira E., also at home. 



GlNDREW JACKSON PARNELL, Jr., a 
LA prosperous farmer of Clinton Township, is 
/ I one of the well-known men of Douglas 
County. In local affairs he has taken a leading 
part, being especially active in the Republican 
party. In 1894, 1895 and 1896 he served as 
township trustee. In 1S98 he was the successful 
candidate for the ofiBce of county commissioner, 
being elected by a good majority, notwithstand- 
ing the fact that the district is Democratic, and 
he vi'as the Republican nominee. His election, 
under such apparently adverse conditions, is a 
proof of his popularity as a citizen and his high 
standing in the community. The third district, 
which he represents upon the board, comprises 
the townships of Willow Springs, Marion, Clin- 
ton, Kanwaka and Lecompton. Besides his work 
as commissioner he has also been interested in 



educational matters and has rendered able service 
as a member of the board of school directors. 
As a trustee of the United Brethren Church he 
has been helpful in promoting the welfare of the 
congregation and the general interests of the de- 
nomination. 

Mr. Parnell was born in Atchison County, 
Kans., Februarj- 9, 1864, and is a .son of Andrew 
J. Parnell, Sr. In the schools near his home he 
obtained a fair knowledge of the common branches 
of study, and since leaving school he has in- 
creased his fund of information bj- reading and 
observation. September 2, 1886, he married 
Miss Anna Bowen, who was born in Clinton 
Township, September i, 1863. After his mar- 
riage he settled upon a part of his wife's family 
homestead in Clinton Township. After two 
3'ears he began to cultivate rented land, spending 
one year on the Hendry place and another on the 
Graber homestead in Wakarusa Township. In 
1891 he purchased a portion of the Bowen estate, 
and here he has since made his home. He and 
his wife have three children living: Mabel, born 
May 12, 1S90; Elroy S., October 29, 1894; and 
Eunice, August 28, 1898. 



(TOHN AUGUSTINE AARON, who is fa- 
I miliarly known as " Gus " Aaron, is one of 
(2/ the influential and prosperous agricultur- 
ists of Kickapoo Township, Leavenworth Coun- 
ty, where he occupies and manages the old 
homestead for years superintended by his father, 
John Aaron. Having made a life study of the 
raising of cereals and breeding of stock, he is 
admirably qualified to succeed as an agricultur- 
ist. His specialty has been the raising of fine 
stock, particularly hogs, which he keeps in a 
health}' condition, thus producing a goodqualit}- 
of pork. In the raising of cereals he has adopted 
the plan of rotation of crops, and about once in 
three years changes his crops, thus securing bet- 
ter and larger harvests. A progressive farmer, 
he keeps abreast with every improvement made 
in agriculture, and is a leading representative of 
the farming community of Salt Creek Valley. 
Mr. Aaron was born in Westmoreland County, 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RKCORD. 



701 



Pa., February 18, 1861. He was reared in 
Henry County, 111., and received common-school 
advantages. He was fifteen when he accom- 
panied his parents to Kansas. On the farm 
where he now lives he grew to manhood, and 
about 1 888 he succeeded to the management of 
the property, which comprises three hundred 
and seventy acres of fine farming land. He has 
since given his attention to the raising of general 
farm products. In stock, his specialties have 
been Poland-China hogs and Shorthorn cattle. 
His attention has been given to his farm work, 
to the exclusion of politics and public affairs, and 
he has had no inclination to seek oflBce or posi- 
tions of local prominence. Fraternally he is con- 
nected with the Modern Woodmen of America 
and the Catholic Mutual Benefit Association, of 
which latter he was for two years president and 
is now the recording secretary. 

The marriage of Mr. Aaron to Miss Josephine 
Bollin took place May 19, 1885. They are the 
parents of six children: Florence, Leo, Benedict, 
Clarence, Frances and Augustine Michael. 



(John H. whetstone, founder of the 
I town of Pomona, Franklin County, was born 
G/ in Hardin County, Ky., in 1829, a descend- 
ant of German ancestors who settled in Pennsyl- 
vania in a very early day, and a son of John and 
Elizabeth (Whetstone) Whetstone, members of 
different branches of the same family. His father, 
who was a native of Bedford County, Pa., settled 
in Kentucky' when that state was still sparsely 
settled. During the early '30s he moved t® 
Coles County, 111., where he followed the mechan- 
ic's trade and farm pursuits until his death at 
fifty years of age. His wife died in Pomona in 
1897, when ninety-four years old. They were the 
parents of five children, of whom two daughters 
and one son survive. The daughters are Cath- 
erine, widow of John Van Meter, and Hannah, 
widow of James Walker. 

When our subject was four years of age his 
parents settled in Illinois. Early in life he be- 
came familiar with frontier life on a farm. In- 
dustrious and capable, he was self-supporting at 



a time when young men are usually in school. 
For some years he not only followed farm pur- 
suits, but al.so bought and shipped stock and 
carried on a mercantile business at Windsor, 111. 
Coming to Ottawa in 1863, he settled where 
Ottawa now stands. There was no town there 
then, but simply what was known as the Ohio 
Crossing of the Marais des Cygnes. He became 
a member of the town company which had just 
been organized, and assisted in laying out and 
building up the town. From 1864 to 1874 he 
made his home there, meantime engaging in the 
real-estate, building and mercantile business. 
He assisted in building many of the public build- 
ings still in use, among them the Occidental hotel, 
the count}' jail, and was the prime mover in the 
erection of the old brick building known as Cen- 
tral school, which was built in spite of much 
opposition. In 1865-66 he owned the principal 
portion of the tract now comprising Forest Park, 
and he assisted materially in improving and lay- 
ing out the park. Perhaps there is no man now 
living who has done more than he toward the 
early development of Ottawa. Going to St. 
Louis, he assisted in making the first map of 
Kansas and marked out all the railroads that now 
enter Ottawa. 

In the year 1869 Mr. Whetstone bought fifteen 
thousand acres of land ten miles west of Ottawa. 
Two years later he laid out the town of Pomona 
on this land and organized the town, to which in 
1S74 he brought his family. Believing he could 
make a success of the fruit business here, he set 
out thirty thousand trees, and now has four hun- 
dred acres in fruit, mostly apples. He is often 
called the "apple king" of Franklin County. 
Through careful grafting he has introduced new 
varieties of fruit, and he is considered an author- 
ity on the subject of horticulture. His judgment 
is often sought on matters pertaining to fruit rais- 
ing, and he has contributed many articles to hor- 
ticultural journals. In addition to the fruit busi- 
ness he is engaged in raising and selling trees, 
and has a large nursery on his property. His 
sales of fruit are not limited to his own county or 
state, but he has made shipments across the ocean 
to Europe. At this writing he owns thirteen 



702 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



hnndred acres of land, of which one hundred and 
fifty acres are in corn. He is now promoting the 
organization of a Farmers' Exchange to be estab- 
lished in Pomona, which will undoubtedly do 
much to benefit the town. 

Every measure for the development of material 
resources of town and county receives Mr. Whet- 
stone's endorsement. He is a very frank, out- 
spoken man, and in the expression of his opin- 
ions is always open. He holds to the principles 
of the People's party, but he has never cared for 
political prominence or official honors, preferring 
rather to devote himself wholly to his large busi- 
ness interests. 

The Pomona Fruit Company is one of the most 
flourishing industries of Pomona. It was organ- 
ized in the summer of 1898, when Mrs. J. J. 
Whetstone and Mrs. J&ssie Maxey began, as an 
experiment, to put up fruits and jellies for the 
market. They met with such success that in the 
summer of 1899 they enlarged the business and 
furnished employment to sixteen persons. It is 
their intention, in 1900, to double the capacity of 
the factory. 



DGAR J. HUMPHREYS. The story of the 
>) life of Mr. Humphreys is the record of 
^ eastern thrift grafted on western energy. 
Not only was he a pioneer of Leavenworth Coun- 
ty, but also one of its honored citizens and suc- 
cessful men. In his early life he did not have 
many advantages, for his parents were poor, and 
he was therefore obliged to contribute toward his 
own support as soon as he was physically able to 
perform any kind of manual labor. Instead of 
being injurious to him, however, the trait of self- 
reliance developed by his early experiences in the 
world was a prominent factor entering into his 
subsequent success. 

When about seven years old Mr. Humphreys 
was taken to Tennessee by his parents, so that he 
has little knowledge of Virginia, where he was 
bora in January, 1825. When about fifteen he 
went north to Peoria, 111., and there he learned 
the cooper's trade. Working during the day, it 
was his custom to attend school at night, and in 
this way he gained a fair education. At the age 



of nineteen he entered a drug store and later 
opened the first exclusive drug store in the city, 
which he conducted until 1856. He had no 
capital with which to start in business and it was 
solely due to his foresight and industry that he 
secured a start. He was a tireless worker. The 
brick used in the building of his store in Peoria 
was carried by himself, and there was no work so 
humble that he refused to do it, if hereby his 
success might be promoted. 

The year 1856 found Mr. Humphreys in Leav- 
enworth. After a short time he pre-empted one 
hundred and sixty acres near Atchison. In the 
fall of 1857 he removed to Bloomington, 111., and 
there conducted a grocery for three years. Re- 
turning to Leavenworth in i860, he established a 
drug store which was operated successfully under 
the successive titles of E. J. Humphrej's, Humph- 
reys & Dillworth, and Humphreys & Davis. 
This business he conducted until his death, which 
occurred November 27, 1891. It is now carried 
on by his son, Sylvester E. 

In 1869 Mr. Humphreys purchased one hun- 
dred and sixty acres of land that now joins the 
village of Fairmount, in Leavenworth Countj'. 
This he improved and afterward made his home 
as long as he lived. At different times he added 
to the property until it consisted of eight hundred 
acres of valuable and well-improved laud. This 
property and his extensive business formed the 
larger part of his estate, which at his death was 
divided among his family. He was a man whose 
life was guided by sincere Christian principles 
and who lived up to the standard of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, of which he was a member. 
He never cared for office and was never prevailed 
upon to accept any political position, his tastes 
not being in that direction. In politics he was a 
Republican, but liberal in his views and believed 
that in local matters the best man should always 
be supported. 

In 1849 Mr. Humphreys married Miss Marilla 
Decker, of New York state, who died in 1871, at 
the age of forty-one years. She was a member 
of the Baptist Church and a ladj' whose life was 
devoted to the welfare of her family. In 1875 he 
married Eleanor E. Swain, of Illinois. Of his 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



703 



children, the eldest, Sylvester E., is represented 
elsewhere in this work. John S. and James W. 
now own the greater part of the old homestead, 
which they cultivate and on which they engage 
in raising stock. They have made a specialty of 
the creamery business, and have from forty to 
fifty Jersey milch cows on their place. Of more 
recent years they have turned their attention to 
the fruit business, and now have an apple orchard 
covering one hundred and fifty acres, and contain- 
ing twelve thousand trees. The other members 
of the family are Laura, wife of S. H. Holmes, of 
Leavenworth; Edwin J., who is engaged in the 
mercantile business at Fairmount and also owns 
an orchard of sixt3'-five acres; and Lulu M., wife 
of Nathan E. Van Tu3'l, an attorney of Leaven- 
worth. 



[5)0TTLIEB MAIER. From a very early 
l_ period in the settlement of Leavenworth 
\^ until his death Mr. Maier was closely asso- 
ciated with the history of Leavenworth County 
and particularly with Easton Township, of which 
he was among the most successful stock-raisers 
and general farmers. When he arrived in Leav- 
enworth, in March, 1858, the town had only 
about one hundred and fifty people. During the 
later days, when freighting across the plains was 
a profitable source of revenue, he followed this 
occupation in the employ of the government. 
Shortly after the close of the Civil war he bought 
eighty acres in Easton Township, and upon it he 
began farming. He was so successful that from 
time to time he added to his possessions, which, 
at the time of his death, embraced four hundred 
and sixty acres. The land which comprised his 
home farm consisted of two hundred and fifty-five 
acres, seventy-five acres being bottom land. He 
also had a large tract in blue grass, which was 
used for pasture land, and ninety acres which he 
placed under cultivation. The farm was supplied 
by him with modern machinery, suitable build- 
ings, good fencing, and all the improvements of a 
model estate. There was planted, under his 
supervision, an orchard of apple, pear and peach 
trees, and he also had a vineyard of five hundred 
or more vines. Through the southern part of 



the farm the Kansas City division of the Union 
Pacific road ran. While oats, corn and wheat 
were raised, the owner's specialty was the stock 
business, and in it he met with gratifying success. 

Born in Wurtemberg, Germany, January 13, 
1831, Mr. Maier came to the United States in 
early manhood and settled in Louisville, Ind., 
where he was employed as section foreman in 
railroad building for a number of years. From 
there he came to Kansas, and was afterward one 
of the prominent German-American residents of 
Leavenworth County. In politics a Democrat, 
he was elected township treasurer on that ticket 
and filled the office for several years. He was also 
a member of the school board. In the work of 
the German Lutheran Church he took an active 
part, contributing generously to its support. He 
continued to reside upon his farm in Easton 
Township until his death, which occurred May 
26, 1892, at the age of sixty-two years. 

In 1850 Mr. Maier married Johanna Kimmerle, 
who died in 1883, leaving three children: Lena, 
wife of Charles Gwartney, a farmer of Easton 
Township; Frederick, of Texas; and Louisa, 
wife of John Wonder. The second marriage of 
Mr. Maier, December 19, 1884, united him with 
Mrs. Mary (Walter) Koehler, widow of Anton 
Koehler, and by her fir.st marriage the mother of 
a daughter, Louisa Koehler, deceased. The 
three children born of Mr. Maier' s second mar- 
riage are Annie M., Christian G. and John F. , 
who, since the death of their father, have re- 
mained with their mother in the village of Easton. 
Mrs. Maier is a member of the Baptist Church. 



0G. OLSON. In point of years of business 
activity Mr. Olson is the oldest stone con- 
tractor in Lawrence, and he has also been 
one of the most prominent and successful as well. 
He was born in Westrejotlan, Sweden, March 11, 
1841, a son of O. P. and Anna Maria (Foosborg) 
Olson. His father, who was born on the same 
farm as himself, has spent his entire life in one 
neighborhood and is now the owner of the estate, 
"Haltorp," where he makes his home. He mar- 
ried a lady who was a native of the same locality 



704 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



and who was a widow at the time of their mar- 
riage. They became the parents of seven chil- 
dren, of whom our subject was the only one that 
settled in the United States. He was reared on a 
farm and received public school advantages. At 
the age of nineteen he was apprenticed to the 
stonecutter's trade, remaining in the employ of a 
railroad contractor for two years, after which he 
was engaged in the construction of a large rail- 
road tunnel near Stockholm. His next work, 
which occupied a year, was the construction of a 
stone fort at Waxholm. In common with the 
custom in Sweden, he entered the army at twenty- 
one years of age and remained for two years. 

Coming to America in 1868, Mr. Olson settled 
in Lawrence in April of that year, and here he 
engaged in stone-cutting. He was first employed 
by the Kansas City & Fort Scott Railroad, after 
which he was on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas 
road. In 1870 he was made foreman of bridge- 
building in the stone department of the latter 
road, where he remained for over two years, after 
which he was employed for a year on a branch of 
the road from Sedalia. He had made Lawrence 
his headquarters during all this time and on his 
return he resumed contracting in this citj\ He 
was married in Denver, Colo., in 1S74, to Miss 
Matilda Engstrom, who was born in Smoland, 
Sweden, a daughter of Nils and Annie Eng.strom, 
both of whom died within a year of each other. 
She was the youngest of five children and came 
to America in 1869, settling in LaPorte, Ind., but 
30on removing to Lawrence, Kans., and in 1872 
going to Denver, Colo. 

For six months Mr. OLson was employed by the 
Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Company on its 
eastern division. He then returned to Lawrence 
md engaged in contracting and building, having 
1 stone yard on the Santa Fe Railroad. He has 
"urnished the stone for the Haskell Institute, 
Methodist Episcopal Church, Watkins bank, 
several university buildings, and many of the 
inest residences in Lawrence, and has also had 
contracts for curbing and furnished the cut stone 
"or the water works. He is a stockholder in the 
^Vatkins National Bank and is a successful busi- 
less man. He and his wife had four children, 



namely: Annie and Mamie, who died in child- 
hood; Emil, who is a student in the Lawrence 
Business College; and Carl. At one time Mr. 
Olson was connected with the Odd Fellows, but 
of late years he has allowed his membership in 
that order to lapse. He took an active part in the 
organization of the Swedish Lutheran Church in 
Lawrence, and has served as one of its trustees 
and a member of its building committee. In 
politics he has been identified with the Repub- 
lican party ever since becoming a citizen of the 
United States. 



MOLOMON A. HESTER, a pioneer of 1857 
^\ in Kansas, and a soldier in the Civil war, 
>*J/ has made his home in Ottawa since 1885, 
during which year he became interested in a hack 
business here. In September, 1894, he opened a 
livery barn in partnership with Mr. Kiler, but in 
February, 1897, lie bought his partner's interest 
and has since carried on the business alone. He 
originated the name of Hotel de Hoss for his liv- 
ery barn, which is the largest in the city, having 
twentj'-three head of horses, as well as a baggage 
and omnibus line. 

Born in Flemingsburg, Ky., February 4, 1834, 
our subject is a son of Christopher and Mary 
(Secrist) Hester, and a grandson of John Hester 
and Joseph Secrist. His paternal grandfather, 
who was born in Pennsylvania and removed to 
Kentucky, was one of two brothers, the other of 
whom was captured by the Indians, and by them 
burned at the stake in what is now Sandusky, 
Ohio. Christopher Hester was born in Flem- 
ingsburg, Ky., in 1808, and accompanied his 
father to Montgomery County, Ind., taking with 
him his wife and two children, one of whom, 
Solomon A., was six months old. In 1841 he 
settled in Jones County, Iowa, whence in 1853 
he went to Tama County, the same state. In 
September, 1858, he drove to Kansas, and the 
next year he moved to this state, buying a farm 
in what is now Cutler (then Peoria) Township, 
Franklin County. At this writing he owns and 
resides upon a large farm in Anderson County, 
and, though ninety-one j'ears of age, he is in ex- 
cellent health. He was one of a family of nine. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



705 



three of whom are still living. His wife was 
born in Kentucky, of Irish descent, and died in 
Kansas in 1874. Of their ten children seven are 
living. One of the sons, Joseph was a soldier in 
the Sixteenth Kansas Infantry during the Civil 
war. 

At the time the family removed to Iowa the 
subject of this sketch was seven years of age, and 
he remembers the trip, which was made by ox- 
teams, crossing the Mississippi at Burlington. 
He aided in clearing the home farm, six miles 
south of Anamosa, and when only eleven years 
of age he drove five yoke of cattle used in tilling 
the soil. In 1855, when twenty-one years of age, 
he broke one hundred and thirty-five acres of 
prairie land in two mouths. Leaving Tama 
County early in 1857, he made his way westward 
via team, crossing the Missouri at Lexington. 
After a journey of twenty days he reached Frank- 
lin Couuty March 21, and bought a claim one 
mile east of what is Rantoul, Cutler Township. 
Here he found the grass sod less tough than the 
soil of Iowa, and with two yoke of oxen he 
broke the prairie and improved the farm. Dur- 
ing the first year in the west he raised both corn 
and wheat. The land, which he bought at an 
Indian sale for $1.75 an acre, he sold at a fair 
profit in i860. He then spent a year in Palmyra 
Township, Douglas County, after which he 
traded for a farm one mile west of Rantoul, and 
comprising two hundred and sixty acres. 

In 1862 Mr. Hester enlisted in Company D, 
Second Kansas Mounted Infantry, and was mus- 
tered in at Leavenworth, whence he went with 
four companies to Fort Union, N. M. Two years 
later the Second was mustered out of service as 
mounted infantry, and he then enlisted in the 
Second Kansas Cavalry and was sent to Fort 
Smith, Ark. He took part in the battles of Wil- 
son Creek and Westport, fighting Price as the 
latter retreated into Arkansas. During Quan- 
trell'sraid, in a battle on Tower Creek, Franklin 
County, a bullet grazed his jugular vein, giving 
him a very narrow escape. He remained in the 
service until September, 1865, when he was hon- 
orably discharged at Leavenworth. He then re- 
turned to his farm, where he afterward engaged 



in farm pursuits for twenty j'ears, and during 
that time, for two years, he engaged in the 
manufacture of lumber. 

The first marriage of Mr. Hester took place in 
Cutler Township in 1858, and united him with 
Mary E. Perkins, who died in 1869, leaving three 
children, Mary E., Zoe and Juda. He was after- 
ward married in the same township to Miss Olive 
E. Bartram, who was born in Ohio. They be- 
came the parents of seven children, who are as 
follows: Mrs. Cora McCrea, who lives near 
Richmond, Kans.; Zetta Grace, Elva and Clara, 
at home; Milo C, now in Miami County; Harry 
A., in lola, Kans.; and Scott A., who assists his 
father in business. 

From an early age Mr. Hester has been a stal- 
wart Democrat. For eleven years he was a trus- 
tee of Cutler Township, and for two years repre- 
sented the first ward of Ottawa in the city coun- 
cil, where he served as chairman of the commit- 
tee on streets and alleys. He is connected with 
the Degree of Honor and the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen, in which he has been an officer. 
While not identified with any denomination, he 
aids in the support of the Baptist Church, to 
which his wife belongs. 



HARRY W. KOOHLER, general manager 
and a director of the People's Telephone 
Company of Leavenworth, and coroner 
of Leavenworth County, was born in Jonesboro, 
Union County, 111., February 20, 1864, the oldest 
child of August and Caroline (Rethey) Koohler, 
natives respectively of Baden and Freiburg, 
Germany. His father, who came with his parents 
to America in boyhood, settled in Union County, 
111., where he engaged in contracting and build- 
ing and also had mercantile interests. His 
death occurred in Cobden, Union Couuty, when 
he was sixty-one years of age. During the Civil 
war he offered his services to the Union, but was 
rejected. His wife is still living and makes her 
home in Cobden. Of their six children three are 
living. 

From childhood the subject of this sketch lived 
in Cobden and attended its grammar and high 



7o6 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



schools. At seventeen he began to study tele- 
graphy in the office of the Illinois Central Rail- 
road at Cobden, and after a time he was made 
operator in that town, later being transferred to 
Kensington. In 1881 he traveled through Kan- 
sas and Nebraska, and afterward was in the em- 
ploy of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company in 
the Indian Territory for a year. The confine- 
ment of office work having injured his health he 
resigned, and afterward for two and one-half 
years he engaged in the construction of telegraph 
lines. As foreman of construction for the General 
Electric Company of Chicago he was employed 
in putting up electric light plants in different 
parts of Kansas, Missouri and Illinois, remaining 
in this position for eighteen months. After hav- 
ing put up the electric light plant and works at 
Independence, Mo., he was made .superintendent 
of the same, and that position he held for some 
lime. Later, for three and one-half years he was 
assistant foreman of construction of the Kansas 
City Electric Light Company. In 1891 he came 
to Leavenworth as foreman of construction of the 
Leavenworth Lighting & Heating Company, 
which position he filled for a year, and afterward 
had complete charge of the works until 1895. 
Since then he has been manager of the People's 
Telephone Company, in which he is also a di- 
rector. Under his .supervision the company has 
been very successful. Over six hundred telephones 
have been put up in business houses and resi- 
dences, and the enterprise has been conducted to 
the satisfaction of all. He was formerly interest- 
ed in the factory where targets were manufactured, 
but it is now closed. 

Mr. Koohler is very fond of athletic sports. 
He is an expert marksman and an unerring shot. 
On the organization of the Leavenworth Gun 
Club he became a member of it, and is now its 
secretery. Frequently he has taken part in vari- 
ous contests in different states. 

As a Republican, and as a member of city and 
county executive committees, he has been prom- 
inent in politics. In the fall of 1898, on the Re- 
publican ticket, he was elected county coroner by 
a majority ofone hundred and thirty-nine, against 
his opponent, who was the candidate of both 



Democrats and Populists. He was the only one 
elected on the countj- Republican ticket, which 
fact speaks much for his abilitj' and popularity. 
He took the oath of office December 21, 1898, 
and has since filled the position to the satisfaction 
of all concerned. Fraternally he is a member of 
the Ancient Order of United Workmen and King 
Solomon's Lodge No. 10, A. F. &A. M. In 
Sedalia, Mo., he married Miss Ella Leiter, by 
whom he has a daughter, Nina. 



30HN B. GREEVER. Kansas has proved to 
be so admirably adapted to the stock busi- 
ness that it is not surprising many men have 
engaged in this occupation. Among the leading 
stockmen of Leavenworth County mention be- 
longs to Mr. Greever, who owns a fine farm of 
three hundred and sixty acres, situated in Stran- 
ger Township. While to some extent he carries 
on general farm pursuits, the stock bu.siness has 
been his principal industry, and in it he has met 
with gratifying success. He buys and feeds 
cattle to be sold in the markets; also breeds trot- 
ting horses and owns Ouray, son of Onward, 
with a record of 2:28^, and Hoke, a fine stand- 
ard-bred trotting horse. 

Mr. Greever was born in Savannah, Anderson 
County, Mo., October 21, i860, and is a brother 
of Charles F. Greever, in whose sketch the fam- 
ily history appears. When he was eight j'ears 
of age he accompanied his parents to Leaven- 
worth County. His education was received in 
common schools. When twenty-three years of 
age he left home and secured employment as a 
guard in the state penitentiary, where he re- 
mained for twelve years. In 1895 he leased the 
farm where he now lives, and here he has since 
given his attention largely to the breeding of 
horses. His marriage took place in 1888 and 
united him with Miss Mary Ranus, of Leaven- 
worth Count}'. They have five children, George 
D., Paul R., John B., Jr., Charles Francis and 
Edna. 

Upon the Democratic ticket Mr. Greever has 
been elected to the various township offices, and 
as an official he has been prompt, systematic and 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



707 



faithful. He and his wife are members of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, in which, as in 
general society, they are popular and prominent. 
Fraternally he is identified with Lansing Lodge 
No. 49, A. F. & A. M., in which he is past mas- 
ter. He is also connected with Lodge No. 277, 
A. O. U. W. , at Lansing, and is past chancellor 
of Tonganoxie Lodge No. 125, K. of P., in 
Tonganoxie. 

QOHN PETER HUESGEN was born in 
I Cologne, Germany, March 17, 1820. A 
Q) member of an old family of that country, he 
was himself its first representative in America, 
crossing the ocean in young manhood and settling 
in St. Louis during the '50s. There he em- 
barked in the grocery business at the corner of 
Twenty-second and Franklin avenue and was 
successful. In St. Louis he married Helena 
Herrig, who was born in Trier, Germany, and 
who had come to St. Louis with her parents in 
1855. Four daughters and one son were born of 
this union. 

In 1858 Mr. Huesgen sold out his business in 
St. Louis and came to Leavenworth with his 
family. Railroads west of St. Louis were then 
not known and all travel was with the old-time 
steamboat, which is now looked upon as very 
slow in this age of iron. Arriving in Leaven- 
worth, which was then nothing but a diminutive 
settlement, he opened a grocery at the corner of 
Second and Pottawatomie streets, where he pros- 
pered, and in 1859 moved to the corner of Fifth 
and Miami streets (in what was then the woods), 
and conducted a grocery, having put up a build- 
ing of his own. In course of time he erected 
the Huesgen block, a substantial structure, 
125x125 in dimensions. Leavenworth was then 
nothing but woods, and the lots which he built 
on had to be cleared ot brush and trees. So Mr. 
Huesgen was in every sense a pioneer in the set- 
tlement of Leavenworth and watched its growth 
with pride. 

During the Civil war he enlisted and was com- 
missioned captain of a volunteer company which 
was hastily organized at the time of the memor- 
able Price raid, when Leavenworth was threatened 



and there was a furore of excitement, such as all 
old-timers will remember. In religion a Roman 
Catholic, he was one of the charter members of 
St. Joseph's Church, on Broadway, and always 
maintained the deepest interest in its work. 
Though not active in politics, he was a stanch 
Democrat and never failed to vote the party 
ticket. He continued to make his home in Leav- 
enworth until his death, which occurred March 
2, 1896. 

His son, John Peter Huesgen, Jr., conducts a 
drug store at the corner of Fifth and Miami 
streets. 



HENRY KNOLLMANN. While Leaven- 
worth owes a debt of inestimable gratitude 
to its brave pioneers, its early settlers, to 
whose brave endurance of manifold hardships its 
growth was almost wholly due; yet, after all, 
whatever success it may have in the future, 
whatever standing it may attain, depends upon 
the younger generation, those who have in recent 
years entered the field of commerce. As a rep- 
resentative of these younger business men no 
one stands higher than the senior member of the 
firm of H. Knollmann& Co., retail grocers, and 
dealers in meats, grain, flour and feed. The firm, 
which consists of H. Knollmann and H. R. 
Koch, occupies a building of two stories, 50x100 
feet, at No. 200 Chestnut street, where, under the 
personal management of Mr. Knollmann, an im- 
portant and growing business has been estab- 
lished. 

. As the name indicates, Mr. Knollmann is 
of German ancestry. His grandfather, Henry 
Knollmann, a native of Hanover, emigrated to 
America and settled in Dearborn County, Ind., 
where he engaged in farming. Fred H. Knoll- 
mann, our subject's father, was born in Aurora, 
Dearborn County, and in early life engaged in 
bridge contracting and in freighting on the Ohio 
and Mississippi Rivers. In 1866 he settled in 
Leavenworth County, buying a farm at Mill^ 
wood, Easton Township, where he improved and 
cultivated a quarter- section of land. He is still 
living on this place. In religion he is connected 
with the Evangelical Lutheran Church. He mar- 



7o8 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



ried Clara Niemann , who was born in Hanover, 
Germany, and accompanied her father, Conrad 
Niemann, to the United States, settling in Platte 
County, Mo. ; her father afterward made his home 
with his children until he died, in 1868. 

The eldest of a family of two sons and two 
daughters, the subject of this sketch was born in 
Leavenworth March 17, 1869. He was reared 
on the home farm and attended the public schools, 
also Leavenworth Business College, from which 
he graduated in 1887. For four j-ears he was 
employed as a clerk and bookkeeper for A. Kir- 
meyer, then was promoted to be manager of the 
store, which position he filled for three j-ears. In 
November, 1896, with H. R. Koch, he estab- 
lished the business which has since been so suc- 
cessfully conducted, and which owes its develop- 
ment to his energy, ability and perseverance. 
He is a man who wins the confidence of the peo- 
ple and who never abuses that confidence. He 
is regarded as an honest and honorable business 
man, one who, in every tran.saction, acts in a 
manner above reproach. His time has been given 
so closely to business that he has no time for pol- 
itics, even if his inclinations were in the direction 
of public affairs. In religion he is connected 
with St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church. 

The marriage of Mr. Knollmaun took place in 
Leavenworth in November, 1S96, and united him 
with Miss Clara Koch, daughter of Henry and 
Louisa Koch, and a native of Germany. A son, 
Walter, blesses their union. 



NERVEY B. PEAIRS, superintendent of Has- 
kell Institute, has become very prominent in 
the Indian .service of the government. 
Original in his plans, full of energy, with an 
abundance of determination to carry out his pro- 
jects, he has infused new life in the institution of 
which he is the head. Through Congressman 
Curtis he secured an appropriation for the up- 
building of the school which has rendered possible 
many improvements, notable among these being 
the erection of a new auditorium. Under his 
supervision the course of study has been revised 
and the industrial department has been placed up- 



on an educational basis, a manual training school 
has been establi.shed in which theltrades are taught, 
also a domestic science department, in which girls 
are instructed in cooking and sewing. When he 
first became connected with the institute, in 1887, 
there were only three buildings, two hundred and 
forty acres and two hundred and fifty pupils; at 
this writing there are six hundred and fifty acres, 
supplied with a full complement of buildings, in 
which instruction is furnished to five hundred and 
fifty-two pupils. The institute was founded in 
1883 and opened for students the following year, 
but its growth at first was slow and for a time 
interest in it lay dormant. Now, however, its 
usefulness is apparent to all and its success has 
been constantly increasing. The erection of the 
large chapel in 1898 added to the accommodations, 
while the main building, erected in 1889, with 
superintendent's residence, laundry, shops, etc., 
constitute the other buildings utilized for institute 
work. 

John B., son of John Peairs, was born in Mus- 
kingum County, Ohio, in 1832, of Welsh descent. 
He was reared on a farm and early became famil- 
iar with agriculture. In 1876 he came to Kansas 
and settled on a farm near Vinland, but after hav- 
ing cultivated land there for some time he settled 
in Lawrence three years before his death. He 
married Jerusha H. Davis, who was born in 
Philadelphia and died in Kansas in 1898. She 
was a daughter of Emmor Davis, who came to 
this country from Wales, settling first in Phila- 
delphia, but later removed to a farm in Belmont 
County, Ohio. The children of John B. and 
Jerusha H. Peairs were named as follows: C. A., 
formerly a teacher, but now cultivating the home 
farm in Palmyra, Kans. ; Mrs. Anna E. Andrews, 
also of Palmyra; H. A. , an attorney in Los Angel- 
es, Cal.; J. E., who served as superintendent of 
schools in Douglas County, Kans., for eight 
years, retiring in January, 1899, and is now in 
the Kansas City Medical College; F. L., attorney - 
at-law with the Fraternal Aid Association; Her- 
vey B., and Maurice E. , w'ho is with the Laud 
and Abstract Compau}', of Portland, Ore. 

Near Zanesville, Muskingum County, Ohio, 
our subject was born May 11, 1866. He came 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



709 



to Kansas in 1S76 and attended the high school 
at Vinland until 1881, after which he spent two 
j'earsin the University of Kansas and then taught 
for two years in Osage County. A course of eight- 
een months in the normal school at Emporia com- 
pleted his education. In 1887 he became a 
teacher in Haskell Institute, and after one year 
was appointed industrial teacher, being trans- 
ferred from the regular school department. His 
next appointment was that of assistant principal. 
For four aud one-half years he served as discip- 
linarian and for five years was principal teacher, 
after which he was made assistant superintendent. 
In April, 1897, he was appointed supervisor of 
Indian schools and as such traveled for one year, 
inspecting the schools in different parts of the 
United States. Returning to Haskell in April, 
1898, he accepted an appointment as superintend- 
ent, which position he now fills. He has been 
active in the United States Indian School Institute 
since its start and has served as its chairman. 
He is also a member of the National Educational 
Association. In the First Methodist Episcopal 
Church of Ivawrence he has been a member of the 
official board and superintendent of the Sunday- 
school. He was made a Mason in Lawrence 
Lodge No. 6, A. F. & A. M. In this city, July 
30, 1890, he married Miss Carrie E. Reece, who 
was born here, her father, V. L. Reece, having 
settled in Douglas County in 1854. They are 
the parents of four children: Lawrence, Ruth, 
Helen and Gertrude. 



yyi ICHAEL McCarthy, councilman for the 
y first ward of Ottawa, was born in County 
Kerry, Ireland, August 17, 1856, a son of 
Timothy and Margaret (Shea) McCarthy. He 
represented the seventeenth generation in direct 
line that was born on the same old homestead in 
Fermoyle, and it is said of all of them that they 
were honorable men, who desired to live peace- 
ably with all. His father died in 1886, at eighty- 
seven years of age, but the wife and mother is 
still living, though now past eighty years of age. 
The two grandfathers, Mathew McCarthy and 
Daniel Shea, were farmers by occupation. Our 

33 



subject was the eighth among eleven children, 
named as follows: John, who occupies the old 
hqmestead in Ireland; Cornelius, a teacher in 
Australia; Daniel, who is in Burnside, Conn.; 
Jerry, also a teacher in Australia; Mrs. Ellen 
Fitzpatrick, of Ireland; Mrs. Margaret Shea, 
also living in Ireland; Timothy, a tailor in Ottawa; 
Michael; James, who died in boyhood; Mrs. 
Bridget Sullivan, of Ireland; and Mathew, who 
lives in Connecticut. 

At the age of thirteen years and ten months 
our subject was apprenticed to the trade of black- 
smith and horse-shoer in his native place. After 
serving for three years he went to Killarney, 
near the beautiful lake of that name, where he 
engaged in horseshoeing for two years. He then 
started in journeyman work in County Cork. 
After his return home he carried on a blacksmith's 
business for three years. In 1882 he came to 
America and settled in Connecticut, finding em- 
ployment as a horse-shoer at New Britain. On 
account of the ague he was obliged to leave that 
place. Afterward he was employed at East Hart- 
ford and Hartford, and for a time was under 
Professor Huey, a celebrated horse-shoer. Later, 
in Springfield, Mass., he shod some of the finest 
horses in that section. He was then employed 
in Pittsfield, Mass. 

On coming west Mr. McCarthy spent nine 
mouths in Kansas City, Mo. From there, in the 
spring of 1892, he settled in Ottawa, and bought 
a blacksmith's shop from R. A. Thomas. He has 
become well known as an expert horse-shoer and 
has shod the finest horses in this county, some 
being shipped into Ottawa from twenty and thirty 
miles away, in order that they may be shod by 
him. He has shod Lurline, 2:141^, and Riley 
Medium, 2:10%. He has made a calking vise 
for sharpening heels on shoes, and also devised a 
hoof filer, with one side sharp and the other 
blunt, which is the first of that kind ever made. 
His shop isat No. 112 North Main street, and 
his residence at No. loi South Hickory street. 
He was married in Pittsfield, Mass., June i, 1886, 
to Caroline M. Evans, a native of Wales. They 
have four living children, William John, Michael 
Francis, Caroline Elizabeth and Joseph Timothy. 



7IO 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD, 



111 national politics Mr. McCarthy is a Demo- 
crat. In the .spring of 1898 lie was nominated, 
on the citizens' ticket, for alderman from the first 
ward, which is nominally seventy-five Republican, 
but he came within twenty-five votes of being 
elected. In the spring of 1899 he was again nom 
inated and this time was elected by a majority of 
twelve, being the only candidate on the citizens' 
ticket that was elected. April 20, 1899, he took 
his seat in the council. He has since been a 
member of the committees on police, fire, water 
and light, cemetery, and streets and alleys, and is 
also chairman of the committee on printing. He 
is very active in the Franklin Countj- Fair Asso- 
ciation and is a member of its board of directors. 
Fraternally he is connected with the Ancient 
Order of Hibernians, Modern Woodmen, and An- 
cient Order of United Workmen. In the latter 
lodge he has been an officer and was a delegate to 
the grand lodge in Pittsburgh, Pa., in February, 
1899- 

3 AMES W. GAW. Upon a farm in Delaware 
Township, Leavenworth County, which he 
had purchased in 1877, Mr. Gaw settled in 
1883, and here he has since engaged in stock- 
raising and general farm pursuits. The place 
comprises two hundred and sixty acres of fertile 
land, which, under his supervision, has been con- 
verted into a highly improved farm. He has 
made a specialty of raising road horses and Jersey 
cattle, and at times has a large number of these 
on his farm. He takes a warm interest in every- 
thing calculated to promote the stock business 
and has himself been one of the most successful 
stockmen in his county. 

A sou of Patrick and Isabella (McMilleu) Gaw, 
our subject was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., Decem- 
ber 19, 1837. I^is mother was born in Belfast, 
Ireland, and died in Pittsburgh at the age of 
seventy-.seven. His father, a native of Belfast, 
Ireland, came to the United States at an early 
age and engaged in the manufacture of furniture 
in Pennsylvania, carrying on a large business. 
He died in Pittsburgh in 1848, when forty-eight 
years of age. Of his ten children the following 
are living: James W.; William; Susan, wife of 



William Patterson; and Helen, who married 
William Neely. Our subject was educated in the 
Pittsburgh schools. At seventeen years of age 
he went to Brownsville, Pa., where he learned 
the machinist's trade. In 1859 he came to Kan- 
sas, where he was connected with the quarter- 
master's department at Fort Leavenworth, re- 
maining at the fort for twenty-five years. During 
a portion of the Civil war he was stationed at Fort 
Scott, having charge of the taking of supplies 
from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Scott; but with 
that exception he continued to make Fort Leav- 
enworth his headquarters. In i860 he made a 
trip across the plains to Camp Floyd, Utah, a dis- 
tance of twelve hundred miles, and at other times 
he also crossed the plains to different parts of the 
west. During the war he was trainmaster for the 
Twelfth Wisconsin Regiment, on its waj^ to New 
Mexico. After the war he was trainmaster at 
Fort Leavenworth. From 1873 to 1883 he served 
as superintendent of transportation and inspector 
of horses and mules. In 1883 he left the govern- 
ment employ and removed to the farm upon which 
he has since resided and to the cultivation of 
which his entire time is devoted. 

The marriage of Mr. Gaw, in 1865, united him 
with Jeannette Jeffrey, daughter of Alexander 
Jeffrey, of Ohio. They are the parents of four 
children, viz.: Hugh, who is engaged in the elec- 
trical business in Montana; George A., who is a 
bridge-builder by occupation ; Emma B. , a teacher 
in the schools at Lansing; and Carrie. Frater- 
nally Mr. Gaw is connected with the Leaven- 
worth Lodge of Masons and the Knights of Honor. 
In political views he is a pronounced believer in 
the principles for which the Republican party 
stands. 



I AMAR H. NETTLETON, grand treasurer 
I C of the Grand Legion of Kansas, Select 
I J Knights, is a member of the firm of Fergu- 
son & Nettleton, who are successfully engaged in 
the marble business in Ottawa. Since the part- 
nership was formed, in November, 1883, the firm 
has had almost all of the work in its line in the 
citj', having had every contract of $1,000 or 
more. At first the headquarters of the firm were 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



711 



on west Second street, but in 1896 they were re- 
moved to the present location, on South Main 
street. Three salesmen travel in the interests of 
the business and secure contracts from various 
parts of the state, a number having been given 
from Greenwood, Anderson and Osage Counties, 
as well as all in Baldwin, and the contract for the 
new soldiers' monument at Garnett, also the gran- 
ite work of the memorial gate at Forest park. 

The Nettleton family is descended from French 
ancestors who settled in New England. Jere- 
miah Nettleton, a native of New Hampshire, 
moved to Delaware County, Ohio, and thence to 
Illinois in 1853, settling in Casey, Clark County, 
where he engaged in farming until his death. He 
was a Republican in politics and took an active 
interest in local matters. In religion he was a 
Baptist. He married Susan Bockover, who was 
born in New Jersey, of an old Jersey-Dutch 
family, and who died in February, 1897. O^ 
their children three are living, viz. : Mrs. Pauline 
Bancroft, of Casey, 111.; Mrs. Louise Roberts, 
of Topeka, Kans., and Lamar H. The last- 
named was born in Delaware County, Ohio, 
April 25, 1850, and was reared principally in Illi- 
nois. For two j'ears he attended the high school 
at South Haven, Mich. At the age of nineteen 
he was apprenticed to the marble-cutter's trade 
at Casey, 111., at which he served for three years, 
and then worked as a journeyman in Terre 
Haute, Ind., for two years, and at different 
places in Illinois, for a time carrying on a busi- 
ness of his own in Casey. 

Coming to Ottawa in 1883, Mr. Nettleton en- 
tered the employ of George W. Dawson, but in 
November of the same year bought out his em- 
ployer and formed a partnership with Mr. Fergu- 
son. Since then he has built up a trade whose 
constantly increasing importance speaks volumes 
for his own and his partner's ability. Politically 
he is a Democrat. For two years he represented 
the fourth ward in the city council. Fraternally 
he is a member of the Woodmen of the World, 
the Knights and Ladies of Security, and has 
served as noble grand ofthe lodge of Odd Fellows, 
which he represented in the grand lodge, and he 
has also been an officer in the encampment. In 



the Ancient Order of United Workmen he is 
past master workman, and for three years super- 
intended the sixth district of Kansas, having 
thirteen lodges in his charge. With the exception 
of two years he has attended every session ofthe 
grand lodge of United Workmen since 1887. 
He is also connected with the Degree of Honor. 
However, his most important fraternal position is 
in connection with the Select Knights. He is a 
charter member of Franklin Legion No. 27, and 
in 1893 was honored by election as grand treas- 
urer of the Grand Legion of Kansas, which re- 
sponsible position he has since filled with the 
greatest efficiency. 

QJERY REV. CHARLES ROWLAND HILL, 
\ / B. D., Dean of Atchison, Rector of Grace 
Y Episcopal Church at Ottawa, and Honorary 
Canon of Grace Cathedral in Topeka, is of Eng- 
lish birth and lineage, but by training and travel 
is a cosmopolitan. He was born near Shrews- 
bury, April 24, 1864. He was reared in Eng- 
land and France and studied under private tutors, 
gaining a broad knowledge of classical and modern 
history, of which he was a student. 

Desiring to acquire, by travel, a more intimate 
acquaintance with different nations, their customs, 
etc.. Dean Hill came to America in 1886 and 
traveled through Canada and the United States, 
spending considerable time on the Pacific coast, 
and spending the summer of 1887 in Alaska and 
finding much in that then unknown land to 
awaken his interest. The summer of 1888 he 
spent in the Hawaiian Islands, where he studied 
the government ofthe nation, the customs of the 
people and inspected with admiration the beauti- 
ful .scenery of various islands forming the group. 
Upon the opening of St. John's Military School 
at Salina, Kans., in the fall of 1888, he accepted 
the position as Professor of Chemistry and Physics 
in that Institution. At the same time he became 
interested in ministerial work in that locality. 
Until 1 89 1 he served as rector of the Church of 
the Covenant in Junction City, and from that 
time until 1893 he was rector of Grace Church 
in Hutchinson. In the spring of 1891 Bishop 
Thomas ordained him deacon in the Church of 



712 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



St. John, Abilene. In 1893 he was appointed 
Chaplain and private secretary to Bishop Thomas, 
with whom he made his home in Topeka. On 
the elevation of Bishop Mill.spaugh to the epis- 
copate he was made Archdeacon of Eastern 
Kansas, and this position he held until 1898, 
when he resigned. At the time of his resignation 
as Archdeacon he accepted the Rectorship of 
Grace Church in Ottawa, and the appointment 
as Dean of Atchison and Honorary Canon of 
Grace Cathedral. Upon examination by the 
Kansas Theological Seminary in 1892 the de- 
gree of B. D. was conferred upon him. For three 
years he officiated as Assistant Secretary of the 
Diocese, and for four years was Secretary of the 
Diocese of Kansas. In the mid.st of his other 
important work he has continued to hold the 
professorship in Salina and is the oldest in- 
structor in the school in point of years of service. 
His profound knowledge of science fits him for 
the chair he holds. His training in this depart- 
ment was most thorough. 

Besides his other responsible work, Dean Hill 
is the official correspondent of the Diocese of 
Kansas to the Nczv York Churchman of New 
York, the Church Standard of Philadelphia and 
the Livinq; Church of Chicago. Since 1891 his 
position in the Diocese has been of the greatest 
importance and he has wielded a large influence 
in the ecclesiastical polity of his Church. 



y yilSSKS H. D. and M. C. KITTREDGE. 
y Side by side in their responsibility for the 
VS training of the young stand the home and 
the school. It isbeing univer.sally acknowledged 
that the moral and intellectual status of men and 
women depends upon the influences thrown around 
them in childhood. Therefore it is of great import- 
ance that teachers shall be men and women of large 
hearts and broad minds. When we say that the 
Mi.sses Kittredge are in everj^ way worthy of the 
occupation they have chosen, we are saying no 
little to their credit. They are devoting them- 
selves to educational work and, since 1886, have 
conducted a private school in Ottawa. For a time 
they had advanced pupils in the morning and 



children in the afternoon, but in 1896 they dis- 
continued advanced work and turned their atten- 
tion wholly to children. In addition to the man- 
agement of this school, since 1896 Miss M. C. 
Kittredge has acted as a.ssistant in English in the 
high school of Ottawa. 

The Kittredge family has been connected with 
New England history since a very early day, 
when John Kittredge from England settled in 
Salem in 1635, being the lineal ancestor of this 
branch of the family. Solomon Kittredge, who 
served in the Revolutionary war, had a son, 
Josiah, who was born in Massachusetts and fol- 
lowed agricultural pursuits. He, in turn, had a 
son, Rev. Charles Baker Kittredge, A. M., who 
was born as Mount Vernon, N. H., graduated 
from Dartmouth College in 1828 and from An- 
dover Theological Seminary in 1832, after which 
he was ordained to the Congregational ministry. 
For three years he preached at Groton, Mass. , but 
resigned on account of his strong anti-slavery prin- 
ciples being objectionable to some of his congre- 
gation. His next pastorate, at Westboro, Mass., 
covered nine years, after which he .spent eight 
years at Monson, Mass., and in 1853, owing to a 
throat trouble, retired from regular ministerial 
work. Both in Westboro and Monson he was a 
member of the school board, and he al.so served 
as a trustee of Monson Academy. No one was 
more interested than he in the education of the 
young. He believed that, with a good education, 
a young man or woman might achieve success in 
the world and gain a position that would other- 
wise be impossible. Politically he was a Repub- 
lican. His last years were .spent in Westboro, 
where he died in 1884, at seventy-eight years of 
age. 

The wife of Rev. Charles Baker Kittredge was 
Sarah Brigham, who was born at Brigham Hill, 
Grafton, Ma.ss. , graduated from the first class at 
Mount Holyoke Seminary and afterward taught 
school in Massachusetts prior to her marriage. 
She died in Westboro in 1871, when fifty-five 
years of age. Her father. Col. Charles Brigham, 
who was a colonel in the war of 18 12 and a 
farmer at Brigham Hill, was the son of a Revolu- 
tionary soldier, whose ancestors emigrated from 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



713 



England in an earlj^ day and settled at Brigham 
Hill. The sisters are members of the Congrega- 
tional Church and possess that kind of charitable 
disposition which finds an outlet in deeds of help- 
fulness to the poor and needy. Since leaving 
college they have continued their studies and 
have acquired a broad and liberal culture that ad- 
mirably qualifies them for educational work. 



6] UGUST JOHNSON, who is engaged in con- 
LJ tracting and building in Ottawa, was born 
I I in Skaraborg Lan, Lidekoping, Hjerpos, 
Sweden, a son of Jonas and Christine (Pearson) 
Swanson. For generations his paternal ancestors 
occupied a family estate known as Godegarden, 
and there his father and mother were born 
respectively in 1817 and 1825, have spent their 
entire lives, engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 
religious views they are Lutherans. They were 
the parents of nine children, five of whom are liv- 
ing, two remaining in Sweden, while three are in 
this country. Swante is a farmer in Franklin 
County, Kans., and Helen, Mrs. P. Peterson, 
makes her home in Kan.sas City. 

On the old homestead, where he was born No- 
vember 3, 1 85 1, the subject of this sketch passed 
the years of youth, meantime attending the high 
school of his native town, from which he gradua- 
ted. Having decided to seek a home in America, 
in 1874 he came, via Liverpool, to New York 
and from there to Franklin Countj', Kans., where 
he became interested in farming. After some 
years in that occupation, in 1882 he was em- 
ployed as a stone-mason under Mr. Pierson, with 
whom he continued as an employe until 1895, 
when they formed a partnership as contractors 
and builders. Among their contracts have been 
those for the Washington school, Field school, 
the Rohrbaugh, the foundations for the court 
house in Ottawa and that in Paola, Kans., the 
building of the Santa Fe depot and numerous 
substantial structures in Ottawa. Mr. Pierson 
also had contracts for the reform school in Beloit, 
Kans., and some of the finest residences in Ottawa. 

November 16, 1882, in Ottawa, Mr. Johnson 
married Tilda Pierson, who was born in Fjelkes- 



tad, Sweden, and came to Franklin County in 
1869. Two children were born of their union, a 
daughter, Nellie N., and a son that died in in- 
fancy. Mr. Johnson was made a Mason in 
Acacia Lodge, A. F. & A. M., at Lawrence, but 
has allowed his membership to lapse. He is a 
member of the board of stewards in the Finst 
Methodist Episcopal Church of Ottawa, in which 
he has also served as a trustee. In politics he is 
a Prohibitionist. 

Sone Pierson, Mr. Johnson's father-in-law and 
business partner, was born in Sweden, where he 
learned the trade of carpenter and millwright. 
In 1869 he came to the United States and after a 
brief stop in Iowa .settled in Ottawa, Kans., 
where he began contracting and building. From 
that he drifted into mason work. As already 
stated, he has had contracts for many important 
buildings. The excellence of his work has 
caused a steadj' demand for his services. In ad- 
dition to other contracts he has had a number 
for the moving of houses, of which work he has 
made a specialty. In his native country he mar- 
ried Permilla Haroldson, by whom he has eight 
children now living, one of whom is an instructor 
in music at Jackson, Miss. 



WILLIAM S. YOHE, who has been identi- 
fied with western history from early pio- 
neer days and who is now living, retired, 
in Leavenworth, was born, of German descent, 
in Philadelphia, Pa., February 21, 1819. His 
parents, Samuel and Sarah (Smith) Yohe, were 
natives respectively of Pennsylvania and New 
Jersey; the former was a soldier in the war of 
181 2 and a grandson of General Woolley, an 
officer in the Revolutionary war, while Mrs. 
Yohe was a daughter of a sea-captain, who de- 
scended from Scotch ancestors. He is the only 
one now living among the three children com- 
prising the family. His mother died when he 
was a child and afterward his father, who was a 
carpenter, was accidentally killed by a fall from 
a building. 

After having learned the blacksmith's trade, 
in 1836 Mr. Yohe went to Mississippi and for a 



714 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



year worked for a blacksmith there, but was 
cheated out of his wages. Returning north, in 
Pittsburgh he enlisted in Captain Day's company 
(Company H), First United States Infantry, for 
service in the Florida war. He spent three years 
in Florida and took part in a number of battles 
with the Indians, the most desperate of these en- 
gagements being the battle of Ockechobie, where 
one-fourth of the men were killed. He was 
mustered out as sergeant in June, 1840. Through 
the excessive hardships of the campaign and the 
exposure in the swamps he had contracted the 
swamp fever and had been given up to die. On 
consulting a physician in St. Louis he was told 
the case was hopeless and was advised to go to 
the mountains. Notwithstanding his sickness he 
was permitted to enlist in Company F, First 
United States Cavalrj', and was sent to Fort 
Leavenworth, it being thought that he might be 
able to reform the companj', who.se reputation 
was not the best. In 1841 he went to the moun- 
tains, traveling through what is now Colorado, 
New Mexico, Arizona, etc., and in 1843 he made 
another trip to the west. In 1844 he crossed 
the Snowy range, traveling twenty-six hundred 
miles in ninety-nine days. In 1845 he was hon- 
orably discharged at Fort Leavenworth. After- 
ward he was employed by the government as 
superintendent of public works, forage master, 
and superintendent in charge of the government 
farm. 

In 1855 Mr. Yohe settled on a farm in Platte 
County, Mo., and there engaged in farming, also 
erected and operated a steam sawmill for the 
manufacture of lumber. Much of the lumber 
was used in the building of Leavenworth. In 
1857 h^ sold his mill and farm and came to Leav- 
enworth and engaged in the lumber business on 
Cherokee street. After two years, his wife's 
health being poor, he took her east, but soon re- 
turned and settled on a farm near Lansing, Leav- 
enworth County. From there, in 1865, he re- 
moved to a farm near Stranger, where he carried 
on agricultural pursuits much of the time imtil 
1881 . The next year he settled in Leavenworth, 
Duying the place at No. 934 South Broadway, 
which he still owns. He also owns a farm of one 



hundred and sixty acres in Delaware Township, 
and one of two hundred and forty acres in 
Stranger Township. 

There is no one now in Leavenworth whose 
recollections of this part of the state extend to a 
period antedating tho.se of Mr. Yohe. When he 
came to Fort Leavenworth for the first time the 
city had not been started, and he found nothing 
here except the villages of the Kickapoo and 
Stockbridge Indians. Game abounded, and much 
of his time was devoted to hunting. While out 
in the mountains he saw thousands of buffalo, 
and one day killed fifty-four without making a 
special effort to find and shoot them. At the 
time he settled upon the government farm he was 
one of the very first who attempted to till the 
soil here. He opened and improved a farm, 
which he fenced and cultivated, and was so suc- 
cessful in the work that, in one year, he made 
$9,400 for the government, and the next year 
$7,000. When he retired from the government 
employ he became a minister in the Christian 
Church, and, as an ordained preacher, estab- 
lished the first Christian Church in Leavenworth, 
also started a church at Nine Mile and another 
at Stranger. To the congregation at the latter 
place he ministered until 1897. ^^ July, 1875, 
he went to Denver, and after a few months there 
located in Boulder, Colo., where he improved 
and built upon some property, continuing to re- 
side there until 1879. 

In Platte County, Mo., Mr. Yohe married Miss 
Isabella McLaren, who was born in Ireland, and 
accompanied her parents to Platte County, Mo., 
where her father died. She passed away on the 
home farm at Nine-Mile. Of her three children, 
only one attained maturity, Mrs. Mattie B. Smith, 
who died in Denver, Colo. , at the age of t%venty- 
six years. The second marriage of Mr. Yohe 
took place at Big Stranger and united him with 
Sarah Charity Wood, who was born in North 
Carolina and in 1861 came to Kansas with a 
brother. The two children born of this union 
are Alfred F. Yohe, M. D., and Lena B., wife of 
C. H. Lamkin, of Leavenworth. 

The grandfather of Mrs. Yohe was Reuben 
Wood, who was born in England and from there, 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



715 



with his family, emigrated to Randolph County, 
N. C, where he resumed the practice of law. 
His son, James, a native of England, studied law 
and for a time was clerk of the court of Randolph 
County. He- removed from there to Texas, 
where he died. His wife was Susanna Lindsay, 
who was born in North Carolina and died at 
Deep River, that state. She was a daughter of 
Robert Lindsay, a native of Scotland, but for 
years a farmer in North Carolina; he was a son of 
John Lindsay, a farmer, who brought his family 
to the United States, settling in North Carolina. 
Mrs. Yohe had four brothers, Edwin, William B., 
R. L. and L. S. Of these, Edwin, who came 
to Kansas is early life, died at New Market, this 
state; at the time of his death he was a medical 
student. William B. was a pioneer of St. Joe, 
Mo., and died at New Orleans, La., in 1S83. 
R. L. , also a pioneer of St. Joe, later practiced 
medicine in Leavenworth, and still resides in 
this city. The other brother is in California. 
Mrs. Yohe was born in Randolph County, but 
was reared in Forsyth County, N. C, and re- 
ceived a good education. In 1859 she came west, 
first settling in St. Joe, Mo., and thence coming 
to Kansas, March 26, i860. She became the 
wife of Mr. Yohe September 6, 1863. Like him, 
she is a devoted member of the Christian Church. 



GlLFRED F. YOHE, M. D., has been en- 
U gaged in the practice of the medical profes- 
I I sion in Leavenworth since 1892, and has 
gained a reputation for skill in the treatment of 
diseases, also for accurac}' of his diagnoses. For 
four terms he has held the office of county physi- 
cian, which he still fills. During the administra- 
tion of President Harrison he received appoint- 
ment as member of the board of United States 
pension examiners, and he has since served in 
this capacity, being now treasurer of the board. 
He holds the position of professor of anatomy and 
physiology in the Leavenworth Training School 
for Nurses, and is a member of the surgical staff 
of Gushing Hospital; also local surgeon for the 
Kansas City, St. Joe & Council Bluffs Railroad. 



The Eastern District Medical Society and the 
Leavenworth County Medical Society number 
him among their members. 

In Delaware Township, Leavenworth County, 
Dr. Yohe was born in 1865. His education was 
obtained principally in the Leavenworth grammar 
and high schools. In 1883 he entered the Kan- 
sas State University, where he remained until the 
closeof the junior year, and then left in order to 
take up the study of medicine. In 1886 he en- 
tered Rush Medical College in Chicago, where 
he took the regular course, graduating in 1888 
with the degree of M. D. Returning to the 
west he engaged in practice in Leavenworth and 
in Platte County, Mo. Desirous to extend his 
professional knowledge, in 1891 he entered the 
senior class in the Bellevue Hospital Medical 
College, and in the spring of 1892 graduated with 
the degree of M. D. Since then he has given his 
attention to the practice of his profession in Leav- 
enworth. He takes an interest in the public 
schools and has served for two terms as a mem- 
ber of the board of education. His marriage, in 
this city, united him with Elizabeth I., daugh- 
ter of Enos Hook, and a native of Colorado. 
Politically he is a Democrat, and in religion is 
connected with the Christian Church. Frater- 
nally he is past officer in the Knights of Pythias, 
a member of the Fraternal Aid Association; 
Leavenworth Lodge No. 2, A. F. & A. M.; 
Leavenworth Chapter No. 2, R. A. M. ; Leaven- 
worth Commandery No. i, K. T., and Abdallah 
Temple, N. M. S. 



nOHN B. HORNE, a stock-raiser and cattle- 
I feeder residing in Williamsburg Township, 
(2/ Franklin County, was born in Wayne Coun- 
ty, Ind., in 1855. His father, Josiah W. Home, 
a native of North Carolina, removed north to 
Indiana in 1854 and continued to reside there 
until 1870, when he came to Franklin County, 
Kans. During the period of his residence in 
Indiana he carried on a large milling business 
and has also extensively engaged in farming. On 
his arrival in Franklin County he purchased one 
hundred and sixty acres of land near Williams- 



7i6 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



burg, besides which he became the owner of two 
hundred and forty acres in Greenwood Town- 
ship. In addition to the management of his 
large tracts of land he also operated the Williams- 
burg mill for a few years. Had he been spared 
to old age, undoubtedly he would have become 
one of the most successful men in Franklin 
County, but he was called from earth in 1875, 
after only five years in the west, and at the age 
of fifty years. His wife, who bore the maiden 
name of Michel S. Bogue, died in 1890, when 
sixty years old. AH of their ten children are 
still living and all but one reside in Kansas. 

When fifteen years of age our subject accom- 
panied his parents from Indiana to Kansas, and 
here he grew to manhood on a farm. For nine 
years he taught school in Osage, Miami and 
Franklin Counties. However, during all of that 
time he continued to be interested in agricultural 
pursuits, and in 1893 he bought his father's old 
homestead near Williamsburg, where he has 
since engaged in stock-raising. He is an enter- 
prising farmer and has met with success. Al- 
most ever since he attained his majority he has 
served as a member of the school board. In 
politics a Republican, he has served as trustee of 
the township, justice of the peace and in several 
other offices. In the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen he is past master workman. In 1878 he 
married Claudia L. Russell, of Miami Count}', 
by whom he has four sons, Carl R,, who has 
considerable inventive ability; William A., Wil- 
bur V. and John W. 



(TJOLOMON ENGLE, of Lawrence, a veteran 
2S of the Civil war, was born in Union County, 
\~J Pa., October 20, 1834, a son of John M. and 
Mary (Beaver) Engle. He is third among the 
five survivors of the original family of ten chil- 
dren, the others being Amos, a farmer of Union 
County, Pa.; Jacob, who resides in Reading, Pa.; 
Samuel, a farmer of Snyder County, Pa.; and 
Hettie, who is the wife of Frank Dietrick, of 
Galesburg, 111. His father, who was born near 
Philadelphia in 1783, grew to manhood in his 
native place, and from there accompanied his 



parents to Union County. Buying a tract of tim- 
bered land, he began the task of clearing a farm. 
Upon that place the after years of his life were 
passed. He was several times elected county 
commissioner and to other local offices. For 
many years before his death he was a member of 
the Lutheran Church. His father, John M. 
Engle, Sr., was a soldier in the Revolution. 
Born in Germany, he first settled in South Caro- 
lina, but worked his way toward the north, and 
finally cast in his lot with the people of Penn.syl- 
vania. Our subject's other grandfather, George 
Beaver, was also a native of Germany and came 
to America shortlj' after the war with England, 
settling upon a farm in Pennsylvania, where his 
later j-ears were spent. 

At sixteen years of age our subject was ap- 
prenticed to the trade of a stonemason, and upon 
completing his time began to work as a journey- 
man. In 1856 he was united in marriage with 
Miss Sarah J. Clemens, of New Berlin, Union 
County, Pa. After his marriage he removed to 
Milton, Pa., where he made his home for one 
year, and thence went to Mifflinburg. Shortlj- 
after the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted in 
the Union army. September 17, 1861, his name 
was enrolled in Company E, Fifty-first Pennsyl- 
vania Infantry, and he was soon afterward sent 
with the Burnside expedition to Roanoke Island, 
thence to Newbern, N. C, taking part in the en- 
gagements at both places. Later his command 
was called to Fredericksburg to reinforce General 
Pope, and afterward he took part in the second 
battle of Bull Run. After the battle of Chantilly 
the command was sent to Washington, thence to 
Antietam, where he participated in that historic 
battle, as well as two .skirmishes on South Moun- 
tain while on the way there. After the battle of 
Antietam he was taken ill and in December fal- 
lowing was honorably discharged on account of 
disability. 

After leaving the army Mr. Engle worked at 
his trade in Mifflinburg for five years, after which 
he rented the home farm in Union County and 
for two seasons cultivated that place. In April, 
187 1, he disposed of his property in the east and 
removed to Kansas, settling in the city of Man- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



717 



hattan, where he opened a boarding house. Five 
years later he went to Ogden, Riley County, and 
embarked in the mercantile business, but the ven- 
ture did not prove a profitable one. In 1876 he 
settled in Lawrence, where during the inter- 
vening years he has been engaged in various en- 
terprises. His home is in Wakarusa Township, 
near the Haskell Institute. From 1894 to 1896 
he was a member of the city council of Lawrence, 
and in politics he is a Republican. The Presby- 
terian Church numbers him among its members. 
Like all army veterans he takes an interest in 
reminiscences of war times, and enjoys the re- 
unions and meetings of Washington Post No. 12, 
G. A. R. 

Of the seven children of Mr. and Mrs. Engle 
all but two are living. Charles E., the oldest, 
operates a fruit farm in Wakarusa Township, 
Douglas County. Laura E. and Mary E. are 
with their parents. Ida May is the wife of Dr. 
S. M. McCreight, of Oskaloosa, Kans. John 
M., at the opening of the Spanish- American war, 
enlisted in Company L, Second Regiment of En- 
gineers, and was ordered to Honolulu, where he 
was stationed for some months. 



j UCY HOBBS TAYLOR, D. D. S. To the 
It women who have been pioneers in the pro- 
LJ fessions, other women owe a debt of lasting 
gratitude. For the obstacles they surmounted, 
the hardships they endured and the criticism they 
encountered, others have reaped the benefit. 
They were as pioneers who go through a track- 
less forest leaving a blazed path for others to fol- 
low; or as sailors who venture upon an unknown 
sea and find a channel in which other ships may 
safely follow. To Dr. Taylor belongs the honor of 
having been the first woman dentist in the world. 
This fact tells a whole history in itself; it speaks of 
frowning professors and cold critics; perseverance 
in the midst of anxiety and of determination in 
spite of discouragement. 

While engaged in teaching, a young girl from 
the east was induced to study medicine under a 
physician in Brooklyn, Mich. She became at- 
tracted to professional work and after learning all 



that her preceptor could teach her, she went to 
Cincinnati, Ohio, the Eclectic College in that city 
being the only medical institution that admitted 
women. However, on arriving there she found 
they had just ruled against the admission of 
women. The president kindly stated that he 
would give her instruction and she continued un- 
der him for a time. On one occasion he asked her 
why she did not take up dentistry. At that time 
there was not a woman dentist in the world. She 
thought the matter over and the next day decided 
to study dentistry. Obtaining a place with Pro- 
fessor Taft, dean of the Cincinnati Dental College, 
she remained with him for three months, but not 
learning much from him, she secured a place with 
Dr. Samuel Wardell, a large-hearted Christian 
gentleman, and one of the finest dentists in the 
city. There was a great deal of prejudice against 
women entering the profession, but she persisted. 
Having very little money, she rented a little attic 
room and there, when the day's work in the office 
was done, she toiled with her needle in order to ob- 
tain needed money. After she had been with her 
preceptor for three months she made every part 
of a set of teeth, which received the first prize at 
the Mechanics' fair. 

In March, 1861, she made application for ad- 
mission to the Ohio Dental College, but was 
refused on account of her sex. Dr. Wardell then 
advised her to begin practice without a diploma, 
which was the custom of a large majority of the 
male practitioners in those days. She accepted 
his advice, and on the 14th of March, 1861 , opened 
an office in a small room on Fourth street, Cin- 
cinnati. Unfortunately, the war breaking out at 
that time rendered it impossible for her to get a 
start. All was excitement and confusion and 
even well-established practitioners could not meet 
their expenses. She then went to northern Iowa, 
settling at Bellevue, where she worked steadily and 
slowly gained ground as a dentist. In 1862 she 
moved to McGregor, where she soon acquired a 
profitable practice. During the first year of her 
residence in Iowa she scarcely made her expenses, 
but the second year she cleared $3,000. 

The Iowa Dental Association was composed of 
fairminded and liberal men. They sent her an 



718 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



invitation to attend their convention. She did 
so, and the by-laws of the association were 
changed to suit her case and she was made a 
member. With the Iowa delegation she attended 
the American Dentists' convention in Chicago, 
and there the Iowa dentists made a formal demand 
for her admission to college, threatening to with- 
draw the influence of the state from the college 
that refused. The Ohio Dental College granted 
the demand and Dr. Taylor entered it in 1865, 
being the first woman to enter any dental college 
in the world. She graduated in 1866 with the 
degree of D. D. S., and at the final examination 
stood the highest in her class. The professor of 
chemistry in the college said of her that "She 
was a credit to the profession of her choice and an 
honor to her alma mater. A better combination 
of modesty, perseverance and pluck is seldom, 
if ever, seen." For eight years she was the only 
woman dentist in the world, when a German 
woman, Henrietta Hersch field, came to America 
to gain a profe.ssioiial education impossible to se- 
cure in her own land, and entered the Pennsyl- 
vania College of Dental Surgeons, from which 
she graduated in 1869. 

Dr. Taylor practiced for a time in Chicago, but 
the unhealthful climate induced her to leave and 
come to the west. She opened an office in Law- 
rence, December i, 1S67, and afterward built up 
the largest practice of any dentist in the city. 
She has become the owner of valuable property 
here and has succeeded financially. In social and 
fraternal organizations she has been prominent. 
For five years she was matron of the Eastern 
Star of Lawrence, also held the office of treasurer 
in the Woman's Relief Corps, and was the first 
sister to become noble grand of the Rebekahs of 
Lawrence, with which she has been identified for 
twenty-eight years. At this writing she is pres- 
ident of the Ladies' Republican Club of Law- 
rence. 

The parents of Dr. Taylor, Benjamin and Lucy 
(Beaman) Hobbs, were natives respectively of 
Worcester, Mass., and Burlington, Vt. Her pa- 
ternal grandfather, William Hobbs, a native of 
Ma.ssachusetts, removed from there to Franklin 
County, N. Y. ; and her maternal grandfather. 



Joshua Beaman, also .settled in that state. She 
was born in Franklin County, and was one often 
children who attained mature years. She had 
four brothers: Benjamin, Joshua, Edward and 
Edgar, who enlisted in New York regiments and 
served in the Civil war, Benjamin dying while at 
the front. Her education was principally ac- 
quired by self-culture. At sixteen years of age 
she began to teach school, from which she later 
entered professional work. While in Chicago, in 
April, 1867, she became the wife of James M. 
Taylor, who was born in Attica, N. Y., and was 
an artist and ornamental painter for some years, 
but afterward studied denti.stry, which he prac- 
ticed to such extent as his health permitted. 
During the Civil war he was a member of Com- 
pany I, Eleventh Illinois Infantry, and never re- 
covered from the effects of his army life, although 
he survived until 1886. At the time of his 
death he was quartermaster of Washington Post 
No. 12, G. A. R. He was also a chapter Ma.son 
and a member of Halcyon Lodge No. 18, 1.O.O.F. 



0AVID ATCHISON, who arrived in Leaven- 
worth November 4, 1857, is one of the mo.st 
prominent businessmen of this city, where 
he has built up a large trade in coal, wood and 
ice. In 1873 he bought property on the corner of 
Fourth and Seneca streets, and erected the build- 
ing in which he has since conducted business. 
He has built up the largest ice houses in the 
state, these being forty feet high, and 125x120 
feet in dimensions. The four houses are on Sec- 
ond street and have a capacity of twenty thous- 
and tons. Two steam elevators are used, in which 
one thousand tons can be put up in ten hours. 

Mr. Atchison was born in County Tyrone, 
Ireland, in 1842, a son of John and Sarah (Mc- 
Master) Atchison. His grandfather, John At- 
chison, Sr. , was a farmer and dealer in stock in 
County Tyrone; his father had two brothers who 
emigrated to Virginia in early days and from 
them descended the Atchisons afterward promi- 
nent in Missouri. John Atchison, Jr., a native 
of County Tyrone, in 1846 brought his family to 
America, .settling in Pawtucket, R. I. He had 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



719 



engaged in farming and the stock business in 
the old country, but in Rhode Island followed 
the stone-mason's trade. In the spring of 1857 
he came to Leavenworth, where he worked as a 
stone mason for one year, after which he farmed 
in Platte County, Mo. He died there in 1862, at 
sixty-three years of age. His wife, whose par- 
ents were Scotch and who was born in Scotland, 
removed with the family to County Tyrone in 
childhood. She died at Lonsdale, R. I., in 1855. 
Of her seven sons and one daughter, four of the 
sons are deceased. David was the third of the 
family and is the only one living iu Leavenworth. 
He was reared in Rhode Island until fifteen years 
of age. In 1857 he came with his father to Kan- 
sas, making the trip by rail to St. Louis, thence 
by steamer to Leavenworth. 

For a time Mr. Atchison worked on his fa- 
ther's farm. From 1859 he was on the plains, 
and, with his father and brothers, engaged in 
freighting with oxen from Leavenworth to Den- 
ver. From 1862 to 1864 he was engaged in 
hauling goods for the government and for the 
settlers from Leavenworth to Forts Gibson and 
Smith with Blunt' s army. While on one of these 
expeditions, in June, 1863, three hundred sol- 
diers were attacked bj' six hundred Confederates, 
about five miles from Fort Gibson, and a number 
of the Confederate troops attacked the rear of 
Mr. Atchison's train east of Fort Gibson. They 
were re-inforced by one thousand Cherokees and 
won out. In 1865 he began freighting with 
oxen, having ten wagons and using five yoke of 
oxen for each wagon. He was owner and cap- 
tain of the train, which freighted to Denver, 
Forts Collins and Laramie, continuing for three 
years and making two trips a year. At various 
places he had fights with Indians. He was at 
Fort Laramie while the peace commissioners, 
Generals Sherman, Sheridan, Bovay and San- 
born, were there, making a treaty with the Sioux 
Indians. As a member of the firm of Hook & 
Atchison he engaged in the hay and wood con- 
tracting business. In the spring of 1867 he went 
from Denver via Julesburg to North Platte City 
and en route was attacked by Indians, but 
escaped in safety. Other smaller parties were 



less fortunate, and many fell victims of Indian 
hatred. They found three men who had been 
killed by Indians and buried them at Big Springs, 
Neb. On the return trip from North Platte City 
the Indians attacked them again, this time at the 
old California Crossing and Bovay's ranch, and 
they succeeded in taking eight head of cattle. 
Ten men pursued them and, overtaking them, 
forced the thirty red men to give up the stock. 

Returning to Leavenworth in 1869, Mr. Atchi- 
son began in the coal, wood and ice business, 
and has since built up a large trade. During the 
early days he was a stanch free-state man, and 
has always voted the Republican ticket. Under 
Governor Humphrey he served one term as police 
commissioner. Formerly he was active in the 
Knights of Pythias and Knights of Honor, but 
has allowed his membership in these organiza- 
tions to lapse. He was married in Leavenworth 
to Mi.ss Annie Ward, who was born in Monroe 
County, 111., and in 1855 came to Leavenworth 
with her father, Hugh Ward, afterward pro- 
prietor of the Illinois house here. Mr. and Mrs. 
Atchison reside at No. 223 Fifth avenue. They 
are the parents of seven children, namely: Mrs. 
Clara Mills, of Topeka; Mrs. Mary Black, of To- 
peka (wife of the general passenger agent of the 
Santa Fe Railroad); Annie Veronica, at home; 
Gertrude, wife of Hiram Wilson, who is connected 
with the Great Western Stove Company of Leav- 
enworth; Sadie; David W., who is connected 
with a mining enterprise in Old Mexico; and 
Lottie L. 

EAPT. JOHN L. HUMMEL. At the time 
of settling in Kansas, in 1883, Mr. Hummel 
purchased the Shaw farm in South Centrop- 
olis Township, Franklin County. A few im- 
provements had been made, but much yet re- 
mained to be done. He set himself to the task 
with a vigor and determination that soon pro- 
duced results. At this writing he is the owner 
of four hundred acres of fine land, especially 
adapted to the stock business, in which he has 
been successfully engaged. As a farmer he is 
energetic and capable, and uses sound judgment 
in all of his work. Aside from voting the Repub- 



720 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



lican ticket he takes no part in politics. He is, 
however, interested in school work, and has fre- 
quently been selected to serve as a school director 
in district No. 76. He is a member of the Chris- 
tian Church at Centropolis and contributes of 
his time and means to aid in the spread of the 
Gospel . 

Born in Grant County, Ind., in 1839, our sub- 
ject is a son of Charles and Zenobia (Lobdell) 
Hummel, natives of Ohio. As early as 1830 his 
father removed to Grant Countj-, Ind., of which 
he was one of the very earliest settlers. Taking 
up a tract of raw land he devoted himself to its 
cultivation, and in time became the owner of val- 
uable property. For fifty years he remained on 
the same farm, superintending its management, 
and there he died at the age of seventj'-eight 
years. Though he never sought office for him- 
self, he aided his friends who were candidates 
and took an active part in local affairs. For 
years he officiated as an elder in the Christian 
Church. He was known throughout his entire 
section of country and was honored as an upright, 
conscientious man. He was of remote German 
descent, his ancestors having come from that 
country to Pennsylvania in an early day. Of 
his seven children, four are now living: John L.; 
Ellen J., wife J. B. Bruner; Constantine L. ; and 
Sylvester C. The wife and mother died when 
si.xty-five years of age. 

At the age of twenty-one years, when the Civil 
war opened, our subject enlisted in Company H, 
Eighth Indiana Infantry, in which he served four 
years and one month. He had responded to the 
first call for volunteers and he continued in the 
service until peace was established, his service 
being with the western division, taking part in 
the battles of Champion Hills, Vicksburg, Port 
Gibson and many others of great importance. At 
Savannah, Ga., in 1865, he was promoted to be 
captain of his company, and as such was honor- 
ably discharged. 

Returning home at the close of the war Cap- 
tain Hummel remained there for a few years. In 
1868 he settled in Illinois, where he bought a 
farm and remained for four years. Next, going 
to Nebraska, he spent eight years as a farmer 



and stock-raiser in Seward County. In 1881 he 
went back to Indiana and .spent two years near 
the old homestead. However, having once had a 
taste of western life, he found old conditions un- 
satisfactory, and determined to again seek a 
home beyond the Missouri. Accordingly, he 
came to Kansas in 1883 and has since made his 
home in Franklin County. He is a member of 
J. W. Mackey Post, G. A. R. , at Pomona, and is 
past commander of the same. In 1867 he mar- 
ried Mi.ss Annie Sherwood, a native of Ohio. 
She died in Nebraska in 1881, leaving a son, 
Arthur, who is now a farmer in South Centropo- 
lis Township. After her death Captain Hummel 
was again married, his wife being Martha A. 
(Stone) Munden, who was born in Indiana, and 
by whom he has a daughter, Clara. 



r"RANK G. MARKART, manager of the firm 
r^ of A. J. Angell & Co., lumber merchants 
I of Leavenworth, has resided in this city 
since October, 1878. He was born in Probst- 
zella, Saxe-Meiningen, Germany, December 6, 
1845, a son of Adam and Mary Markart, who 
spent their entire lives in Germany, the father 
being for some years a schoolteacher, but later 
a merchant. Of the twelve children compri.sing 
the family all but three attained years of maturity 
and four are now living. Frank was one of the 
j'ounge.st of the children, and was onlj- eight 
years of age when his father died in 1854. After- 
ward he was taken into the home of one of his 
oldest sisters, Mrs. Emily Ritter, now living in 
Arkansas. He was the first of the family to 
emigrate to America. In i860 he took passage 
on a steamer at Hamburg and after a voyage of 
eighteen days arrived in New York, from which 
city he proceeded to Muscatine County, Iowa, 
and secured employment on a farm. 

In August, 1862, when sixteen years of age, 
Mr. Markart enlisted in Company C, Thirty-fifth 
Iowa Infantry, and was mu.stered into .service at 
Muscatine, thence ordered to Columbus, Ky., 
where he spent the winter in camp. He took 
part in the siege and capture of Vicksburg, and 
the battles of Jack.son, Champion Hill and Black 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



721 



River Bridge. After the second battle of Jack- 
son he was taken ill as the result of exposure and 
for some weeks suflfered from tj^phoid fever. 
When he had recovered sufficiently to return 
home he was discharged from the hospital and 
also from the army, being unable to continue in 
the service by reason of impaired health. He 
went from Vicksburg to Iowa in October, 1863. 
As soon as he was able to resume work he became 
an employe in a lumber business, being first a 
shipping clerk and later placed in charge of the 
yards. He continued in the same business until 
his removal to Leavenworth. 

For five years after coming here he was clerk 
in the retail lumber yard of A. J. Angell. In 
1SS3 he was admitted into partnership and the 
firm of A. J. Angell & Co. was organized. Upon 
the death of Mr. Angell, in June, 1885, his widow 
succeeded to his interest, and the business was 
continued under the old name. This yard was 
started by Mr. Angell in 1870, his first location 
being about one block north of the present site 
on Cherokee street. Since 1883 the location has 
been at No. 603 Cherokee, where the firm owns 
good buildings and one-half block of ground. In 
addition to this business Mr. Markart is a director 
in the Leavenworth Mutual Building, Loan & 
Savings Association; and is a stockholder in other 
enterprises. 

While in Iowa Mr. Markart was married to 
Miss Margaret A. Haigh, who was born in Penn- 
sylvania and at an early age accompanied her par- 
ents to Iowa. Thirteen children were born of 
their union, and nine of these are now living, 
namely: Mrs. Mary Maggard, of Salt Lake City; 
Louis J., who was in the United States navy 
from seventeen to twenty-one years of age, and is 
now foreman of the yards of A. J. Angell & 
Co.; Mrs. Emma Ackenhausen, of Leavenworth; 
Frank C, who is with his father in business; 
Agnes, William, Helen, Margaret and Robert. 

A stalwart Republican, Mr. Markart has served 
on city and county committees and in other ways 
has helped his party. Under Governor Hum- 
phrey he was police commissioner for one term 
and served as secretary of the board. He has 
been an ofi&cer in Alemania Lodge No. 123, 



I. 0.0. F. , and its representative in the grand 
lodge. He is also a past officer in the encamp- 
ment. For fifteen years he has been receiver of 
the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is 
a member of the Iowa Veterans' Association. 
In Custer Post No. 6, G. A. R., he served as 
commander for four years and was an aide on 
General Alger's staff, also an aide on the depart- 
ment staff. 



QrOF. ROBERT S. SAUNDERS, leader of 
L/' Saunders' Mandolin Orchestra and member 
Y^ of Bell's Band, is one of the most prominent 
musicians in Lawrence, and has gained a large 
patronage as a teacher of the mandolin, banjo, 
guitar, violin and zither. His time is entirely 
taken up with his work as an instructor and with 
the composition of music adapted to various in- 
struments. Not only was he one of the first man- 
dolin players in the city, but he has also raised the 
standard of his line of music. His studio is at 
No. 839 Massachusetts street. He is the author 
of Saunders' Modern Guitar Studies and has also 
composed some sixty compositions, among them 
the Deliciosa waltz. Vera May Polka, Malvolio 
waltz, Bonebroke schottische. Star of the Night 
quadrille, Return quadrille and Bay State march, 
and has charge of the arrangement of almost all 
of Mr. Bell's music in this line. 

The record of the Saunders family can be 
traced back to 1170, in England. They were 
early settlers in Massachusetts, where the pro- 
fessor's father, Capt. H. F. Saunders, was born 
and Beared. By trade a carpenter, he devoted 
considerable time, however, to the employment 
of traveling salesman. Soon afterward became 
to Kansas with the original Boston party and 
settled as a farmer at Sibley Station. Subse- 
quently he traveled for his uncle's boot and shoe 
house in Massachusetts. During the Price raid 
he was captain of a company of Kansas militia. 
He now makes his home in Wakarusa Township, 
in the Kaw Valley. He married Martha E. 
Morse, who was born in Salem, Mass., and by 
whom he had five sons and three daughters now 
living. 

Our subject was the youngest of the sons. He 



722 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



was born in Lawrence, Kans. , August 25, 1866, 
and attended the public schools of this citj'. 
From childhood he showed an aptitude for music, 
having a special fondness for stringed instru- 
ments, and he studied by himself for some time, 
but later was privileged to carry on his studies in 
Chicago. For a time he was with the Lawrence 
Cornet Band, later for ten years was with the 
First Regiment Band of the Kansas National 
Guard, from which he holds two honorable dis- 
charges. In 1 89 1, 1892 and 1893 he was teacher of 
stringed instruments in the University of Kansas, 
and had charge of the university orchestra. Since 
leaving the university he has given his attention 
to personal instruction in the citj'. Politically he 
is a Republican, but has never been active in pub- 
lic affairs, his tastes not lying in that direction. 
He was married in this city to Miss Emma 
Gathers, who was born in New York City. 



n OHN F. TAYLOR. Among the farmers of 
I Leavenworth County Mr. Taylor occupies a 
Q) position of influence. When he came to 
Kansas in i860 he settled upon land in Kickapoo 
Township, this county, and here he now resides, 
superintending his property. He owns two hun- 
dred and eighty- six acres comprising one of the 
most fertile farms in the township and containing 
a neat residence and substantial outbuildings 
such as are necessary for the shelter of stock and 
the storage of grain. While much of his time 
has been spent here during the past forty years, 
he has also been identified with the business in- 
terests of Kan-sas City and did much to develop 
the stock yards there. 

Mr. Taylor was born in St. Lawrence County, 
N. Y.,July 7, 1840, a son of John and Mary 
(Drew) Taylor, natives of England, but for years 
residents of St. Lawrence County. The father 
engaged in farming until his death, in 1851, at 
sixty years of age; the mother died in Chicago, 
in 1S93, aged ninety-three. They were the par- 
ents of eight children, five of whom are living, 
namely: David, of Wyandotte County, Kans.; 
John F. ; Christopher, who makes his home in 
Jackson County, this state; William, who is a 



partner of his brother, John F., in the live-stock 
business in Kansas City ; and Annie, widow of 
William Lunn, of Chicago. 

When fifteen years of age Mr. Taylor went 
from New York to Wisconsin and after four years 
proceeded from that state to Chicago, 111. In 
i860 he established his home in Leavenworth 
County, Kans., where he is now living. He con- 
tinued on his farm until 1887, when he rented 
the place and went to Kansas City, entering the 
firm of Taj-lor, Taylor & Houston, and starting 
in the live-stock business which he has since con- 
ducted. At the same time he also carried on a 
general commission business. Meantime his 
family divided the time between Kansas City and 
the farm. From 1881 to 1887 he acted as super- 
intendent of the L. T. Smith stock farm of four 
thousand acres, in Jackson Count}'. As a Demo- 
crat he has been active in politics and interested 
in local matters. Fraternally he is connected 
with the Knights of Pythias at Kickapoo. For 
some years he has been a member of the official 
board of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. 
His success in life proves his ability and wi.se 
judgment. When he came to Kansas he had no 
means whatever, but during the years that have 
since elapsed he has accumulated a competency 
and become the owner of valuable business and 
farm interests. Politically he is a Democrat. 

January 26, 1862, Mr. Taylor married Susan 
C, daughter of Rev. Joel and Lorinda Grover, 
and who, like himself, is identified with the 
Methodi.st Episcopal Church South. Her father, 
Rev. Joel Grover, was born in Massachusetts and 
went to Kentucky, vi'here he engaged in preach- 
ing for several years. During the latter part of 
the '30s he removed to Platte County, Mo., 
where he worked as a missionary among the 
Kickapoo and Pottawatomie Indians, continuing 
in that county until his death, in 1854, at the age 
of sixty-three years. During his long life on the 
frontier his influence did much to elevate the 
condition of the people around him. He was a 
conscientious man, an earnest worker, and never 
wearied in his labors for the church. When he 
went to Platte County he took up a tract about 
three miles square. In addition to clearing his 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



723 



tract and working as a missionary he also fur- 
nished hay and wood for the government at Fort 
lycavenworth. He was a descendant of a pioneer 
family, whose history in Massachusetts dates 
back two hundred years, and whose extraction is 
English and Scotch. Several of the family took 
part in the French and Indian and the Revolu- 
tionary wars. Mount Tom, near Holyoke, Mass., 
was named in honor of Thomas Grover, a bache- 
lor, who for many years was one of the leading 
citizens of Holyoke. The Grover family have al- 
ways been noted for patriotism and devoted loy- 
alty to country and home. In war they have 
been brave and fearless. In civic affairs, stirred 
by the same principles that made them valiant on 
the battlefield, they have risen to positions of 
worth and gained the respect of all associates. 



30SEPH MARSH, who came to Ottawa 
shortly after the town was started, is the 
proprietor of the Marsh hotel, occupying a 
convenient location across from the Santa Fe 
depot. At the time he purchased the house, in 
1889, it contained only fourteen rooms, but he 
has added to it from time to time, and now has a 
building of several stories, containing forty bed- 
rooms for guests, and having all the conveniences 
of a modern hotel. He is a member of the city 
council from the fourth ward, having been elected 
in the spring of 1898, and has rendered excellent 
service as chairman of the committees on license 
and memorial gate, and member of the commit- 
tees on health, police and cemetery. 

Mr. Marsh was born in Circleville, Pickaway 
County, Ohio, August 15, 1836, a son of John 
and Eliza Marsh, natives respectively of Ohio 
and Pennsylvania. His grandfather, David 
Marsh, a native of England, was a pioneer farmer 
of Clark County, Ohio, and a soldier in the war 
of 181 2. For several years John Marsh culti- 
vated a farm on Deer Creek, near Circleville, 
Ohio, but in 1840 he removed to Illinois and set- 
tled in DeWitt County, twelve miles east of Clin- 
ton. In 1882 he sold his farm there, and coming 
to Kansas, spent his last days near Centropolis, 
where he died at seventy -five years. Fraternally 



he was a Ma.son. His wife died in Illinois. 
Their ten children attained years of maturity and 
eight are still living. One of the sons, George, 
now residing in Nebraska, was a soldier in the 
Twentieth Illinois Infantry and was twice wound- 
ed while in service. 

The oldest of the family, Joseph, was reared 
on the frontier of Illinois and had few advantages. 
During about two months of the year he attended 
school in a primitive building, with crude fur- 
nishings, but the remainder of the time he was 
obliged to assist in the clearing of the farm. With 
four and five yoke of oxen he helped to break 
the prairie land. When twenty-one years of age 
he began to cultivate a farm for himself. Au- 
gust 6, 1862, he enlisted in Company G, One 
Hundred and Seventh Illinois Infantr}', and was 
mustered in at Camp Butler, as orderly sergeant. 
His regiment pursued Morgan into Indiana, and 
then went south, taking part in the siege of 
Knoxville and the Atlanta campaign, including 
the battles of Resaca, Ringgold, Flat Rock, Lost 
Mountain and Lovejoy Station. Under General 
Thomas the regiment returned to Nashville and 
took part in the battle of Franklin, where his 
company, on the 30th day of November, 1864, 
under his command, won glorj' and recognition, 
its twenty armed men being in the thickest of 
the fight and carrying the colors of the regiment. 
Of nine commissioned officers that took part in 
this conflict six were killed. Prior to this our 
subject had been offered the commission as first 
lieutenant of a colored company, but had refused. 
Afterward he was commissioned first lieutenant 
by Governor Yates. His regiment followed 
Hood to Columbia, Tenn., thence went to Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio, and next by rail to Washington, 
D. C, arriving there February i, 1865. On the 
nth of February they were sent to Fort Smith- 
land and took part in the battle of Fort Sanders, 
which was the last time Mr. Marsh was under 
fire. They were next ordered to Wilmington, 
then to Kingston, and were present at Johnston's 
surrender. They were mustered out June 21, 
and discharged July 10, 1865. 

After a visit of four weeks at home Mr. Marsh 
came to Kansas, in company with three others. 



724 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



At first he was in Linn County, but not liking it 
went to Paola, thence came to Ottawa and was 
so pleased that he decided to seek for work. He 
secured emploj'ment the same day at carpenter- 
ing, his first work being the bridging of the 
joists of the old college building. In the fall of 
1S65 he began contracting, his first job being in 
the countrj-. He continued to take contracts 
until the grasshopper siege of 1874. He then 
began the improvement of his farm of one hun- 
dred and sixty acres seven miles northwest of 
Ottawa. After five years he sold that place and 
bought two hundred and twenty acres near 
Homevvood, where he remained for two years. 
For a similar period he conducted a hotel in Bur- 
lington and the Peters house in Ottawa, after 
which, in 1889, he bought the place he has since 
conducted. In Ottawa he married Miss Sarah K. 
Woods, who was born in Washtenaw County, 
Mich., and accompanied her father, Moses 
Woods, to Burlington, Kans. Of their marriage 
nine children were born. 

As a member of the Republican party Mr. Marsh 
has been active in local affairs. While on the 
farm he served as clerk of the school board at the 
time of the building of the schoolhou.se. He is a 
member of the One Hundred and Seventh Illi- 
nois Veterans' Association, and is past command- 
er of George H. Thomas Post No. 18, G. A. R. 
When twenty-one years of age he was made a 
Mason in Anion Lodge No. 261, at DeWitt, 111., 
and is now identified with Ottawa Lodge No. 128, 
A. F. & A. M., and past oflScer of Chapter 
No. 7, R. A. M. In 1874 and 1875 he served as 
an officer of the grand lodge of Kansas. 



QlCHOLAS VOLNEY HUDELSON, senior 
fy member of the firm of Hudelson & Sons, 
I /j stockmen of Greenwood Township, Frank- 
lin County, was born in Orange County, Ind., 
August 24, 1842, and is the son of William H. and 
Elizabeth (Springer) HudeLson. The latter be- 
came the parents of ten children, of whom seven 
survive, viz.: David M.; Mrs. Sarah Bellinger; 
Henry H. ; N. V.; Albert T. ; Emma and Mrs. 
Addie Simpson. All live in Indiana excepting 



the subject of this sketch. His paternal great- 
grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary 
war, and while in battle his right arm was shot 
off. After six years of service he was honorably 
discharged, owing to disabilitj', and six years later 
he settled in Kentucky, where he died. His son, 
David, was born and reared in Kentucky, and mi- 
grated to Indiana in 1818, .spending the remain- 
der of his life upon a farm in that state. William 
H., son of David Hudelson, was foryears a large 
stock-dealer and larmer in Indiana, to which 
state he had removed with his parents from Ken- 
tuckj- at the age of ten years, and in which he 
continued to live until his death, at the age of 
seventy-five. 

Reared on an Indiana farm and educated in 
common schools, our subject was about nineteen 
years of age when the Civil war broke out. He 
at once enlisted in Company B, Twenty-fourth 
Indiana Infantry, in which he served for seven- 
teen months. During the battle of Shiloh he was 
wounded so seriously that he was unable to con- 
tinue in the service, and consequently was hon- 
orably discharged. As soon as he was able to 
engage in business he opened a general store at 
Paoli, Orange County, Ind., where he remained 
for six years. He then sold out the business, and 
after acting as proprietor of the Albert hotel at 
Paoli tor a short time, in 1874 came to Kansas, 
first stopping iu Ottawa. The following year he 
purchased one hundred and sixty acres in Green- 
wood Township, where he began farming and 
feeding stock. From that time to this he has 
conducted an increasing business. During the 
winter of 1898-99 he fed over a thousand head 
of cattle, and it is probable that he has handled 
more stock than any other man in the county. 
He owns eight hundred acres of fine land, which 
he has improved from the raw prairie, and which 
ranks among the best stock farms in the locality. 
Having made a special study of the stock business, 
he is thoroughly qualified to conduct it in a prac- 
ticr 1 and successful manner. As he does not raise 
enough feed for his stock on his place, he fur- 
nishes a market for the farmers of the township 
by buying their corn to be used as feed. Con- 
nected with him in the stock business are his 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



725 



only children, two sons, John W. and James A., 
who are managers of a large cattle ranch, con- 
taining over two thousand acres, situated near 
Pomona. 

Always a Republican, Mr. Hudelson has kept 
well posted concerning public matters and is a 
leader in his township, but his work is done in 
the interests of others, for he has never sought 
political office for himself. In fact, his attention 
is necessarily given so closely to his large private 
interests that he has not had the leisure to fill 
positions of responsibility. While living in Paoli, 
Ind., September 5, 1865, he married Miss Mary 
Albert, who has aided him in the accumulation 
of his propertj', and to whose counsel and co- 
operation not a little of his success is due. 



•JJEORGE FRED KAISER, who is success- 
_ fully engaged in the drug business in Otta- 
J wa, of which city he is a progressive and 
public-spirited citizen, was born here Decem- 
ber 13, 1869, a son of Peter and Elizabeth (Daab) 
Kaiser. He attended the high school of Ottawa, 
from which he graduated in 1885. Afterward 
for two years he carried on a course of study in 
Ottawa University. In 1887 he entered the de- 
partment of pharmacy. State University of Kan- 
sas, where he took a complete course, graduating 
in 18S9, with the degree of Ph.G. He stood high 
in his class and was honored by being made vale- 
dictorian at the commencement exercises. He 
was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta and one of 
its leading workers. 

In 1889 Mr. Kaiser became registered pharma- 
cist in the drug store of S. H. lyucas, with whom 
he continued for a number of years, gaining 
meantime a thorough knowledge of the business. 
In 1897 he purchased his employer's store, at No. 
232 South Main street, and established Kaiser's 
pharmacy, which is well known as one of the 
reliable establishments of its kind in the city. 
A complete assortment of drugs is carried, as well 
as the other articles usually found in a drug store. 
Fraternally he is connected with the blue lodge 
and chapter of Masonry in Ottawa, is also a mem- 
ber of the Knights of Pythias and regent of the 

34 



Royal Arcanum. At the organization of the Otta- 
wa Camp Sons of Veterans he became one of its 
charter members, and continued with it until its 
disbandment. He is identified with the State 
Pharmaceutical Association and is a charter mem- 
ber of the Commercial Club. In his political 
views he is in sympathy with Republican princi- 
ples and has become actively connected with the 
party in his home town. At this writing he is a 
member of the city committee and during 1896 
he served as secretary of the county committee. 



r^ETER KAISER, justice of the peace in Ot- 
L/' tawa, came to this city in July, 1869, and 
Y^ started in the harness and saddlery business, 
which he has since conducted, building the block 
which he now occupies. In politics he has al- 
ways been allied with the Republican party. 
Both as a member of the school board and the 
board of health he has rendered efficient service 
in behalf of local interests. He is a charter mem- 
ber of George H. Thomas Post No. 18, G. A. R., 
in which he is past commander. Fraternally he 
is connected with the Select Knights, Knights of 
Honor, Knights and Ladies of Honor and Ancient 
Order of United Workmen. 

Christian Kaiser, our subject's father, was born 
in Bavaria, Germany, and settled in St. Clair 
County, 111., about 1S38. While he was a black- 
smith by trade, his attention was given princi- 
pally to farming. However, after he went to St. 
Louis he worked as a contractor. He died in 
that city in 1849, and his wife, Margaret 
(Dahlem) Kaiser, died there in 1857. They were 
the parents of four children. Peter was born in 
St. Clair County, 111., April 11, 1844. At four- 
teen years of age he was apprenticed to the har- 
ness-maker's trade, and he was serving his time 
when the Civil war opened. June i, 1861, he 
enlisted in Company A, Third Missouri Infantry, 
and served for three months, taking part in a 
number of engagements, among them that at 
Wilson's Creek. In December, 1861, he again 
enlLsted, returning to the same regiment and 
company. He took part in the battles of Look- 
out Mountain, Chattanooga, Ringgold, siege of 



726 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Vicksburg and Atlanta campaign. At the ex- 
piration of his term he was mustered out in St. 
Louis, and honorably discharged in December, 
1864, after three years of service. He was once 
wounded by a piece of shell, but remained with 
the regiment and soon recovered. 

After the war he followed his trade in St. Louis, 
and in 1867 opened a shop at Bridgeton, Mo. 
From there he came to Ottawa. He was married in 
St. Louis to Elizabeth Daab, who was born 
in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany. They have two 
daughters and two sons: Mrs. Maggie Dietrich, 
of Kansas City; George Frederick, of Ottawa; 
Clara and John. 

I EO HUND, who is one of the energetic and 
It capable farmers of Leavenworth County, re- 
LJ sides in Kickapoo Township, where, in 1896, 
he purchased a tract of two hundred acres of fine 
farming land. Upon this place he has since re- 
sided, engaging in the raising of cereals and also 
giving considerable attention to the raising of 
Shorthorn cattle and other stock. Besides this 
property he is the owner of an eighty-acre tract 
in High Prairie Township, which makes his 
landed possessions aggregate two hundred and 
eighty acres. 

Reference to the history of the Hund family 
appears in the sketch of our subject's uncle, 
Wendlin Hund. He is a son of Michael Hund, a 
native of Germany, who emigrated to the United 
States in 1836 and settled in St. Charles County, 
Mo. Later he removed to Blue Earth County, 
Minn., and it was during his residence there that 
his son, Leo, was born August 22, 1859. In 1872 
he came to Kansas and established his home in 
Wabaunsee County, where he became a promi- 
nent farmer and representative citizen. His death 
occurred there in 1898, when he was seventy- 
three years of age. Twice married, his first 
wife was Miss Burgmeyer, a native of Germany, 
who died, leaving three children, namely: Mau- 
rice, a resident of Paxico, Wabaunsee County; 
Michael, and Mary, Mrs. Robert Guth, also of that 
county. After the death of his first wife he 
married Otelia Peters, who now resides at the 
old hoinestead in Wabaunsee County. To this 



union five children were born: Joseph, of Wabaun- 
see County; Leo; Frances, wife of August Mein- 
hardt; Philip, who makes his home in Wabaun- 
see County; and Teresa, Mrs. William Glotzback. 
At the time the family removed from Minne- 
sota to Kan.sas the subject of this sketch was a 
lad of thirteen years. He grew to manhood on a 
farm in Wabaunsee County and there he con- 
tinued to make his home until his removal to 
Leavenworth County. In 1895 he bought a farm 
in High Prairie Township and the next year 
purchased the place upon which he has since en- 
gaged in general agricultural pursuits. In mat- 
ters pertaining to the welfare of the county he 
maintains an interest, and politically gives his 
support to the Democratic party. He is a mem- 
ber of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Leaven- 
worth, to the work of which he contributes. 
While living in Paxico he was a member of the 
church committee for sometime and took a lead- 
ing part in church work. May 10, 1886, he mar- 
ried Miss Eva Emge, of Wabaunsee County, and 
they are the parents of five children : Mar}', Alice, 
Christian. Julia and Edward. 



[7 REDERICK SAMS, M. D., of Lawrence, a 
r3 physician of the physio-medical school, was 
I ^ born near Weldon, Iowa, in 1871, a son of 
Daniel and Addie (Weston) Sams, natives of Illi- 
nois. His father, who served in an Illinois regi- 
ment during the Civil war, afterward settled in 
Iowa and there made his home until 1872. Dur- 
ing the latter year he came to Kansas and settled 
near Stockton, on the Solomon River, where he 
had no neighbors except the Indians and buffa- 
loes. He began to clear and improve a farm in 
that locality, but after a few years removed to 
Rooks County, this state. From 1880 to 1890 
he made his home in Hiawatha, but in the latter 
year removed to Topeka; and there he has since 
resided. He is a Republican and active in local 
politics. He and his wife are the parents of five 
sons and one daughter, all living. 

Frederick, who was third in order of birth, 
was reared in Kansas, and his earliest j-ears were 
spent upon the frontier, amid primitive surround- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



727 



iiigs. In 1889 he became interested in evangelis- 
tic work and this he followed for some years, being 
in 1892 ordained an elder in the Wesleyan Method- 
ist Church. He held pastorates at Grover, Otta- 
wa County, Laban, Mitchell County, Girard, 
Milford and Pittsburgh, all in Kansas. From 
boyhood he has been interested in medicine, 
which he studied under different preceptors. At 
the time of the Wellington cyclone. May 27, 
1891, he was reported among the dead; he was 
fortunate, however, in escaping, but was seriously 
injured, and this caused him to renew his medi- 
cal studies. In 1895 he entered the Independent 
Medical College in Chicago, 111., from which he 
graduated in 1897, with the degree of M. D. On 
receiving the degree he retired from the ministry 
and April 9, 1898, opened an office at No. 157 
Bridge street, Lawrence, where he has since car- 
ried on a general practice and drug business. He 
is a member of the National Union Medical So- 
ciety of Chicago and is treasurer and vice-presi- 
dent of the Kansas State Physio-Medical Society. 
In national politics he votes the Republican ticket. 
He is connected with the Modern Woodmen of 
America and the Fraternal Aid. He was mar- 
ried in Topeka, Kans., in May, 1894, to Miss 
Florence Reeve, who was born in Indiana, but 
has resided in Kansas from early girlhood. 



WILLIAM W. JORDAN, who has made his 
home in Ottawa since April, 1870, was 
born in Fredericktown, Washington Coun- 
ty, Pa., June 8, 1825, a son of Jacob and Rebecca 
(Arvecost) Jordan, natives respectively of Mary- 
land and Washington County, Pa. His paternal 
grandfather, Jarman Jordan, who was of English 
descent, was born near Winchester, Va., and at 
an early age removed to Maryland, but about 
1790 settled in western Pennsylvania, where he 
engaged in the harness and saddlery business. 
Jacob Jordan, who was a soldier in the war of 
181 2, followed the tinsmith's trade in Frederick- 
town, Pa., and Centerburg, Knox County, Ohio, 
in which latter place he died at the age of ninety 
years. His wife, who died in Pennsylvania in 
i833> was a daughter of Joseph Arvecost, a na- 



tive of Pennsylvania and a farmer there; her 
grandfather, John Arvecost, came from Holland 
and settled in western Pennsylvania, where he 
obtained one of the first grants to land lying on 
the Monongahela. 

Of nine children, six of whom attained matur- 
ity, the subject of this sketch was the youngest 
son and is now the sole survivor. He learned 
the tinsmith's trade in Ohio, and in 1842 re- 
turned to Pennsylvania and worked for a brother 
at Bellsville. On his return to Ohio he started a 
tinsmith's shop at Woodsfield and continued in 
business there until 1870, the shop being in 
charge of a nephew while he was in the army. 
(In June, 1861, he enlisted in the Twenty-fifth 
Ohio Infantry, with which he served for two 
years in the army of the Potomac. ) Selling out 
in 1870, he moved from Ohio to Kansas and set- 
tled in Ottawa, where, with a son-in-law, C. C. 
Mechem, he carried on a hardware business for 
four years. In 1874 he sold out to George Ham- 
lin and embarked in the real-estate business with 
his son-in-law, since which time he has built up 
a large business in the handling of real estate, 
renting of houses, sale of propertj', etc. In 1893 
they began a real-estate business in Mobile, Ala., 
of which Mr. Mechem is now in charge. 

In St. Clairsville, Ohio, Mr. Jordan married 
Rachel Waters, who was born in Howard Coun- 
ty, Md., and died in Woodsfield, Ohio. Of the 
three children born to this iniion the only one 
living is Mrs. Ellen Mechem, of Mobile, Ala. 
The second marriage of Mr. Jordan took place in 
Woodsfield, Ohio, and united him with Laura A. 
Bloor, who was born in St. Clairsville. Two 
children have been born to them. The son, 
George B., who resides in Spokane, Wash., is a 
traveling salesman with M. D. Wells & Co., of 
Chicago. The daughter, Laura May, is at home. 
The family is connected with the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, in which Mr. Jordan was for fif- 
teen years chairman of the board of trustees and 
is still a member of the same. In former years 
he voted with the Republicans, but in 1896 he 
identified himself with the silver forces and cast 
his ballot for W. J. Bryan. Since coming to 
Ottawa he served one term as school director. 



728 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



He was made a Mason in Woodsfield in 1852, 
and is now identified with Ottawa Lodge 
No. 128, A. F. & A. M., and Chapter No. 7, 
R. A. M. He is also connected with the 
Knights of Honor. 



0S. ALFORD. The family represented by 
Mr. Alford was founded in America in 1632 
, by Alexander Alford, who emigrated from 
Somersetshire, England, to Windsor, Conn., and 
later, with his brother, Benedict, served in the 
Pequod war. After him, in line of descent, were 
Josiah, Nathaniel (i.st), Nathaniel (2nd), a sol- 
dier in the Revolutionary war; Arba, Alfred and 
D. S. Alford. Alfred was a prominent manufac- 
turer of Riverton, Conn., from 1845 to i860, and 
was active in public affairs, serving several terms 
in the state legislature. His death occurred when 
he was seventy-nine years of age. His wife, 
Sylvia, was a daughter of Daniel Stillman, and a 
granddaughter of Roger Stillman, who served in 
the Revolution, as did also other members of the 
family. The Stillmans were of English extrac- 
tion and were early settlers of Connecticut. Dan- 
iel Stillman was a prominent farmer and a deacon 
in the Congregational Church at Colebroak, 
Conn. Alfred and Sylvia Alford were the parents 
of six children, four of whom are living. 

After having spent his boyhood years at River- 
ton, Conn., where he was born October 2, 1848, 
and having prepared for college at Wilbraham 
Academy, D. S. Alford entered Wesleyan Uni- 
versity at Middletown, Conn., and there con- 
tinued until his graduation in 1871, with the 
degree of A. B. Some years later the degree of 
A. M. was conferred upon him. While in the 
university he was a member of the Alpha Delta 
Phi fraternity and also assisted in establishing 
and conducting the College Argits, which is still 
published. In 1871 he began the study of law 
with Judge Hiram Goodwin, of Riverton. In 
October, 1872, he came to Lawrence, where he 
finished his studies and was admitted to the 
Kansas bar in 1873. The year following he be- 
came a partner of his former preceptor, Judge 
Nevison, under the firm name of Nevison & Al- 



ford, which title was afterward changed to Nevi- 
son, Simpson & Alford, and later returned to its 
former name for six years. From 1894 to 1896 
he was a member of the firm of Alford & Savage. 
In 1897 the firm name became Alford & Alford, 
his son, Alfred Cecil, being admitted, and re- 
maining with him until his enlistment in the 
Spanish-American war. 

Mr. Alford is attorney for many companies and 
corporations. Since 1889 he has acted as local at- 
torney for the Santa Fe Railroad. He has made 
a specialty of corporation law, with which he has 
a thorough familiarity and in which he has ac- 
quired a broad knowledge. His practice in the 
federal courts is large and important. He is a 
member of the State Bar Association of Kansas. 
In politics he is a stanch Republican. By virtue 
of Revolutionary descent he is connected with 
the Kansas City Chapter, Sons of the Revolu- 
tion, and with the Sons of the American Revolu- 
tion of Kansas. In Plymouth Congregational 
Church he was for years a member of the board 
of trustees and a deacon. For about eight years 
he was proprietor of the Lawrence Daily and 
Weekly Tribune. 

The marriage of Mr. Alford, in Lawrence, 
united him with Miss Susan D. Savage, and six 
children were born of their union, viz.: Alfred 
C, who was killed in a battle with the insurgents 
at Manila, February 7, 1899, during the Spanish- 
American war; Anna M. and Donald S., students 
in the University of Kansas; Joseph S., member 
of the class of 1900 in the high school; Theodore 
and Sylvia. Mrs. Alford was born in Hartford, 
Vt., the only child of Joseph and Amanda (Cran- 
dall) Savage. The Savage family was founded 
in America by John Savage, who crossed the 
ocean prior to 1652 from his native land, England, 
and settled in New England. Some of his de- 
scendants served in the Revolutionary war. His 
son, Capt. John Savage, settled in Middletown, 
Conn. One of the family, Abijah Savage, ac- 
companied Arnold's expedition to Quebec and in 
the Revolution served as captain of a company; 
Thomas, son of Seth Savage, also served in the 
war with England, after which he engaged in 
farming in Hartford. His son, William, who was 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



729 



a farmer, when advanced in years joined his 
sons, Joseph and Forrest, in Lawrence, Kans. 
These two sons were among the very earliest 
settlers of Lawrence and were among the founders 
of Plymouth Congregational Church, in which 
William served as a deacon until he died. Four 
generations of the Savage family have made Law- 
rence their home, and all of the name have proved 
themselves to be honest and honorable, capable 
business men and progressive citizens. Some of 
the family still remain in the east and one of the 
descendants occupies the old homestead at Hart- 
ford. 

Joseph Savage, father of Mrs. Alford, was 
reared in Vermont, and became one of the founders 
of Lawrence, where he was a prominent citizen. 
In addition to farm pursuits he was interested in 
geology, and his collection of geological and min- 
eralogical .specimens was one of the largest in the 
state. Fond of music, he frequently entertained 
the early settlers of the town in this wa}'. His 
abilit)' brought him into prominence among the 
pioneers of Kansas, and, had his tastes been in 
that direction, he might have become an influen- 
tial factor in state politics. He was a member of 
the United States geological survey of Yellow- 
stone Park, and was also employed by Yale Col- 
lege to make geological collections in western 
Kansas and Wyoming. His wife, who was a de- 
scendant of an English family that became pio- 
neers of Massachusetts and Vermont, died in Law- 
rence when she was in middle life. Their daugh- 
ter, Mrs. Alford, was reared on the then frontier 
and received her education in the University of 
Kansas. She was in Lawrence at the time of the 
various raids during the Civil war (notably the 
Quantrell raid) and witnessed many of the stirr- 
ing scenes of those days, as well as the city's 
subsequent commercial development and social 
progress. 



I lEUT. ALFRED C. ALFORD. An un- 
liL usual combination of circumstances seems to 
LJ mark Lieut. Alfred C. Alford as the heroic 
figure of the Twentieth Kansas; and the splendid 
fighting spirit of this regiment was doubtless first 



aroused by the tragic death of this ofiicer, so be- 
loved and so young, the youngest, indeed, of his 
rank in the regiment, and the first to fall in bat- 
tle. It is certain that his company, B, from the 
date of his death, was second to none in dis- 
tinguished deeds of valor. 

Alfred Cecil Alford was by birth and education 
an ideal young Kansan. His grandfather came 
out from New England in the first party that 
founded Lawrence to make Kansas a free state; and 
from earliest colonial days his ancestors, though 
a peaceful, God-fearing race, have never failed to 
furnish volunteers for every war in which the 
country has been engaged. An uncle, also named 
Alfred Cecil Alford, fell in the battle of Win- 
chester during the Civil war of a similar wound 
and at nearly the same age. 

Lieutenant Alford was born in Lawrence in 
January, 1875, and was educated in the public 
schools, graduating from the department of arts 
and later from the department of law in the State 
University at the age of twenty-two. Chancellor 
Snow of the University said at the funeral exer- 
cises of Lieutenant Alford that "no more perfect 
specimen of young manhood had ever gone forth 
from the University. ' ' Although a lover of books 
and of music he was also possessed of excellent 
business abilitj^; with a keen sense of humor, he 
was profoundly serious; although first of all a 
student, he was fond of athletic sports and so- 
cial rela.xation; with deep convictions of truth 
and duty, he was to a marked degree broad- 
minded and tolerant. Indeed, he ma)- be said to 
have been an all-round man. 

Immediately after graduation young Alford en- 
tered into partnership with his fatherin the prac- 
tice of law, with the brightest prospects for a suc- 
cessful business career, but before the first year 
of this partnership had expired war was declared 
with Spain. Holding a second lieutenant's com- 
mission in the National Guards, with the advant- 
age of five years' drill in that organization, he 
felt that it was his duty to go to the front with his 
company. "No one can realize," he wrote to a 
friend, "how hard it was for me to leave just 
when I did, for this war will leave me just where 
it found me as far as business is concerned. I 



730 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD, 



consider it only a temporary matter, an inter- 
ruption of my natural life." 

In August, following his enlistment, Lieuten- 
ant Alford was promoted to first lieutenant and 
transferred to Company B, in which company he 
was the acting captain, and the only commissioned 
officer for five months before his death, the cap- 
tain and second lieutenant being detailed for 
other duties. 

Colonel Fun.ston wrote of him, "He was one of 
the first officers in the regiment to receive pro- 
motion on my recommendation, on account of his 
devotion to duty, his earnestness, and his exem- 
plary conduct." "As for myself," wrote the 
young officer to Miss Vesta McCurdy, his 
fiancee, "I intend to give my country no half- 
hearted service; until the war is over she has the 
very best I am capable of; this is a time when 
every effort is being made to get troops into shape, 
and I feel that I owe it to my country to do the 
best I can." 

He took up his new duties with earnestness 
and efficiency, improving the diet and consequent 
health of his luen, and laboring for better drill, 
discipline and moral character in the company. 
The men generously responded to his efforts and 
their superior officers testify to the improved 
efficiency of Company B under his command. 
As one of the enlisted men wrote, "Lieutenant 
Alford endeared himself to us by many kind acts. 
He was strict in discipline, but always ready, 
whenever possible, to show brotherly kindness to 
his men." When the supreme test came the young 
commander did not flinch in the face of danger, 
and his men followed him into battle with loyal 
devotion and courage. 

Chaplain Cressy, of the Thirteenth Minnesota 
Volunteers, in an address delivered on the first 
Decoration Day observed at Manila, said among 
other things, "That the mortal remains of these 
men rest here is one evidence of their bravery. 
They went where duty called them. This bravery 
is wonderfully exemplified in Lieutenant Alford, 
of the Twentieth Kansas. He was leading his 
company in an impetuous charge, and just after 
saying to his men, 'move along, but more. steadj-,' 



received a mortal wound. And after he had fal- 
len the men kept moving on until victory came." 
Kansas University has sent many students to 
the Spanish-American war, including General 
Funston, Colonel Metcalf, Lieutenant-Colonel Lit- 
tle, several captains and lieutenants, non-commis- 
sioned officers and enlisted men of the Twentieth 
Kansas, as well as others who were assigned to 
duty in Cuba; yet of all this number, but this 
one has fallen from wounds or disease, and a tab- 
let will be placed in the hall of the university 
to his memory, with the inscription thereon, 
"Duke el decorum est pro patria tnori." 



G\ BSALOM LEEDS. During the period of 
LI his residence in Franklin County Mr. Leeds 
I I has been especially identified with the inter- 
ests of Princeton and vicinity. Upon settling in 
the state in 1876 he established his home in the 
town of Princeton. After two years in the vil- 
lage he purchased some five acre lots on the edge 
of the town, and there he built the house which 
he has since occupied. About 1888 he purchased 
one-half section of laud in the southeastern part 
of Ohio Township, which property he has since 
rented, being himself retired from active farm 
labors. 

One of a family of eight children, our subject 
was born in Burlington (now Atlantic) County, 
N. J., August 13, 1810, a son of Robert and Dor- 
cas (Chamberlain) Leeds. His father, who was 
born, reared and married in New Jersey, was a 
very well-informed man, and, while he was never 
admitted to the bar, he practiced law quite ex- 
tensively. He was also a practical surveyor and 
surveyed much of the land in his locality. How- 
ever, surveying and the practice of law were both 
made subservient to agricultural pursuits, in 
which he engaged throughout his life and from 
which he acquired a competency. 

As the schools of his day and locality were 
poor and held at infrequent intervals our subject 
had no advantages when he was a boy, but being 
a quick observer he has become the possessor of 
a broad fund of valuable information. After his 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



731 



marriage he engaged in farming and teaming, 
and, as was then the custom, he also spent much 
of his time fishing in the bay. In 1835 he emi- 
grated to Morgan County, 111., where he took up 
land, improved a farm and made his home for 
some years. From there he went to Macon 
County, the same state, where he remained until 
his removal to Kansas. On going to that countj^ 
he bought eighty acres at eighty cents an acre 
and forty acres at $1.25 an acre, all of which, at 
the time he sold out, brought him $30 an acre. 
The first wife of Mr. Leeds was Miriam Blake, 
by whom he had eight children. Five of these 
are still living, viz.: Gideon, a grain dealer in 
Illiopolis, 111.; Louise; Emma, wife of James R. 
Thornbury, M. D., of Princeton, Kans.; Mary, 
who is the widow of Frank Lanham, and resides 
in Princeton; and Edward S., a farmer of Taze- 
well County, 111. Mrs. Miriam Leeds was born 
in New Jersey, where her father, Edward Blake, 
was a farmer. The .second marriage of Mr. Leeds 
united him with Miss Sarah Sayer, daughter of 
Alexander Sayer, of New Jersey. Three chil- 
dren blessed their union, but all are now de- 
ceased. In spite of his venerable age Mr. Leeds 
retains possession of his mental faculties and is 
also robust physically for one of his years. He 
takes an interest in public affairs, votes the Re- 
publican ticket, and has served for several terms 
as a member of the school board. He is a be- 
liever in the doctrines of the Methodist Church 
and has endeavored to exemplify by an upright 
life the doctrines of which be has been a lifelong 
supporter. 

HON. WILLIAM F. ASHBY, one of the early 
settlers of Kansas, is now living in the 
village of Easton, retired from farm pursuits 
hat engaged his attention during active years. 
He has been identified with the history of this 
state since 1854, when it was first opened for set- 
tlement. During that year he crossed over from 
Missouri and took up a claim, which, afterward 
proving to be on the Delaware reservation, he 
was obliged to abandon. In 1855 he brought 
his family to Leavenworth County and purchased 
a claim in Alexandria Township, where he 



made his home for ten years. In 1865 he moved 
to Easton Township, where he has since resided. 
As a farmer he was successful from the first. 
Being energetic and persevering, his efforts were 
prospered, and his farm of one hundred and sixty 
acres became one of the best-improved in the 
township. In 1892 he rented the place and built 
a house in Easton, where has since been living in 
retirement, with no business cares except such as 
are connected with his monej'ed interests. 

The A.shby family came from England to Vir- 
ginia in an early day. Later generations moved 
to Kentucky. They were represented in the 
Revolution and the war of 181 2. Our subject 
was born in Shelby County, Ky., December 19, 
1830, a son of Levi Ashbj^, also a native of Ken- 
tucky, where he was a dealer in horses and 
mules. The grandparents were killed by Indians 
and their children were captured. One of them, 
Thomas, was kept in captivity by the red men 
for seven years, but finally made his escape. At 
the time of his death Levi Ashby was sixty-seven 
years of age. His wife, Mary, daughter of Jacob 
Fry, was a member of a Kentucky family whose 
ancestors came from Scotland to Virginia in an 
early day. She died in 1866, at the age of seven- 
ty-four. Of her children James, deceased, served 
in the Mexican war; Mary is deceased; and 
Washington is living in Oklahoma. 

When the last call was made for volunteers in 
the Mexican war the subject of this sketch en- 
listed in 1847 and for eleven months he remained 
at the front. In 1850 he left Kentucky for Mis- 
souri and outfitted for California in Platte Coun- 
ty, making the trip across the plains via ox-team. 
For eight months he engaged in mining in the 
far west, but the results were not sufficiently flat- 
tering to induce him to remain, and in 1851 he 
returned to Missouri. Settling upon a farm in 
Buchanan County he engaged in agricultural pur- 
suits for three years. Then he removed to Leav- 
enworth County, with whose interests he has 
since been identified. In addition to farming, 
for five years he carried on a general store at 
Easton. During the Civil war he was a member 
of the Kansas state militia and took part in the 
battles of Westport and Little Blue. 



732 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Politically Mr. Ashbj- has always been a Demo- 
crat. Upon that ticket he was elected county 
commissioner, filling the office for two years. He 
served for several terms as a member of the state 
legislature, being elected in 1870 and 187 1 and 
again in 1885 and during the latter term served 
for two sessions, the last of which wasa special ses- 
sion. During his residence in Buchanan County, 
Mo. , in October, 1853, he married Melvina, daugh- 
ter of Ludy Martin, formerly of Kentucky. He 
and his wife are earnest workers in the Baptist 
Church and for forty years or more he has officiated 
as a deacon and Sunday-school superintendent. 
For forty-six years he has been a member of the 
church, while his wife has been a member for 
fifty years. Fraternally he is connected with 
Easton Lodge No. 45, A. F. & A. M., of which 
he is treasurer. Among the people of his com- 
munity he .stands very high as an intelligent citi- 
zen and public-spirited man. 



30HN F. LAMB. Believing that Kansas 
presented greater opportunities than his Illi- 
nois home, Mr. Lamb came to this state in 
1871 and settled in Peoria Township, Franklin 
County, purchasing four hundred and eighty 
acres on sections 34 and 27. The land was raw 
prairie, destitute of improvements, and almost in 
the primeval condition of nature. He at once be- 
gan the breaking of the land and preparing it for 
cultivation. At first he engaged principally in 
raising grain, but after a time he also gave con- 
siderable attention to buying and feeding cattle 
and hogs. He has bought and .sold considerable 
land in this neighborhood and now owns two 
hundred and forty acres, the value of which is in- 
creased by running water through the land. 

Mr. Lamb was born in Williamsport, Pa., July 
17, 1833, the oldest of the ten children of Benja- 
min F. and Julia A. (Moyer) Lamb, himself and 
two sisters being the only members of the family 
in Kansas. His grandfather, John Lamb, fur- 
nished .supplies to the Perry fleet during the war 
of 1812. During his active life Benjamin F. 
Lamb engaged in contracting, digging canals in 
Pennsylvania and Illinois, and he also held ex- 



tensive farm interests. In 1833 he settled in 
Illinois, where he died in 1855. Reared in Illi- 
nois, our subject for a time engaged in farming, 
afterward carried on a grain business in Ottawa 
for three years. Subsequently he resumed farm- 
ing. Since then he has lived on his farm in 
Franklin Countj-, with the exception of a year in 
town, and he is still actively superintending this 
property. He has served as president and treas- 
urer of the Fair Association and is now a member 
of the board of directors. 

Active in local affairs of the Democratic partj', 
Mr. Lamb has served for six consecutive years 
as county commissioner and during a part of this 
time acted as chairman. One of the most im- 
portant acts of the administration was the refund- 
ing of county bonds at a lower rate of interest. In 
1892 he was elected county treasurer, which office 
he filled for a term. For forty-two years he has 
been a member of the Masonic order and he was 
a charter member of the Knights Templar com- 
mandery at Ottawa. A deacon in the Baptist 
Church, he donated the land on which was 
erected the house of worship owned by the con- 
gregation. For years he has been a member of 
the school board, and he also served on the board 
of trustees for the Ottawa university. At Ottawa, 
111., March 6, 1856, he married Mary A. Olmstead, 
and they have three children living: Florence E., 
wife of George Demorest, of Miami County, 
Kans. ; Mrs. Julia H. Thayer; and Charles F., a 
farmer and stock-raiser of Peoria Township. 



niR. JACOB KUSTER, a pioneer of Williams- 
1^1 burg, was born in Nassau, Germany, Octo- 
\(*) ber 28, 1825, a son of Godfrey and Susannah 
Kuster. He attended school until fourteen years 
of age, then attended college for four years; after- 
ward he began the study of dentistry, at which 
he continued for four years. He then went to 
Paris, France, where he was engaged in profes- 
sional work for five years. At the breaking out 
of the French revolution, in 1848, he left France 
and came to the United States, landing in New 
York and going from there to Buffalo, where he 
worked for ten months at his trade and afterward 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



733 



for several years engaged in the jewelry business 
and also carried on a dental office. The year 
1853 found him in Wisconsin, where he resumed 
the business in which he had previously engaged 
in the east, and also carried on a vinegar factory. 

From Wisconsin in 1878 Dr. Kuster came to 
Kansas and settled in Franklin County, purchas- 
ing over sixteen hundred acres of prairie land 
with the intention of embarking in the stock 
business. However, after the expiration of a year 
he turned his attention to dentistry, in which he 
engaged in Williamsburg. He also purchased a 
drug business, which he conducted until he re- 
tired from active life, during the early '90s. He 
is the owner of several houses in Williamsburg, 
and ranks among the prosperous retired business 
men of the place. The success he has gained rep- 
resents his unaided efforts. He had no one to 
assist him in starting in the world of business. 
When he landed in New York he had little 
money and no friends among the people of Ameri- 
ca, but during the long period of his residence in 
the United States he has gained both means and 
friends. 

During the period of his residence in Wiscon- 
sin Dr. Kuster was prominent in politics and 
active in local affairs. Interested in educational 
affairs, he was elected a member of the school 
board of Sheboygan, April 8, 1867, and for a 
time served as secretary, later became president 
of the board. In the same town he served as a 
member of the city council, and, while filling 
the po.sition (to which he was elected April 3, 
1865), was chosen by the council as a member of 
the board of commissioners having in charge the 
building of a plank road through the county. 
The board elected him their president, and dur- 
ing his service in that position he had the entire 
responsibility of the completion of the road. 

Dr. Kuster was married in 1850 to Anna 
Maria Seibert and of this union seven children 
were born, of whom three are now living. They 
are: Albert J., a jeweler of Chicago; AnnaMaria, 
wife of Isaac Springer, retired, of Chicago; Amelia 
Susanna, wife of Charles Silverson, of West Bend, 
Wis. Six years after the death of his first wife 
Dr. Kuster married Anna Stresser, to whom two 



children were born: Anna S. Hardaker, now of 
Kansas City, and Edward Jacob. Five years af- 
ter Dr. Kuster' s second wife died he married 
Augusta B. Dehn, to whom four children were 
born. 



gARCLAY THOMAS. The long period of 
his residence in Eudora Township, Douglas 
County, and his prominence in local affairs, 
has made Mr. Thomas one of the best-known 
men of his vicinity. In 1864 he came to Kansas 
and purchased a quarter-section of land in part- 
nership with William Stroud, each having an 
eighty-acre tract. Upon his part of the estate he 
began the task of transforming the raw land into 
cultivated fields. The land was one of the most 
fertile tracts in the Shawnee reservation, and the 
results of the owner's energj^ are apparent in the 
present fine farm, comprising three hundred and 
twenty acres. In addition to general farming 
he is engaged in feeding cattle and hogs. 

Though inclining toward the Republican party 
Mr. Thomas is of a nature too independent to ad- 
here strictly to the tenets of any political organi- 
zation. At one time he was the Republican can- 
didate for representative. He was one of the first 
men in the state to join the Grange and is now 
identified with this organization in Johnson 
County. Fraternally he is connected with the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen. Among the 
members ofthe Society of Friends he is a leader. 
He took an active part in the building of the 
Friends' Academy at Hesper and has been treas- 
urer of the institution since its establishment. 
Realizing the value of a good education, he has 
always given his influence toward the mainte- 
nance of good schools. Since 1884 he has served 
as treasurer of his .school district. He was elected 
a member of the board of directors of the Friends' 
State University, but declined to serve. Local 
business enterprises have received the impetus 
of his energetic nature and excellent judgment. 
He was active in the organization of the Eudora 
creamery, of which company he is now president. 
Mr. Thomas was born in Wayne County, Ind., 
July I, 1 84 1, a son of Nathan and Caroline 
(Diggs) Thomas, natives of Indiana. His pater- 



734 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



nal great-grandfather emigrated from Wales to 
North Carolina prior to the Revolutionary war. 
The grandfather, Benjamin Thomas, was born in 
North Carolina and became one of the very first 
settlers of Wayne County, Ind., where he carried 
on a farm. He was buried on the same day with 
his son, Nathan. The last-named, who was a 
farmer and merchant, traveled through the south 
buying free-labor cotton for Levi CoflBn, and was 
very active in the anti-slavery movement. He 
died at Newport (now Fountain City), Ind., at 
forty-eight years of age, and his wife died there 
in 1838. Of their four children, Ahirah is de- 
ceased; William died in Indiana in 1863; Lydia 
is the wife of Nathan Hinshaw; and Barclay 
forms the subject of this sketch. He was educa- 
ted in the common schools of Indiana and for six 
years followed carpentering. In 1864 he settled 
on a portion of his present farm in Douglas 
County. His means were limited, but by energy, 
econo'my and perseverance he has become pros- 
perous. Besides the management of his own 
property he acts as agent for James M.Davis, 
who owns one thousand acres in this vicinity. 
January, 21, 1869, he married Phoebe Randall, a 
native of Bolton, Mass., and daughter of Joseph 
and Mary (Aldrich) Randall, natives of New 
Hampshire and Rhode Island respectively. They 
have four children, viz.: Lucian J., now living 
in Toronto, Canada; Ralph W., in Texas; Mabel 
and Lloyd, who are with their parents. The 
family are members of the Friends' Church. 



IILLIAM H. MOHERMAN established his 
permanent home in Franklin County in 
1S87. Since then he has been one of the 
most enterprising stockmen of Peoria Township. 
During the first year of his settlement here he 
built a hou.se and barn on section 28, but they 
were destroyed by a cyclone soon afterward, and 
he then rebuilt them on the same foundations. 
To each of his children he has given a farm, re- 
taining one hundred and sixty acres for his own 
use, and, with his sou, is interested in the cattle 
business, handling black and red Polled- Angus 
and some thoroughbred stock. He was one of 



the organizers of the bank at Wellsville, of which 
he holds o65ce as vice-president. For nine years 
he has served as president of the Agricultural 
Association. 

Born in Mahoning County, Ohio, April 13, 
1837, our subject is a son of Abraham and Anna 
(Rush) Moherman, of whose seven children three 
are living, two in Ohio and one in Kansas. His 
father, who was a large land owner and extensive 
stock-raiser, was a son of Frederick Moherman, 
who emigrated from German}^ in the earlj- part of 
the nineteenth century, settling in Ohio, where he 
cultivated a farm and also raised stock. When 
fourteen years of age our subject was taken into 
partnership with his father in the stock business. 
In 1856 he came to Kansas and bought the first 
land that was sold in the land office in the .state, 
paying $1,255 for twenty acres, on which now 
stands the city of Leavenworth. Three days 
later he sold the land at a profit of $500 and 
bought three hundred and twenty acres on Little 
Stranger Creek, which he fenced, placed under 
cultivation and improved with two houses, but 
did not make his home there. In 1887 he came 
to Franklin County and began to make purclia.ses 
of property. 

At the time of the border warfare Mr. Moher- 
man took an active part in the free-state move- 
ment, working with "Jim" Lane. " On one occa- 
sion he was driven out of the state by pro-slavery 
men, but returned after six weeks and was then 
left unmolested. His father was anxious that he 
should return to Ohio, and as an inducement, 
offered to deed him a farm, provided he would 
settle upon it. He consented and returned home. 
During the Civil war he handled army horses, 
and his father was so injured by one that he re- 
mained an invalid from that time until his death, 
in 1886. Continuing at the old home until after 
his father and mother had both passed away, Mr. 
Moherman then determined to return to Kansas, 
and accordingly closed out his interests in Ohio 
and once more came to the west. 

Both in Ohio and Kansas our subject has been 
active in local Republican politics and has at- 
tended county conventions. In 1890 he was 
elected commissioner of Franklin County and 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



735 



served for six years, being president of the board 
during four years of the time. His election as 
commissioner was for the special purpose of hav- 
ing a court house erected to replace the unsightly 
structure then in use. By a great amount of 
hard work he succeeded in securing the erection 
of the present substantial building, which many 
believe to be the finest court house in the state. 
He gave a great deal of time to arranging for the 
building and borrowing the necessary money, 
but the result amply repaid him for his efforts. 

While in Ohio he was identified with the 
Christian Church, and after coming west united 
with the Congregational Church at Wellsville. 
In Ohio, on January 8, 1858, he married Eliza- 
beth Lynn, by whom he has three children: 
Calvin A., who is a farmer and stock-raiser in 
Peoria Township; Scott D., who is in partner- 
ship with his father in the stock business; and 
Lottie B. , who married Frank Cayot, a merchant 
of Wellsville. 



HON. HARLAN PYLE WELSH. To those 
who are familiar with the history of Frank- 
lin County and Ottawa, the name of Mr. 
Welsh is well known. Having been identified 
with the history of this section from pioneer days, 
a record of his life will possess especial interest 
for our readers. He was born in Roscoe, Coshoc- 
ton County, Ohio, July 26, 1834, a son of Rev. 
Joseph and Lydie (Pyle) Welsh, natives of Wash- 
ington County, Pa. His grandfather, John 
Welsh, was born in Ireland, and engaged in farm- 
ing in Washington County, Pa. , but moved from 
there to Knox County, Ohio, settling on a farm 
near Mount Vernon. Joseph Welsh was born 
May 2, 1800, and for some years engaged in the 
mercantile business in Coshocton County, but 
later turned his attention to farming. About 1840 
he settled near Charleston, Lee County, Iowa, 
and from there in 1857 came to Kansas, locating 
on and improving a claim west of .Centropolis, 
Franklin County. On the resignation of his son, 
our subject, as clerk of the district court of Frank- 
lin County in 1858, he was appointed to the position 
and served until the expiration of the term. 
For many years he held ofiice as justice of the 



peace at the old town of Minneola. During war 
days he sold his farm and moved to Bates Coun- 
ty, Mo., thinking he could live in peace, even in 
the midst of southern sympathizers; but he was 
robbed on two difierent occasions and suffered so 
much from depredations that he sold out and re- 
turned to Kansas. For more than forty years he 
was an ordained minister of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, and did considerable work in the 
organization ] of churches in various localities. 
For more than fifty years he was identified with 
the Masonic fraternity, in which he attained the 
Royal Arch degree. He was 'a man of far more 
than ordinary abilit3^ Religion formed the key- 
note of his life. In the midst of business inter- 
ests he maintained his close connection with 
church affairs, and his life was ever that of an 
earnest, faithful and enthusiastic Christian. Late 
in life he moved to Greelej', Anderson County, 
Kans., and there he died January 10, 1874, at the 
age of seventy-three years. He was buried in 
Mount Hope cemetery. 

Twice married, the first wife of Joseph Welsh 
was Lydia Pyle, and his second wife Mrs. Sarah 
Jones, of Unionville, Ohio. His first wife was 
born December 5, 1800, and died in Knox Coun- 
ty, Ohio, August 5, 1842. Of English descent, 
she represented the sixth generation from the first 
of her ancestors in Pennsylvania. She was a 
daughter of Job Pyle and Amy (Palmer) Pyle, 
the latter of the fifth generation from John and 
Mary Palmer, who came from England and 
settled in what is now Delaware County, Pa. 
The genealogy of the Palmers is traced back to 
the crusaders of the twelfth and thirteenth cen- 
turies. The family were Friends and some of its 
members were distinguished. One, Samuel Pal- 
mer, was an eminent printer of Loudon, with 
whom Benjamin Franklin was for some time em- 
ployed. A record is given of a deed to John 
Palmer, dated ' 'Att Philadelphia ye 26th day of 
seventh month, fourth yeare of ye reign of James 
ye second over England, and being eight of ye 
proprietors government anno domini 1688." 
Signed by William Markham, by virtue of a com- 
mission granted to him by William Penn. 

Four daughters and two sons were born to 



736 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Joseph and Lydia (Pyle) Welsh. Of these two 
daugliters and one son are living. One son, Dr. 
John Welsh, who was a surgeon in a Kansas 
regiment dnring the Civil war, died in Dauphin 
County, Kans. The two living daughters reside 
in Iowa. The second marriage of Joseph Welsh 
resulted in the birth of a son and daughter, of 
whom the former. Dr. Lynn Welsh, a practicing 
physician, died in Anderson County, Kans. When 
a boy our subject had meagre advantages, for, 
being the only son at home, he was obliged to as- 
sist on the farm. When fifteen years of age he 
had the misfortune to lose his right leg by ery- 
sipelas of the bone. As soon as he recovered his* 
father apprenticed him to the tailor's trade, but 
it was uncongenial and he determined to secure 
an education. He studied nights and at the end 
of a year quit tailoring and accepted a clerkship 
in a store. In this way he secured the means 
necessary to pay his expenses in the Friends' 
Seminary at Salem, Iowa, for a year. Afterward 
he returned to the home of his parents in Center- 
ville, Appanoo.se County, Iowa. In the fall of 
1852 he studied in the public school and in the 
spring taught in the western part of the county, 
receiving $15 a mouth and "boarding round." 
In 1853 he began to study law with Harvey Tan- 
nehill, boarding at his father's and walking two 
and one-half miles into town each morning. The 
following winter his preceptor procured for him the 
Centerville school and he was the first teacher in 
the new school building, where he taught for five 
months at $45 a month, having an av-erage at- 
tendance of one hundred and fiftj' scholars. At 
night he applied himself to the studj* of law. For 
three years he taught in the winters and read law 
in the summers. 

The first connection of Mr. Welsh with public 
affairs was in 1854. The Democratic party had 
always carried Appanoose CountJ^ but that year 
the Know-Nothings formed a secret political or- 
ganization and nominated a ticket, on which Mr. 
Welsh was selected for county attorney, and 
there was no opposition lawyer to run for the 
office. Mr. Welsh was not of age, but would be 
before the time to take the office. The main dif- 
ficulty was that he had not been admitted to the 



bar. Nevertheless he was secretly nominated with- 
out his knowledge, and when the votes were count- 
ed he was found to have a fine majority. The 
Democrats determined to circumvent him by de- 
feating his admission to the bar. Finding that they 
had succeeded in packing a committee of Demo- 
crats against him, he quietly drove over to Bloom- 
field, Davis Countj', and was admitted to the bar 
at the court held September 5, 1S55. He returned 
home, keeping his own counsel as to the admis- 
sion. When court was held in hiscount^' and the 
criminal cases were called, he answered, as county 
attorney, for the state. A Democratic attorney at 
once arose and interposed the objection that Mr. 
Welsh was not a regular practicing attorney. 
The court proniptlj- demanded of Mr. Welsh his 
authoritj' and he as promptly produced his 
certificate of admission to practice in all the courts 
of Iowa. There was a general laugh in the 
court room and the judge remarked "Mr. Welsh 
will proceed." He tried from ten to fifteen cases at 
that court with success in each case, and during the 
two years of his official term he lost but one case. 
His last case was quite celebrated as the case of 
the State of Iowa vs. Hinkle, for the murder of his 
wife, which was brought from Davis County bj' 
change of venue, and resulted in the conviction 
and execution of the murderer, the supreme court 
confirming the decision of the lower court. 

In 1858 Mr. Welsh removed to Franklin Coun- 
ty, Kans., accompanied by his wife and child, 
and making the trip with a wagon and three yoke 
of oxen. After a journey of four weeks he ar- 
rived at Minneola, but learned that what was 
afterward known as the Leavenworth constitu- 
tional convention had indignantly adjourned from 
Minneola to Leavenworth. He sold a yoke of 
oxen for $80 and drove to Lawrence, where he 
purchased household necessities. There being no 
opening for a lawyer in Lawrenceat that time, he 
and a hired man began to cut and haul logs to the 
sawmill at Centropolis, giving one-half the lumber 
for the sawing. He built a frame house, then 
went to Kansas City with his two yoke of oxen, 
sold one yoke, invested the money in doors and 
windows for the house, and returned with one 
yoke of oxen and the finishings for his home. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



737 



He was appointed the first district clerk of Frank- 
lin County, but soon resigned. At the first ses- 
sion of the court the grand jury found about 
thirty indictments, and he defended nearly all of 
them, realizing therefrom $600. The drought of 
i860 destroyed business and brought him misfor- 
tune. He sold his home and moved to a farm, 
where, during the next three years, he made 
$3,000. In 1863 he went to Topeka and was 
unanimously elected journal clerk of the house of 
representatives and in 1864 was re-elected without 
opposition. In 1862 he was made chairman of 
the board of commissioners of Franklin County, 
of which he had been a member for two terms. 
In 1865 he was elected county attorney and during 
his two years of office tried many important cases. 
In 1867 he was a candidate for the state senate. 
The next year he was elected, without opposition, 
to the house of representatives, where he served 
on the judiciary committee and the committee on 
ways and means. In 1869 and 1870 he served as 
mayor of Ottawa. In 1871 he was again elected 
to the legislature, where he was chairman of the 
committee on elections and appropriations, and a 
member of the judiciary committee. In 1894 he 
was elected county attorney and served for one 
term. Since 1865 he has made his home in Ot- 
tawa, of which he was one of the organizers and 
a member of the first and second boards of trustees. 
Under his supervision the city ordinances of 
Ottawa were compiled. He has been one of the 
influential attorneys and citizens of Ottawa and 
is well known to all the people of the city. 

In Iowa, in 1855, Mr. Welsh married Mi.ss 
Mary Shaw, who was born in Virginia, and died 
in Ottawa, Kans., May 25, 1870. Five children 
were born of this union: Harlen, a merchant in 
Hiawatha, Kans.; L,aura, wife of John Plunket, 
of Ottawa; Mrs. Minnie Merritt, who died in 
Buffalo, N. Y.; Florence, who died in Ottawa; 
and Rosa, also deceased. In Ottawa, June 5, 
1871, Mr. Welsh married Mrs. Isadora (Johnson) 
Crawford, who was born in Erie County, Pa., and 
came to Kansas with her father, Benjamin John- 
son, in 1854. Two sons were born of Mr. Welsh's 
second marriage, Roy and Earl. The latter son 
died at two years of age. 



Fraternally Mr. Welsh is identified with the 
Western Knights, Knights of Honor and the 
lodge and encampment of Odd Fellows, in both 
of which he has held office, and in 1874-76 was 
the representative to the grand lodge. He and 
his wife are members of the First Baptist Church 
of Ottawa. For seven years he was chairman of 
the board of trustees, and during that time the 
edifice was built on Fourth and Hickory streets, 
which is one of the finest churches in the state. 
His wife was a member of the building committee 
and both aided largely in securing the completion 
of the well-appointed and equipped house of wor- 
ship. 



y yi ARTIN M. HUNTER, who is the owner 
y of a fine farm in Pomona Township, Frank- 
er lin County, was born in Sandwich, Onta- 
rio, Canada, September i, 1851. His father, 
Richard Hunter, was known as "Old Honesty," 
a title significant of his upright life and irre- 
proachable character; a native of the south, he 
went to Ontario prior to tte Canadian rebellion, 
in which he served as a soldier under Colonel 
Prince. By trade an engineer, he not only fol- 
lowed that occupation, but also gave some atten- 
tion to superintending his two farms. His death 
occurred in Canada when he was sixty-five years 
of age. 

At the age of seventeen 3-ears our subject left 
his home and started out to make his own way in 
the world. His father had intended to remove to 
the west and had traveled through the States 
looking for a suitable location, but before he had 
closed up his interests in Canada preparatory to 
removal, he died. The plan which the father had 
been prevented from carrying into effect was 
taken up by the son, who came to Kansas and 
purchased a farm in Michigan Valley, Osage 
County. In addition to bringing the land under 
cultivation he also followed the carpenter's trade. 
During the grasshopper siege of 1874 he bought 
his present farm from the Indians. For some 
time he worked at carpentering in order to secure 
the money with which to improve his land, and 
as time passed by he placed the property under 
cultivation, erected needed buildings, built fences 



73S 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



and made other important improvements. From 
time to time he added to his farm, which now 
comprises two hundred and fiftj- acres, and on 
which he raises general farm products and some 
stock, principally Poland- China hogs. He was 
engaged extensively in contracting and building 
in Topeka, Kansas City, Ottawa and Lawrence, 
and owns property in Ottawa and Topeka. In 
Canada, when fifteen years of age, he united with 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he has 
since been a faithful member. May 29, 1882, he 
married Mary A. Buckner, a native of Canada, 
who died July 24, 1883. Of that union one child, 
Eliza, was born. April 26, 1888, he married 
Nannie Rhodes. 



""UGENE E. H. BIART, a well-known vet- 
'j erinary surgeon of Leavenworth, was born 
_ in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1852, and in boy- 
hood days was a pupil in the schools of his na- 
tive city. At the age of twenty he entered the 
Belgian army as an assistant veterinary surgeon, 
for which work his study in a famous veterinary 
college of Belgium had fitted him. Just before 
the time for his graduation, in 1S70, he was ap- 
pointed to this position in the arm^-, and served 
through the Franco-Prussian war. He was grad- 
uated in 1872, and came to the United States, pro- 
ceeding to Kansas and joining an uncle, Augus- 
tus Biart, in Leavenworth. Not being familiar 
with the English language, he was deterred from 
beginning work in his chosen occupation. For a 
time he worked in a jewelry store, and studying 
our language closely, he soon became able to use 
it with ease and accuracy. He then entered upon 
the practice of veterinary surgery. The fact that he 
was a graduate of Cureghem Veterinary College 
meant much in his favor, as that college is noted 
for the thoroughness of its graduates and their 
fitness for successful work. In 1883 he settled in 
Delaware Township, but later moved to Lansing, 
where he made his home for seven years. When 
he came to Leavenworth to practice in 1894 he 
opened an office at Cranston's stable, but in 
1897 he moved to his present quarters on Shaw- 
nee street. While in Delaware Township, in 
connection with his practice he conducted a fruit 



farm, but- gradually the demands upon his time 
as a surgeon made it impossible for him to en- 
gage in any other occupation. He has a large 
stable and yards, known as the Broadway stock 
yards, where he has a veterinary hospital. He 
is considered one of the most efficient veterinary 
surgeons in the state and is very successful in 
practice. 

In 1876 Dr. Biart married Salina Seichepine, 
the daughter of French parents, who resided in 
St. Louis. They are the parents of eight chil- 
dren, Adell, Hortense, Frank, Henry, Mary, 
Charles, Joseph and Eugene E. H., Jr. The 
family home is on Kingman street, where Dr. 
Biart owns property. Since 1889 he has been 
identified with the Modern Woodmen of America, 
in which lodge he has held all of the elective 
offices. He gives his attention closely to veteri- 
nary work, takes no part in politics, is indepen- 
dent in his vote, yet is interested in matters cal- 
culated to benefit the city and county. 



HENRY TISDALE, who dates his residence 
in Lawrence from February, 1857, was 
born in Norfolk, St. Lawrence County, 
N. Y., a son of James and Luenna (White) Tis- 
dale, natives of Georgia, Vt. His paternal grand- 
father was accidentally drowned when in middle 
age, and his maternal grandfather, Sylve.ster 
White, a life-long resident of Vermont, died at 
ninety years of age. After the vi'ar of 1812, in 
which he served, James Tisdale learned the 
moulder's trade and conducted this business dur- 
ing the remainder of his life in Canada and else- 
where. When sixty-eight years of age he re- 
moved to St. Albans, Vt., and there he died five 
years later. He was a member of the Masonic 
fraternity and a man of upright character. His 
wife died when fifty-six years of age. They 
were the parents of three sons and one daughter, 
of whom Henry is the only survivor. He was 
reared in Canada and Vermont and learned the 
moulder's trade under his father, for whom he 
worked until he was twentj'-one years of age. 
He then went to Malone, N. Y., and worked at 
his trade for a year. Returning home, he at- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



739 



tended a private school at Bedford, Canada, for a 
year and worked for his father about two years. 
In the summer of 1856 he went to Davenport, 
Iowa, where he found employment as a moulder. 
In company with two young Scotchmen Mr. 
Tisdale started for Kansas early in 1857, going 
via the Mississippi and Missouri rivers to Park- 
ville, thence bj' wagon to Westport, Leavenworth 
and Lawrence. He took up a claim at Osawato- 
mie which he improved, and held it for fifteen 
years, when he sold the place. After he had filed 
the claim he went into the village of Osawatomie, 
where he found a friend from Canada engaged in 
driving stage. With him he came to Lawrence. 
After two weeks he became an employe of Samuel 
Reynolds, driving stage between Lawrence and 
Osawatomie, continuing until February, 1858. 
On account of his brother's illness he returned to 
his eastern home and remained there until the 
spring of 1859, when he again came to Law- 
rence. For a few months he acted as agent for 
the stage business owned by Colonel Eldridge, 
and when the line was bought by the Kansas 
Stage Company he continued with them as agent 
for nine years, being assistant superintendent 
during part of this time. About 1862 he started 
a stage line of his own between Lawrence and 
Emporia. In 1S63 Ouantrell burned some of his 
property, but fortunately his teams were all on 
the road, so escaped. He was in Leavenworth 
at the time of the massacre, but hastened back to 
Lawrence to lend his aid to the people of the 
stricken city. Resigning his position with the 
Kansas Stage Company in 1868, Mr. Tisdale 
formed a partnership with J.W. Parker, as Parker 
& Tisdale, and continued staging, increasing the 
business until they had over one thousand head 
of stock on the road and were interested in every 
stage line in Kansas, besides many in Texas, 
Indian Territory, New Mexico, Colorado and 
Wyoming. They pushed their lines into the 
frontier and did much pioneer work, some of 
which was under very adverse and trying circum- 
stances, in constant peril from Indians and ruf- 
fians. The majority of the railroads of to-day 
follow the old stage trails which they established. 
They had a line from Newton to Fort Sill, two 



hundred miles. Their longest run was from 
Leavenworth to Fort Larned, three hundred 
miles. Their best line, both in the quality of the 
rolling stock and financial returns, was the one 
from San Antonio to Eagle Pass, Tex., a distance 
of one hundred and fift}' miles. In all of their 
enterprises they met with encouraging success. 
When they first started out the Kansas Stage 
Company returned to business and endeavored 
to "freeze" them out, but they retaliated with so 
much energy and determination that the company 
was glad to sell out to them. 

In July, 1898, Mr. Tisdale abandoned his last 
stage line. This was from Wolcott, on the Den- 
ver & Rio Grande Railroad, six miles west of 
Leadville, to Steamboat Springs, and on the ex- 
piration of his mail contract he gave up the 
stage. He started the first omnibus line in Law- 
rence and later built the Lawrence street rail- 
ways, which were consolidated under the Law- 
rence Transportation Company, and of this he 
was president until he sold his stock. He started 
the Topeka omnibus line, which was sold back 
and forth afterward, but in October, 1891, he 
bought it back and has since operated it. Heal- 
so has omnibus lines in Winfield, Arkansas City, 
Wellington, Harper and Medicine Lodge, Kans., 
and Alva, Oklahoma. He has always been in- 
terested in matters pertaining to the advancement 
of Lawrence and the extension of its business in- 
terests. He made the first castings in the foundry 
owned by the Kimballs', which was the first built 
in this city. A moulder had been brought from 
Boston to take charge of the work, but he did 
not understand the melting of iron, so Mr. Tis- 
dale's services were solicited. At that time he 
was in the employ of Colonel Eldridge, who al- 
lowed him to have one-half of each day in order 
to show the factory operatives the mode of melt- 
ing iron. He made three casts for them and 
started the business successfully. 

In Detroit, Mich., May 13, 1862, Mr. Tisdale 
married Miss Betsey A. Bangs, who was born in 
Stanbridge, Canada, a daughter of John E. 
Bangs, who removed to Boston and later to Law- 
rence, where he died. Mr. and Mrs. Tisdale 
have an only daughter, Mary Luenna, a gradu- 



740 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



ate of the University of Kansas, with the degree 
of A. B. During the days of slavery agitation 
our subject always gave his influence toward the 
free-state movement, and when the Republican 
party was organized he became one of its ad- 
herents. He is connected with the Masonic fra- 
ternity. 

r^ETER BERRY. During the days of the 
L/' Civil war Mr. Berry was one of those who, 
yS led by his devotion to his adopted country 
and loyalty to its institutions, enlisted in the de- 
fense of the Union, and followed the stars and 
stripes through hardships and exposure to vic- 
tory. In the fall of 1861 he volunteered in the 
First Wisconsin Light Artillerj^ Batter}^ No. 2, 
and was mustered into service at Racine, from 
which point he was ordered south to join the 
army of the Potomac. Detailed to duty at For- 
tress Monroe and stationed on the bar, he took 
part in the battle of the Merrimac and the Moni- 
tor, when the battery, having no breastworks and 
being in deadly peril on the bar, was saved by 
the Monitor. Later he was ordered to Big and 
Little Bethel. In the battle of Yorktown he was 
so .seriously injured that he was obliged to re- 
main in the hospital for six months. On his re- 
covery he joined the battery at Point Lookout. 
After three years of service, in the fall of 1864, 
he was mustered out at Washington. 

Mr. Berry was born at Luxemburg, Germany, 
September 23, 1832. The family is one of the 
oldest in that duchy. His father, Peter, and 
grandfather, John Berrj^ were born there, and 
the latter was a soldier in the French army. 
The father, who followed the trade of cabinet fin- 
isher in his native country, brought his family to 
America in 1835, sailing from Antwerp on the 
"Wolfe" and after a long voyage landing in New 
York. From there he went to Albany, and thence, 
via the Erie canal and the Lakes, to Milwaukee, 
Wis. He settled at what afterward became Port 
Washington, Ozaukee County, and improved a 
farm which he sold in 1855. His last days were 
spent in retirement in Port Washington, where he 
died at seventy-six years. His wife, who was 
Catherine Schultz, was born in Luxemburg and 



died in Wisconsin in 1839. They were the par- 
ents of two sons and three daughters. One of 
the sons, Nicholas, enlisted as a corporal in the 
Fifth Wisconsin Cavalry, and was seriously 
wounded in the battle of the Wilderness, since 
which time he has been an invalid. He is now 
living in Milwaukee. 

The family name was originally Burrye and 
so continued until the brothers, Nicholas and 
Peter, enlisted in the army, when the officers put 
the name down Berry, and as such it was given 
at the roll calls. From that time the name has 
been called Berry. 

When a boy the subject of this sketch had no 
school advantages, as in his section of country 
public schools had not yet been introduced, and 
when they were finally opened he was almost a 
man and too bu.sy to spare the time for study. 
However, his parents taught him the three 
" R's" and afterward, by self-culture, he ac- 
quired a fund of information that makes him a 
well informed man. His boyhood days were 
passed in Wisconsin. At eighteen years of age 
he engaged in teaming and afterward became a 
large dealer in wood, continuing in that employ- 
ment until he entered the army at the opening of 
the war. 

The year 1864 found Mr. Berry in Kan.sas. He 
had just been mustered out of the army, and leav- 
ing Washington came to Fort Leaven worth, where 
he was employed by the government to drive the 
headquarters ambulance. He continued in that 
capacity until 1867, when he entered the employ 
of H. W. Gillett, a wholesale whisky dealer, 
with whom he remained until Julj', 1878, and 
then embarked in a wholesale and retail busi- 
ness across the street from his present location. 
He is now at Nos. 214-216 Shawnee street. In 
addition to his large plant he owns other business 
property and has also built and improved resi- 
dence property. In 1886 he erected the National 
hotel, the finest hotel property in Leavenworth. 
He also built the elegant residence which he oc- 
cupies, at Seventh and Ottawa streets. 

The marriage of Mr. Berry took place in Leav- 
enworth and united him with Miss Coanza Kee- 
gans, who was born in Platte County, Mo., a 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



741 



daughter of John and Susan (Callowa}') Keegans. 
Her father moved from Kentucky to Missouri and 
during the war enlisted in a Missouri regiment, 
U. S. A., serving in numerous battles until Cor- 
ith was taken. He died of Swamp fever in Jef- 
ferson Barracks, St. Louis. His wife was a mem- 
ber of one of Kentucky's very oldest families, the 
Calloways having come with the Boones from 
Virginia to Kentucky. Descended from Revolu- 
tionary ancestors, and from noted Indian fighters, 
Mrs. Keegans was also a second cousin of Kit 
Carson, the noted scout and frontiersman. She 
died in Boonesboro, Howard County, Mo. Of 
her four children Mrs. Ellen Wells lives in How- 
ard County; William died at Tucson, Ariz.; 
John makes his. home in St. Louis. The five 
children of Mr. and Mrs. Berry are as follows: 
Henry, who is a graduate of St. Mary's college 
and is now engaged in the paint and oil business 
in Leavenworth; Robert, who was educated in 
Christian Brothers College in St. Louis and is 
now with his father in business; Edward, a stu- 
dent in St. Mary's College; Frank and Esther. 
Fraternally Mr. Berry is a member of Custer 
Post No. 6, G. A. R., at Leavenworth, which he 
assisted in organizing. He is a Knight Templar 
Mason and a charter member of Abdallah Tem- 
ple, N. M. S. From the time of coming to man's 
estate he has been a firm believer in Republican 
principles and has never wavered in his allegiance 
to this party. He has been identified with most 
important enterprises in Leavenworth and has 
fostered plans for the benefit of the people, aiding 
liberally educational, religious and commercial 
projects. 

0TEPHEN E. LEMON, who has resided in 
?\ Ottawa since the spring of 1867, was born in 
\zJ Hillsboro, Highland County, Ohio, Feb- 
ruary 23, 1844, a son of John M. and Amanda 
M. (Stout) Lemon. His grandfather, Samuel 
Lemon, some years after his marriage removed 
from Pennsylvania to Ohio, settling in Highland 
County, where he died at eighty years. He was 
of German descent, and the family name was 
originally Leamon. John M. Lemon, a native of 
Pennsylvania, carried on a blacksmith shop in 

35 



Hillsboro, where he was a member of the town 
council and a highly respected citizen. He was 
a leading member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church and was identified, fraternally, with the 
Odd Fellows. His death occurred when he was 
sixty-one. His wife was born near West Liberty, 
in Mad River Valley, and died at Hillsboro. 
They were the parents of seven children, all of 
whom attained maturity. Samuel J., who was a 
member of the Twenty-fourth Ohio Battery, died 
in Ohio; William H., a member of the Fourth 
Ohio Cavalry, resides in Hillsboro; James, who 
enlisted in the Eighty-ninth Ohio Infantry, but 
was soon discharged on account of physical dis- 
ability, died at West Union, Ohio; Stephen E. 
was for three years a member of Companj' I, 
Twenty-fourth Ohio Infantry, and later an officer 
of Company A, One Hundred and Seventy-fifth 
Ohio. The three youngest sons, Oscar S., Mor- 
gan and Joseph A., all residents of Hillsboro, 
were too young at the opening of the Civil war to 
enlist in the army, but, had they been older, 
every member of the family would probably have 
served in defense of the Union. 

At the beginning of the Civil war our subject 
was serving an apprenticeship to the carriage- 
maker's trade. In 1861 he enlisted as a musician 
and marched to the front with his regiment. At 
Stone River he was shot through both legs, just 
above the knees, by two different bullets. He 
succeeded in crawling ofi" the field, and finding a 
small rail, used it for a crutch, by the aid of 
which he walked four miles to the field hospital. 
As soon as he had recovered sufficiently he re- 
joined his regiment. At the expiration of his 
term he was discharged in Indianapolis in 1S64. 
Soon he re-enlisted, being commissioned second 
lieutenant of Company A, One Hundred and 
Seventy-fifth Ohio Infantry. He took part in 
the battles of Columbia, Spring Hill, Franklin 
and Nashville. After Franklin, on the battle- 
field he was commissioned first lieutenant in 
recognition of his bravery. He remained in Ten- 
nessee until the close of the war, and was 
mustered out at Nashville in 1865 and honorably 
discharged at Camp Deunison, Ohio. 

InJ^i865 Mr. Lemon settled in Kansas City, 



742 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Mo., where he engaged in the mercantile busi- 
ness. In the spring of 1867 be came to Ottawa, 
where he worked as a carpenter under Joseph 
Marsh for a year. In 1868 he was elected mar- 
shal of Ottawa, which position he filled for five 
years, and during two of these years he was also 
deputy sheriff under C. L. Robbins. The posi- 
tion of marshal was one that required consider- 
able courage and a large stock of determination, 
for the town was new, and like all new towns, 
had attracted to it a number of desperadoes, horse 
thieves, etc. After the expiration of his term as 
marshal he was for nine years a clerk for C. L,. 
Robbins, later served as street commissioner for 
a year, and then for two j'ears was a member of 
the grocery firm of S. E. Lemon & Co., his part- 
ner being C. H. Penny. During this time he 
built the Lemon block. After his partnership 
was dissolved he continued in the same location 
until 1885, when he sold out. His next venture 
was the buying of the stock of Smith Brothers & 
Sumner, which business he carried on for three 
years. Later he was again appointed street com- 
missioner, and had charge of the macadamizing 
of Main street. For three years he was as- 
sociated with Capt. J. H. Ransom in the coal, ice 
and freitjliting business, but afterward sold out to 
his partner, although he remains with him as 
manager and collector. 

The marriage of Mr. Lemon united him with 
Lola J., daughter of E. S. Gott, a carjienter and 
builder, who .settled in Ottawa in 1872, but now 
resides in Kansas City. A stanch Republican, 
Mr. Lemon has served for years as a member of 
the county committee, and has also been on the 
city committee. In 1899 he was elected to repre- 
sent the fourth ward in the city council, in which 
he is chairman of the health committee and the 
committee on .streets and alleys, also a member 
of the committees on sidewalks and ordinances. 
He is a charter member of the George H. Thomas 
Post No. 18, G. A. R. Fraternally he is con- 
nected with Ottawa Lodge No. 128, A. F. & 
A. M.; Chapter No. 7, R. A. M.; and Tancred 
Commandery No. 11, K. T. He organized the 
Ottawa silver cornet band, of which he was for 
twelve years the leader, and which was the first 



band in the city. In 1897 the Commercial band 
was organized and he was requested to become 
the leader. He accepted, donating his services 
as instructor. In recognition of his kindness, in 
1898 the band surrendered its charter and took 
out a new one under the name of Lemon's band. 
This is one of the finest bands in eastern Kan- 
sas and consists of twenty-two pieces. In addi- 
tion to acting as its leader, he is also a member 
of Leonard's orchestra. 



pGJiLLIAM E. KIBBE owns three hundred 

\ A / and twenty acres of land in Ohio Tovvn- 
VY ship, Franklin County, where he is en- 
gaged in general farm pursuits. He is a man of 
prominence in his community and has been 
selected to serve in positions of trust. A public- 
spirited citizen, he proved his patriotism during 
the Civil war b\' offering his services to his coun- 
try as a defender of the Union. In September, 
1862, he enlisted in Company D, Twelfth Kansas 
Infantr5^ and for a year was principallj- engaged 
in settling border troubles, after which he was at 
Little Rock, Fort Smith and Camden, Ark., re- 
maining in the army until the close of the war. 
Shortly after returning home he was elected to 
the legislature, in which he served creditably for 
one term. Later his name was mentioned as a 
strong candidate for senator, but, owing to the 
circumstances at the time, some one else was 
nominated. For years he affiliated with the Re- 
publicans, but since 1892 he has been a Populist 
in politics. 

Levi Kibbe, our .subject's father, was born 
March 17, 1802, at Woodstock, Conn. In young 
manhood he removed to Jefferson County, N. Y., 
where he purchased and improved farm land. 
In 185 1 he removed from there to Erie County, 
Pa., and became interested in farm pursuits 
there. In politics he was a Whig and in religion 
a member of the Baptist Church. He died in 
Erie County when eighty-nine years of age. His 
father, Levi Kibbe, Sr. , also a native of Con- 
necticut, was a lifelong fanner and died at ninetj' 
years of age. He had a brother, Amri.sh, who 
served in the Revolutionarj' war. The marriage 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



743 



of Levi Kibbe, Jr., united him with Nancy 
Smith, who was born in Woodstock, Conn., and 
died at eighty years of age. Of the children born 
to their union five attained mature j'ears, the 
eldest being William E., who was born in Jeffer- 
son County, N. Y., October 17, 1833. Of the 
others, George H. died at twenty-five years; 
Lyman S. was a pioneer of Cowley County, 
Kans. , where he is still living; Warren W. re- 
sides on the old homestead in Pennsylvania; and 
Mary E. married Judson Haskell, of Bradford, Pa. 
When twenty-one years of age our subject left 
home and went to Kentucky, where he taught a 
district school in Cassius Clay's neighborhood. 
He had received a good education in the academy 
at Watertown, N. Y. , and was fitted for the 
responsibilities of life. In 1857 ^^ settled upon 
the farm where he now lives. Few people at that 
time had settled in Franklin County, the land 
was wholly unimproved, towns were sparsely 
populated and, altogether, there was little to in- 
dicate a future condition of prosperity. He built 
the first frame house in the county and made 
some of the first improvements in the cultivation 
of the land. His first wife, who was Pamelia 
Weatherwax, a native of Indiana, died in Frank- 
lin County at twentj^-eight years of age, leaving 
four children. They are: Jennie M., wife of 
William Service; Fannie, who married David 
Flaherty; Mary, Mrs. Charles Bledsoe; and Milo 
W., a farmer in Franklin Count3\ In Decem- 
ber, 1874, Mr. Kibbe married Miss Anna M. 
Davis, who was born in New York state, but has 
spent much of her life in Illinois. One son was 
born of this union, Levi N., who is with his 
parents. 

HIRAM NOSS is the owner of a farm of one 
hundred acres near Wellsville, besides a 
neat residence and twenty lots in this vil- 
lage and also a small grist mill which he operates 
personally. 

A son of Jacob and Mar}' (Copeland) Noss, 
our subject was born in Huntingdon County, Pa., 
April 16, 1823. His father, a native of Lancas- 
ter, Pa., was reared at Cox's Ferry, on the Sus- 
quehanna river, and in youth learned the 



weaver's trade, at which he worked in earl}' life. 
After his marriage he engaged in farming in 
Huntingdon County until fifty years of age, 
when he moved to Beaver County, Pa., in 1825, 
and bought a raw unimproved tract of land. 
This he transformed into a good farm. In the 
war of 1812 he joined a company and was on the 
way to the front when word came that peace had 
been declared. He was a Henry Clay Whig and 
an admirer of that statesman. His death occurred 
on his homestead in 1858, when he was ninety- 
eight years of age. He was a son of Philip 
Jacob Noss, who was born in Germany and in 
young manhood settled in Lancaster, Pa. 

The maternal grandfather of our subject was 
born in England and married a German lady after 
he settled in the United States. His home was 
on what later became famous as the battleground 
of Antietam, Md., and there he engaged in mill- 
ing. He was also a. wagoner and hauled freight. 
From Maryland he moved to New York, where 
he built and operated a mill. He lived to be one 
hundred and two years of age. His daughter, 
Mrs. Noss, was seventy at the time of her death, 
in 1859. In her family there were nine sons 
and two daughters, but Hiram and one sister 
alone survive. The former was two years of age 
when the parents removed to Beaver County, 
Pa. , and there he grew to manhood. At eighteen 
years of age he began steamboating on the Ohio 
and Mississippi rivers. In 1 858 he came to Kansas 
in charge of a ferry boat from Pennsylvania to 
Iowa Point, he being an engineer and thoroughly 
competent to take entire charge of a boat. With 
the aid of his brother he brought the boat down 
the Ohio river and up the Mississippi and Mis- 
souri (although wholly unacquainted with the lat- 
ter river), and placed it in the dock at Iowa 
Point, where its owner lived. During the sum- 
mer of 1858 he ran this boat as engineer and 
collector. On his return to the east he resumed 
steamboating on the Ohio. Later he manufac- 
tured brick in the east until 1865, when he came 
to Kansas, settling in Baldwin, Douglas County, 
where he manufactured brick during the summer 
of 1865 and had charge of a saw mill for two years. 

Purchasing one hundred and sixty acres in 



744 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Ottawa Township, Franklin Count3', from the 
Ottawa Indians, Mr. Noss settled upon the land 
and began its improvement. He remained there 
for eighteen years, when he sold out and settled 
in Wellsville. Here he operated the first steam 
grist mill, which he has since conducted. In 
early life he adhered to the Greenback party and 
later became a Democrat. For forty-five years 
he has been connected with the Baptist Church 
and his wife has been a member of the same de- 
nomination for more than fifty years, both being 
earnest Christian workers. He married Sarah 
Bennett, who was born in Beaver County, Pa., 
and by whom he has three children, namely: 
Mary, wife of Dawson Thayer; Albert, a farmer 
in Ottawa Township; and Elizabeth, wife of Dr. 
Bennett, of Wellsville. 



0TTO C. BEELER, city treasurer of Leaven- 
worth, was first appointed to this office in 
June, 1888, by the then mayor, S. F. Neely, 
and held the office for one year, after which he 
engaged with A. L. Salinger in the boot and shoe 
business for about eight years. In the spring of 
1897 he was elected city treasurer for a term of 
two years. Besides serving as treasurer he has 
also been clerk, having held one position or the 
other for nearly ten years. As a Democrat he 
is active in local affairs and takes a warm interest 
in all matters pertaining to his party. 

Since he was made a Mason in 1863 Mr. Beeler 
has been prominent in this fraternitj-. One j'ear 
after becoming a member of Leavenworth Lodge 
No. 2, A. F'. & A. M., he was chosen secretary 
of the lodge; the next year (1865) served as sen- 
ior warden, in 1866 was master of the lodge and 
by virtue thereof a member of the grand lodge. 
In 1865 he became a member of Leavenworth 
Chapter No. 2, R. A. M., in which he served as 
.scribe and high priest. During 1866 he identi- 
fied himself with Leavenworth Council No. i, 
R. S. M., and was elected the first recorder of 
the council, serving until 1882, when he was 
chosen illustrious master of the council. In the 
latter position he continued until 1889, and was 
then re-elected recorder, which position he still 



holds. In 1867 he was chosen grand recorder of 
the grand council of the state of Kansas, an office 
which he filled efficiently for four j-ears. In 1866 
he became connected with Leavenworth Com- 
raanderj' No. i, K. T., in which he has held va- 
rious offices up to that of eminent commander. 
His record in masonry is one of which he may 
well be proud. 

Mr. Beeler was born in Germany in 1837, ^ 
sou of Frederick and Maria Anna (Stolz) Beeler, 
the latter of whom died in Kansas in 1 881, at the 
age of seventy-one. The former, who came to 
the United States in October, 1846, settled in 
Ripley County, Ind., and there engaged in the 
manufacture of boots and shoes. He was a suc- 
ces.sful business man and continued a manufac- 
turer until his death, which occurred in Ripley 
County at fifty-six years of age. He had five 
children, viz.: Frederick, now living in Madison 
County, Iowa; Otto C; Adolph, of Junction 
City, Kans. ; Henry and Louisa, who died re- 
spectively in 1853 and 1862. 

When a boy Otto C. Beeler learned the car- 
riage-maker's trade, which he followed until 
1856 in his native county. He arrived in Leav- 
enworth July 18, 1855, and here secured employ- 
ment with a carriage manufacturing concern. 
Later he was employed as clerk in a wholesale 
grocery. In September, i860, he was appointed 
deputy city clerk, and the following year became 
city clerk, to which office he was re-elected in 1862, 
serving until April, 1863. In September, 1863, 
he formed a partnership with his cousin, William 
Beeler, and opened a boot and shoe store. Dur- 
ing the war Governor Carney commi-ssioned him 
captain of Company C, Kansas State Militia, and 
he was in active service during the Price raid, 
spending one night upon the battlefield of Brush 
Creek. 

In 1869 William Beeler withdrew from the 
firm, after which our subject carried on the store 
alone, but sold out in 1877. From that time until 
1881 he was connected with various shoe firms. 
Under William M. Fortescue, mayor, he was ap- 
pointed city clerk in 1881, which office he held 
until June, 1883. For one year he acted as trav- 
eling salesman for the Standard Shoe Company, 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



745 



of Jefferson City, Mo., after which he was with 
George A. Green, a shoe merchant. This posi- 
tion he resigned in June, 1888, in order to accept 
that of city treasurer. Both as business man and 
as city official he has been energetic, judicious 
and faithful to every trust reposed in him, win- 
ning the confidence of the people by his honora- 
ble dealings with all. In 1875 he married Mrs. 
Rosetta M. Beeler, widow of William Beeler, by 
whom she had two children: William T. and 
Amelia R., wife of Peter F. Bubb. Our subject 
and his wife have three children, Maude O., 
M. Garver and Kate May. 



EAFT. GEORGE W. LAWRENCE, of Ot- 
tawa, is a descendant of one of four brothers 
who came from England early in the seven- 
teenth century and settled in New England. 
His father and grandfather, both of whom bore 
the name of Daniel, were born in Dutchess 
County, N. Y., and were farmers by occupation. 
About 1834 the former removed to Michigan, be- 
coming a pioneer farmer of Kalamazoo County, 
where he improved a tract of raw land and con- 
tinued to reside until his death, at eighty-seven 
years. Through his mother he was of French 
stock. His wife, who bore the maiden name of 
Amy Eldred, was born in Oswego Count)', N.Y., 
her father, Caleb Eldred, having removed to that 
county from Massachusetts, and later settled in 
Kalamazoo Countj', Mich., where he died at 
ninety-five years. Mrs. Amy Lawrence died in 
Michigan when eighty-four years old. Of her six 
children three are' living. One of the sons, 
Blackman E., who is deceased, was a soldier in 
an Indiana regiment during the Civil war. 

On the home farm near Climax, Kalamazoo 
County, Mich., where he was born January 25, 
1839, the subject of this sketch passed the years of 
youth. His education was begun in public schools 
and completed in Kalamazoo College. While he 
was a student in the junior class at college the war 
opened. He enlisted August 22, 1861, in Com- 
pany F, Third Michigan Cavalry, and was mus- 
tered into service at Grand Rapids, being com- 
missioned sergeant of his company. He remained 



in camp at St. Louis during the winter. In April, 
1862, he was ordered to New Madrid, Mo., and 
took part in the battles of Island No. 10, Sliiloh, 
siege of Corinth, Holly Springs (where his horse 
was shot from under him), luka (where he al.so 
lost his horse), CofFeyville, Water Valley, Poca- 
hontas, Rienzi, Booneville and Oxford. During 
this time he was promoted to be first sergeant and 
later second lieutenant. When he veteranized, in 
the spring of 1863, he was commissioned first 
lieutenant of Company G by Governor Blair, and 
later was commissioned captain of the same com- 
pany. He was ordered to Duval's Bluff, Ark., 
and took part in the guerilla warfare, aiding in 
clearing the country of the guerillas. In March, 
1865, he was ordered to New Orleans and re- 
mained there until after Lee's surrender. At the 
time of the surrender of Dick Taylor he was in 
Mobile and served as escort to General Canby. 
In May he was transferred to Baton Rouge; 
thence to Shreveport, La., July 10, 1865, and 
from there started overland for San Antonio 
August 4. His company was continued in Texas 
as an army of occupation until February, 1866, 
when the men were mustered out, and in March 
were honorably discharged at Jackson, Mich. 

After a service of four years and seven months 
in the army, Captain Lawrence resumed the pur- 
suits of civic life. He engaged in merchandising 
at Brookston, White County, Ind., until 1874, 
when he was elected clerk of the circuit court and 
for four years he discharged the duties of that 
office. At the clo.se of his term he came to Kan- 
sas and settled four miles north of Ottawa, buy- 
ing a sheep ranch, which he operated for two 
years. On selling out he came to Ottawa, where 
he has .since carried on a real-estate and loan 
business, and has also represented the Phoenix 
of Hartford and the Delaware of Philadelphia,^ 
having built up a large fire insurance business. 
His office is at No. 206 South Main street and his 
residence at No. 604 Willow street. In addition to 
his city property he owns a farm in Peoria Town- 
ship and two farms in Pomona Township, Frank- 
lin County, the management of all of which he 
superintends. In politics he is a believer in free 
silver and has allied himself with that wing of 



746 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



the Republican party. He is a member of George 
H. Thomas Post No. iS, G. A. R., and Ottawa 
Lodge No. 128, A. F. & A. M. 

While clerk of White County, Ind., Captain 
Lawrence had the pleasure of issuing his mar- 
riage license at Monticello. He was there married 
to Miss Sarah A. Brown, who was born in Tip- 
pecanoe County, Ind., a daughter of Edward A. 
Brown, a large grain and stock dealer in that 
county. Captain and Mrs. Lawrence have an only 
daughter, Eldred Brown Lawrence. 



(7 OHN NELSON. The largest store in Frank- 
I lin County is situated at Nos. 119-123 West 
O Second street, Ottawa, and is owned and 
conducted by Mr. Nelson. The building, which is 
100x125 ^^^^ i" dimensions, is three stories in 
height, and is equipped with modern improve- 
ments, including passenger elevator service. In 
the main floor may be seen a complete assort- 
ment of china, glass and stone ware, cutlery and 
silverware, lamps, bric-a-brac, pictures, sewing 
machines and musical instruments of every de- 
scription, trunks and traveling bags of all sizes. 
On the same floor in an adjoining building is a 
display of ranges and stoves of everj^ kind, also a 
variety of bicycles of standard makes. The sec- 
ond floor is stocked with bedroom sets and furni- 
ture of all styles and prices, also a display of car- 
pets, mattings, oilcloths, etc. The third floor 
contains tables of everj' description, from the 
fancy mahogany of a lady's drawing-room, to the 
solid oak extension dining-room tables; also babj' 
carriages, baby chairs, etc. The basement con- 
tains the mechanical and repairing department 
of the store, the machinery comprising all the 
appliances found in a first-class machine shop, su- 
perintended by .skilled mechanics. The power 
for running the elevators and machinery is fur- 
nished by a stationary gas engine of four-horse 
power, which runs sixteen hours out of every 
twenty-four. In addition to his main brick build- 
ing he occupies an adjoining building, 25x125, 
of two stories, in which he carries second-hand 
goods of every variety, including all articles of 
household furniture in common use. 



Including Mr. Nelson, who is always to be 
found attending to details of business, fifteen men 
are required to meet the requirements of the cus- 
tomers. Among these are six salesmen, two 
machinists, two tinners, two cabinet-makers and 
two teamsters. Several drays and horses are 
utilized in the deliver}- of goods to customers. 
As may be imagined the management of this 
large business consumes Mr. Nelson's entire time 
and attention. He is a man of great energy and, 
by his unaided efforts, has built up a large and 
growing trade among the people of the county. 
He owns, altogether, one-half block, excepting 
four lots, the dimensions being 150x350, on which 
are three houses, a livery barn and a wagon yard. 
In addition he owns his residence on the corner 
of Locust and Second streets. 

Mr. Nelson was born in Jutland, Denmark, on 
the Cattegat, May 31, 1857, a son of Nils and 
Maren (Jensen) Nelson, natives of the same pen- 
insula, where the father died in 1898, at seventy- 
four years, and the mother in 1897. Both were 
Lutherans in religion. Of their ten children five 
are living, John being the oldest son and the only 
one in Ottawa. He was given good educational 
advantages and graduated from an agricultural 
college in Falster in 18S0, after which for two 
years he was superintendent of a large farm and 
water and wind mills. In 1882 he came to 
America and sojourned for a short time in Grand 
Island, Neb., but in October of the same year 
came to Kansas. For one year he was employed 
by W. H. Pendleton in the produce business at 
Lawrence. Returning to Denmark in Novem- 
ber, 1883, he was married there, in March, 1884, 
to Miss Koren Sorenson. With his bride he re- 
turned to Lawrence. There he continued with 
Mr. Pendleton until December, 1S84, when he 
came to Ottawa, looking for suitable employment 
in this place. In January, 1885, he bought a 
second-hand store for $300, occupying a small 
building on the site of his present large store. 
As soon as possible he bought a stock of new 
goods and built a new store, with residence apart- 
ments above. From that time he has steadily 
pro.spered, and through his energy and determi- 
nation has gained a success which not every man 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



747 



could secure, unaided by capital or friends. He 
is a Republican in politics, but is too busy to 
identify himself with party affairs. In the Luth- 
eran Church he serves as elder and treasurer. 
Fraternally he is connected with the Knights 
and Ladies of Security, the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows and the Fraternal Aid Association. 
He and his wife have three children: Edward, 
Cecil and Mary. 

HENRY BERGER, whose farm in Stranger 
Township is one of the best in the neigh- 
borhood, was born in Hanover, Germany, 
May 25, 1835. His father died when he was 
small and so early in life he was obliged to de- 
pend upon himself for a livelihood. At sixteen 
years of age he came to America on the sailing 
vessel "Berta," which spent eight weeks on the 
ocean. After looking for work in Baltimore for 
a few days he went to Wheeling, W. Va., and 
secured employment in the coal mines, remaining 
for six months. Later he learned the baker's 
trade in Wheeling, where he served an apprentice- 
ship of two years, and afterward worked at the 
trade there. In 1856 he went to Chicago, where 
he was employed for six months. Thence going 
to St. Louis, he worked there until the fall 
of 1857, the date of his removal to Kansas. Set- 
tling in Leavenworth he worked at his trade. 

In May, 1861, Mr. Berger enlisted in Com- 
pany I, First Kansas Infantry, as a private, and 
served until August 10 of the same year, when 
he was wounded through the back by a gun.shot 
in the battle of Wilson Creek. The wound dis- 
abled him so that he was confined to a hospital 
for some time. On finally recovering his strength 
he left the hospital in St. Louis and returned to 
Leavenworth, where he resumed work at his 
trade. In 1862, crossing the plains to Colorado, 
he started a bakery at Buckskin Joe, where he 
remained for six months. On his return to Leav- 
enworth he clerked in a gunshop. In the spring 
of 1863 he again became employed at his trade. 
In September of that year he started overland to 
Arizona, with a compaiij' that was looking for 
gold. With him he had the first printing press 
ever taken to that territory. After an absence of 



one year and twenty daj's he arrived in Leaven- 
worth from his long trip. The year 1864 found 
him a second time in Colorado, where he sold a 
stock of rifles, revolvers, knives, etc. Returning to 
Leavenworth in the fall he remained there until 
the fall of 1S65, when he went back to Germany 
on a visit, spending a year in his native land, 
among his childhood friends. 

In the fall of 1867 Mr. Berger settled in Stran- 
ger Township, Leavenworth County, where he 
bought eighty acres and, while improving this 
property, al.so carried on a small store. After 
a year he married, sold his place and bought the 
farm where he has since made his home. He was 
thrown upon his own resources at an early age 
and had to make his way unaided, but in spite of 
this he has become a large land owner, and now 
has four hundred acres, besides which he has 
aided his older children in the purchase of farms. 
In national politics he has voted with the Repub- 
licans. Reared in the Lutheran faith, he has al- 
ways adhered to this church. By his marriage 
to Minnie Pappenhausen, a native of Germany, 
he has eight children, namely: Dora, wife of 
George Cochran; Otto, a farmer in this township; 
Bertha, wife of John Bernard; Ida, who is the 
widow of Edward Seifert; Lena, Albert, Millie, 
and Minnie, at home. 



(John McFARLANE. since 1866 Mr. Mc- 
I Farlane has been the proprietor of a brick- 
Q) yard in Lawrence. At first he owned a 
block within the limits, where he manufactured 
brick by hand. After a time he bought a farm, 
twenty acres ofwhich were within the limits and 
eighty acres immediately adjoining. Through 
his perseverance and determination he built up a 
large brick plant, in which for some years past 
his .son, Benjamin W., has been his partner, the 
firm title having been John McFarlane & Son 
until May, 1899, when the McFarlane Vitrified 
Brick Company was organized, with Benjamin 
W. McFarlane as manager. The plant has a 
capacity of twenty thousand brick a day, and is 
operated by a boiler of fifty-horse power and an 
engine of thirty-five horse power, there being 



748 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



three stationar)- kilns. The products are pressed 
and building brick, vitrified brick, pressed brick 
clay, tile clay and porous tile. Brick and tile 
are shipped by the carload throughout the state 
and to Kansas City. After tests in other places, 
the clay bank connected with their yard is con- 
sidered one of the best in the country. Such por- 
tion of the farm as is not utilized for the brick 
plant is turned into a garden, in which potatoes 
chiefly, but all common vegetables also, are raised, 
and a number of Jersey cattle are also kept. 

The history of the McFarlane family can be 
traced back to the year 400 in the lowlands and 
highlands of Scotland. Our subject was born in 
Edinburgh, Scotland, in June, 1836, a son of 
James and Margaret (Bowman) McFarlane. His 
father, who was born near Glasgow, was the son 
of an officer in the British army, who accompa- 
nied his command to America at the time of the 
Revolutionary war and at the battle of Bunker 
Hill was killed while trying to .save the British 
colors when the color bearer was killed. James 
McFarlane was a bookkeeper at Port Bellar, 
and there he died when almost .seventy years of 
age. His wife, who was born in Aberdeen, the 
daughter of a tea merchant of that city, died at 
the same place as her hu.sband, and their oldest 
children, Janet and James, also died there, leav- 
ing John the only survivor of the family. 

At thirteen years of age our subject was ap- 
prenticed to the fire brick and terra cotta trade, 
and in due time was made foreman and superin- 
tendent of outdoor work. In 1S49 he was 
employed at the Cowen terra cotta works, in 
Newcastle, England, as outdoor superintendent, 
remaining there until he made arrangements to 
go to Calcutta. In 1851 he sailed via the Med- 
iterranean and Red seas and the bay of Bengal, 
crossing seventy miles of the Arabian desert from 
Cairo to the sea, and reaching Calcutta via the 
Ganges River. He at once began to manufac- 
ture brick for the East India government as su- 
perintendent at Monger, later was superintendent 
at Buglapore, Colgon, Canpore and other places, 
remaining with the company for six years. For 
one year he was ill in Calcutta from jungle fever, 
and unable to work. On his recovery he sailed 



for England on the ship "Harriet," three thou- 
sand tons, which rounded the Cape of Good Hope 
and made the voj'age of almost eight thousand 
miles in one hundred and forty-three days. Dur- 
ing the voyage the vessel sprung a leak, but all 
manned the pumps and were saved from ship- 
wreck. While in Hindoo.stan he learned the lan- 
guage of that country. 

After a short visit in Scotland Mr. McFarlane 
again started on an ocean voyage, this time taking 
pa.ssage on the ship "Martin Luther," April 6, 
1857, from Liverpool to Quebec. Two days 
after starting the ship was wrecked off the coast 
of France and five men were lost, the rest being 
picked up and taken to Plymouth. The vessel 
was repaired and the passengers proceeded in it, 
arriving in Quebec after seven weeks. He spent 
three weeks in Toronto and then went to the 
pine regions of Hastings County, where he took 
up five hundred acres for himself and father, and 
engaged in the lumber business. In 1863 hesold 
out and came to the United States, accompany- 
ing some other men to Lawrence, Kans. For 
three months he was employed on the Union Pa- 
cific, after which he was emploj'ed as foreman 
in Mr. Wilder' s brickyard until he began in busi- 
ness for himself in 1866. In politics he is a Re- 
publican, and fraternally is connected with Hal- 
cyon Lodge No. 18, I. O. O. F., and the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen. He was reared in 
the Presbyterian faith, but the family attend the 
Congregational Church in Lawrence. Through 
his travels he has gained a broad knowledge of 
the world. He has visited many points of inter- 
est in the old and new world, has passed through 
the straits of Gibraltar, been in Alexandria, Malta, 
Cairo, and touched anchor at San Francisco, Cal. 
Three times he has rounded the Cape of Good 
Hope and he has also passed the island of St. 
Helena. For some years, however, he has lived 
the quiet, though active, life of a business man, 
devoting himself closely to the conduct of his 
business affairs. 

In Port Bellar occurred the marriage of Mr. 
McFarlane to Miss Ellen Yoman, who was born 
in Aberdeen, Scotland, a daughter of Benjamin 
and Anne (McLean) Yoman. They became the 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



749 



parents of thirteen children, eleven of whom are 
deceased. Two sons attained mature j'ears. 
Benjamin W., who is his father's partner, is serv- 
ing his fourth year as a member of the city coun- 
cil, and is prominent in the blue lodge of Masonry. 
Albert is assistant manager of the brick yard. 



^EORGE I<EIS, president and general mana- 
— ger of the George Leis Drug Company, 
^ president and general manager of the Law- 
rence Investment and Loan Company, both of 
Lawrence, Kans., and president of the Nancy 
Helen Gold Mining and Milling Company, of 
Cripple Creek, Colo., was born in New York 
City, February i8, 1842. When ten years of age 
he accompanied his parents to Providence, R. I., 
and in 1854, with them, moved to Kansas, join- 
ing the second emigrant party that left Boston 
and settled in Lawrence. The trip was made by 
rail from Providence to St. Louis, and thence by 
steamboat to Kansas City. The latter place was 
then a mere landing place, with a few shabby 
buildings on the water front. From there he 
walked to Lawrence, Kans., a distance of forty- 
five miles, and with his father, mother and two 
brothers, established himself in a tent. The vil- 
lage had only one log cabin, the most of the peo- 
ple living in dugouts, sod shanties and tents. 

Beginning life in a new country, Mr. Leis was 
glad to work at any honorable occupation that 
offered itself, such as sawing wood at $1 a cord, 
or digging cellars and hauling water. Not long 
after the family settled here his father, Henry 
Leis, returned to St. Louis, and there he died in 
1856, while working as a machinist and boiler- 
maker. Afterward George provided for his 
mother, Catharine (Ana) Leis, until her death, 
in Lawrence, July 21, 1870, at the age of fifty- 
seven and one-half years. One of the sons of the 
family, Henry Leis, Jr., a printer by trade, served 
with distinction in the Second Colorado Cavalry 
during the Civil war, and died in Lawrence July 
22, 1879, at the age of forty-two and one-half 
years. Another son, William J., who was born 
January 11, 1845, is engaged in the life insurance 
business in Chicago. 



In 1855-56 George Leis worked in the Herald 
of Freedom printing office, under Preston B. 
Plumb, who served as major during the Civil 
war and later as United States senator from Kan- 
sas for a term of years, and who was then foreman 
of the office; George W. Brown was proprietor of 
the paper, which was generally hated by the 
border ruffians of Missouri. George went through 
all the privations of frontier life and the border 
ruffian war, which can never again be experienced 
in the history of our country. He was on the 
ground and witnessed the sacking and destruction 
of the Free State hotel and the two printing 
offices, on Wednesday, May 21, 1856, by United 
States Marshal J. B. Donaldson and Sheriff Jones. 
The type and material were emptied into the 
Kansas River. A few days later, George with 
Captain Bickerton and other townsmen, gathered 
up all the type metal and run it into bullets and 
cannon balls for "Old Sacramento" and waged 
war against the border ruffians of Missouri. 
August i6, 1856, he participated in the battle of 
Fort Titus near Lecompton, then the capital of 
the territory, which fort was captured and the 
prisoners taken to Lawrence in the presence of 
United States troops. He was also with John 
Brown on that memorable Sunday, September 14, 
1856, advancing toward Franklin against twenty- 
seven hundred Missourians who were well armed 
and equipped with several pieces of cannon and who 
were planning to destroy Lawrence. Only three 
hundred persons, including women, were in the 
town, and their weapons of defense consisted of 
hatchets, pitch forks, a few Sharp's rifles and 
flintlock muskets. 

In 1857 Mr. Leis became connected with Messrs. 
Woodward & Finley, then the leading druggists 
of Lawrence, and with them he clerked until the 
fall of 1862, meantime studying medicine and 
surgery under Drs. Fuller and Miner, eminent 
physicians, with a class of two other students, 
Abraham Wilder and George W. Smith, both of 
whom graduated in medicine and reached high 
positions in the United States service. On Tues- 
day, January 29, 1861, the welcome news came 
that Kansas had been admitted into the Union. 
Immediately Mr. Leis, with Captain Bickerton, 



750 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



unearthed the old Mexican cannon (Old Sacra- 
mento) and celebrated. This gun has a singular 
history. It was captured bj' the American army 
during the Mexican war and held by the state of 
Missouri; during territorial days it was brought 
to Lawrence by pro-slavery men and used to bat- 
ter down the Free State hotel. Later it was cap- 
tured at the battle of Franklin, four miles east of 
Lawrence, and was used with telling effect at the 
capture of Fort Titus and the battle of Hickory 
Point. Finally the cannon which had been used 
by the pro-slavery party under Buchanan's ad- 
ministration to plant slavery in Kansas boomed in 
exultation over the admission of Kansas as a free 
state. 

During the fall of 1862 Mr. Leis served in the 
state militia as private in Company A, of which 
Holland Wheeler was captain. During the re- 
bellion and Price raid in the earlj- part of 1863 he 
assisted in recruiting and enlisting the colored 
volunteers for the First and Second Colored 
Regiments, using the sabre while drilling the 
boys which was carried by Col. E. V. Sumner, 
of the United States army, through all the Kan- 
sas troubles of 1856 and which had beeu presented 
by the colonel to Maj. G. W. Smith and by the 
latter to Mr. Leis to be used against slaver3^ 
The sabre is now deposited with the State His- 
torical Society as a Kansas relic. Through Gen. 
James H. Lane, then United States senator, Mr. 
Leis received an appointment as assistant surgeon, 
ranking second lieutenant in the Second Colored 
Regiment. The First and Second Colored Regi- 
ments were the first colored soldiers ever mustered 
into the service of the United States. They 
served with distinction in Indian Territory, Ar- 
kansas and Texas. 

In December, 1863, Mr. Leis left the army and 
returned to Lawrence, to find that during the 
Quantrell raid, August 21, 1863, all of his person- 
al effects had been destroyed, including his war 
relics of 1856, a ball and chain with which John 
Brown's son was manacled by the United States 
troops and then taken to Lecompton, and two iron 
cannon sent by the Boston Emigrant Aid Societ}- 
for freeing Kansas. These guns were used on 
many occasions to celebrate the coming of steam- 



boats on the Kansas River, which was then nav- 
igable as far as Fort Riley, Kans. One of these 
guns has been donated by Mr. Leis to the Kansas 
State Historical Society. 

Having saved $75, with this as his sole capital, 
but with a large fund of determination and energy, 
Mr. Leis established himself in the wholesale and 
retail drug and manufacturing business, under 
the firm name of George Leis & Co. The busi- 
ness was conducted in a two-story building 
erected by him on the north half of lot No. 42, 
east side of Massachusetts street, the money fot 
the con.struction of building being furnished by 
ex-Congressman Marcus J. Parrott. April 14, 
1870, he bought his partner's interest inthebusi- 
ness and later Mr. Parrott 's interest in the building, 
and afterward was the sole owner of the business, 
at the same time carrying on a chemical manufac- 
turing and proprietary medicine business, erecting 
a laboratory on lot No. 42, New Hampshire 
street, in the rear of the store building. January 
I, 1871, his brother, William J., wasadmitted as 
a partner, the firm becoming George Leis & Bro. 
January i, 1875, William J. Leis severed his con- 
nection with the firm and the business was then 
conducted under the name of George Leis again. 
The object of the separation was in order that 
William J. might connect himself with the Leis 
Chemical Manufacturing Company, about to be 
incorporated, separating the manufacture of pat- 
ent medicines and chemicals from the wholesale 
and retail drug business, which had reached such 
a magnitude that it was deemed best to separate 
them. May 6, 1878, Mr. Leis purchased the 
handsome three-storj' and basement brick build- 
ing, No. 747, at the corner of Massachusetts and 
Henry streets, and moved his entire wholesale 
and retail drug business into it, fitting it up hand- 
somely and making it the finest drug establishment 
in the state. This change caused the business to in- 
crease rapidly, while the manufacturing business 
at the old quarters on New Hampshire street also 
benefited by the .separation. 

Each year the manufacturing businessincreased 
enormously. For want of more room, larger 
quarters and increased capital, Mr. Leis was en- 
couraged V)j' manj- citizens to incorporate the 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



751 



manufacturing department of his business into a 
stock company, and February 4, 18S0, he incor- 
porated under the Kansas law the lycis Chemical 
Manufacturing Company, with a capital of $50, 000 
with Hon. J. P. Usher, ex-secretary of the in- 
terior under President Lincoln, as its president; 
George Leis, secretary and general manager, and 
Henry E. Benson, treasurer. The business was 
carried on successfully in the old quarters on the 
east side of Massachusetts street until the year 
1882, when the business had again increased to 
such an enormous extent that the two-story 
and basement brick store room, with the addi- 
tional quarters on New Hampshire street, was not 
nearly large enough to accommodate the enlarged 
business. The company purchased the lots on 
the corner of Massachusetts and Pinckney streets, 
commanding a prominent view of the river near 
the bridge and constructed a four-story brick 
building, 100x60. A service was held at the lay- 
ing of the corner stone at the northeast corner of 
the building, and a tin box was placed in the 
stone, filled with a history of the business, news- 
papers and cards of business men of the city. 
While under construction this corner was struck 
by lightning and considerable damage was done, 
but the building was saved from destruction by 
the passing oif of the lightning through a drain 
to the river. The walls were built in such a way 
as to permit the company, as business increased, 
to add two more stories. In these new quarters 
the manufacturing business increased at such a 
rapid rate that it became necessary, within two 
years, to increase the capital, which was increased 
to $100,000, with $90,000 cash paid into the 
treasury. It became the leading medical and 
chemical manufacturing establishment west of the 
Mississippi and was known far and wide, selling 
its goods in Missouri, Nebraska, Texas, Colorado, 
Utah, New Mexico and California, and supplying 
the United States army as well. A large num- 
ber of hands were employed, Through this 
enterprise Lawrence reaped a great deal of free 
advertising. The newspapers throughout the 
state were well patronized and Mr. Leis was rec- 
ognized as a successful advertiser by the Kansas 
editors. Leis Dandelion Tonic, Leis Concentra- 



ted Fruit Flavoring Extracts, German Baking 
Powder and handkerchief extracts were some of 
the leading articles manufactured by the company, 
aside from their many pharmaceutical prepara- 
tions. December 16, 1884, Mr. Leis resigned 
his position as secretary and general manager of 
this enormous business to devote his personal at- 
tention to his wholesale and retail drug business, 
and soon after he disposed of his holdings in the 
Leis Chemical Manufacturing Company, dropping 
his interest therein entirely, after which its man- 
agement passed into the hands of Kansas Cit5% 
Mo., parties. 

In November, 1888, Mr. Leis incorporated the 
George Leis Drug Company under Kansas laws 
with a capital of $50,000, with himself as presi- 
dent. The drug business, with building, was 
transferred to this company, which was carried 
on successfully under that name until December 
31, 1897. He was one of six who were delegated 
at a meeting held February 8, 1888, by the Com- 
mercial Club of Kansas City, Mo., to proceed to 
Washington, D. C, to lobby through the bill for 
opening to settlement the Oklahoma lands. March 
8, 1889, he incorporated under Colorado laws, 
the Oklahoma Homestead and Townsite Com- 
pany, with a capital of $100,000, with ex-Gover- 
nor T. T. Crittendon, ex-consul to Mexico, as 
president; George Leis, secretary; Frank N. 
Chick, treasurer; and Hon. Winfield Freeman, 
attorney. This company located and platted the 
city of El Reno at the time of the opening of Ok- 
lahoma; the town is now a flourishing city of over 
eight thousand inhabitants, with the Rock Island 
and Choctaw Railway lines running through it, 
and is destined to become the capital when the 
territory is admitted into the union. While lay- 
ing out this town Mr. Leis had many adventures. 
His experience in early Kansas aided him great- 
ly in handling the many rough characters he had 
to deal with. Many times his life was threatened, 
but he escaped as he did in former days. 

November 20, 1896, Mr. Leis incorporated the 
Lawrence Investment and Loan Company under 
Colorado laws, with a capital of $150,000. In 
March, 1896, he incorporated also under Colorado 
laws, the Nancy Helen Gold Mining and Milling 



752 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Conipaii}', with $2,000,000 capital stock, with 
himself as president of the company. He is one 
of the foremost citizens of Lawrence, and active 
in every enterprise to build up the city'sinterests. 
He has seen every building erected and has been 
interested in securing almost every enterpri.se in 
the manufacturing line, in many of which he has 
invested his own capital. An organizer of the 
Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, he was its 
treasurer for many years; this organization built 
up many industries in Lawrence. September 18, 
1870, he assisted his brother, Henry Leis, to es- 
tablish in Lawrence the Democratic Standard, for 
many years edited by ex-Senator E. G. Ross. 

Mr. Leis is a charter member, with all degrees, 
of the Knights of Honor, Ancient Order of United 
Workmen and Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows. In 1880-81 he was active in the organiza- 
tion of the National Fair Association of Kansas, 
of which he was a director and officer and which 
had charge of the fairs held annually at Bismarck 
Grove near Lawrence. He is a prominent mem- 
ber of the Kansas State Pharmaceutical Associa- 
tion, member of the American Pharmaceutical 
Association of the United States (of which he has 
been vice-president), a director of the Kansas 
State Historical Society, and for many years 
treasurer of the Handel and Haydn Societ}'. He 
was a heavy contributor to the first University 
building constructed on Mount Oread (now known 
as North College) of the Kansas State University. 
Through the state legislature, in the year 1887, 
he secured a bill establishing a chair of pharmacj' 
at the state university. For several j^ears he and 
Robert J. Brown of Leavenworth, Kans. , were on 
the examining board of the graduates of the 
school of pharmac}'. During 1886, together 
with Hon. J. S. Emery, he secured manj- valua- 
ble appropriations for the U. S. Indian school, 
in which work he had the assistance of Hon. E. 
H. Funston and Hon. P. B. Plumb. Through 
President Adams of the Union Pacific Railroad, 
and with the assistance of Congressman Funston, 
he was the means of locating and constructing 
the present Union Pacific depot. With Kansas 
City parties he e.stablished the addition to the city 
of Lawrence known as University Place, south 



of the university, at an expense of over $22,000, 
all of which is beautifully set out with shade trees 
(elms) and is destined to be the elite part of the 
city, where families will locate for the education 
of their children. 

As his home Mr. Leis purchased, October 14, 
1S90, the handsome two-story brick residence at 
the corner of Quincy and Louisiana streets, on 
Mount Oread. This property, which has cost up- 
wards of $25,000, is known as Elm Terrace and 
commands a fine view of the city and surrounding 
country. In Lawrence, October 25, 1876, he 
married Miss Lillian Ross, who was born in 
Sandusky, Ohio, October 14, 1849, ^"d i^ ^ mem- 
ber of the Plymouth Congregational Church, of 
Lawrence. Her father, Maj. E. G. Ross, served 
with distinction through the Civil war and later 
as United States senator and governor of New 
Mexico. Mr. and Mrs. Leis have six children: 
Kate, Zoe, George Kay, Edmond Ross, Tracy 
Flint and Sylvester Frank. 

From April 21, 1891, to March, 1898, Mr. Leis 
acted as up-town city ticket agent for the Atchi- 
son, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, holding the 
office in connection with his business, and resign- 
ing as agent on selling out his retail drug interests 
in Januarj', 1898. 

Having followed Horace Greeley's advice, "Go 
west, young man," and thereby enduring all the 
many misfortunes and panics, failures and mis- 
haps through which Lawrence has passed during 
its eventful historj', besides passing through the 
border ruffian war of 1855-56, the drought of 
i860, the war of the Rebellion with its Quantrell 
and Price raids, the three famines caused by 
drought and grasshoppers, the financial panic of 
1873, and the financial crisis of 1893 to 1S99, it 
is his testimony that he has always paid and is 
still paying one hundred cents on the dollar. 



*VSAAC BOWEN. While the cities of eastern 
I Kansas have attracted a large population, the 
X country territory has at the same time, by 
reason of the excellence of the soil, become the 
home of many energetic and capable men, and 
among these citizens is Mr. Bowen, an enterpri.s- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



753 



ing farmer of Reno Township, Leavenworth 
County. When became here, in 1870, he formed 
a partnership with his brother-in-law, S. B. Can- 
trell, the two purchasing and cultivating a farm 
of two hundred and forty acres. After a few 
years the partnership was dissolved, and since 
then Mr. Bowen has followed farming and stock- 
raising upon one hundred and forty acres which 
he owns. 

Mr. Bowen was born in Habersham County, 
Ga., July 25, 1819, a son of Thomas and Betsy 
(Hunt) Bowen, natives of South Carolina. His 
father moved to Georgia in early manhood and 
afterward engaged in farming there. He was a 
man of fixed convictions, a typical southerner, 
firm in his friendships, hospitable and generous, 
and on his plantation had a number of slaves. 
In politics he was a Jeffersonian Democrat of the 
old school. During the Civil war his sympathies 
were entirely with the south. At the time of his 
death he was almost one hundred years of age. 
His wife was ninety-four at the time of her death. 
They were the parents of fourteen children, six 
of whom are living, Isaac being the only one in 
Kansas. 

Reared upon a farm in Georgia, our subject 
adopted agriculture for his life work, and this 
occupation he has alwaj's followed. After some 
years on the old homestead, in 1865 he came 
west as far as Missouri, and from there, in 1870, 
removed to Kansas. During the Civil war he 
served for eighteen months as a cavalryman in 
Tom Cobb's Dragoons, and at the same time 
his brothers, Richard and Helan, were in the in- 
fantry; while his brother-in-law, Alfred Cantrell, 
served throughout the entire war. Fraternally 
he is a Mason. During his residence in Georgia 
he was for years a deacon in the Baptist Church, 
with which he has long been identified. 

In 1842 Mr. Bowen married Mary Ann, daugh- 
ter of John and Martha A. (Porter) Cantrell, 
natives of South Carolina, but for years residents 
of Georgia, where they died. They were the 
parents of twelve children, of whom seven are 
now living, Mrs. Bowen and Harris Cantrell 
being the only members of the family in Kansas. 
Mr. and Mrs. Bowen have six children, namely: 



Evaline, wifeof James Downing, of Salida, Colo.; 
William Brannon, of Poplar Springs, Mo.; 
Emma, wife of John Dunham, and a resident of 
the Indian Territory; Alfred, of Leavenworth 
County; Starling, who is with his parents; and 
Isaac Hampton, of Pueblo, Colo. 



pCJlLLIAM NIGHTINGALE, who was one 
\ A / of the first to take up his home among the 
VV Indians in Kansas, was born in Preston, 
Lancashire, England, March 7, 1828, a son of 
John and Ellen Nightingale. About 1837 he 
was brought to America by his parents, who set- 
tled in Lee County, Iowa. There he grew to 
man's estate, meantime becoming familiar with 
life on the frontier. At the time of the agitation 
regarding the admission of Kansas as a free or 
slave state he cast in his fortunes with the free- 
state movement in the then territory. In the 
spring of 1858 he settled in what is now Green- 
wood Township, PVanklin County. At that 
time, however, the county had not been organ- 
ized, but was a portion of the Sac and Fox reser- 
vation, and the population consisted almost 
wholly of Indians. For several years he kept the 
old Greenwood hotel and at the same time he was 
postmaster and merchant, his place being also 
used as a changing post for the old-time stage 
coaches. In trading with the Indians he built 
up a large business, making weekly trips to Law- 
rence for goods which he sold at his store and to 
the Indians. In those early days white settlers 
were few and at remote distances from one an- 
other, but, as the Indians were peaceable, the 
scarcity of whites was no occasion for alarm. As 
settlers began to come in the country was rapidly 
developed and improvements were made. While 
these pioneers were obliged to work very hard, 
yet they were not without their amusements and 
recreations, and many a merry evening was 
passed dancing to the music of Mr. Nightingale's 
fiddle, for "Uncle Billy" was a "fiddler of ye 
olden time." 

When Mr. Nightingale drove his ox-team from 
Iowa to Kansas he passed through Ottawa. The 
white men had not as yet taken [possession of 



754 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



what is now the business center of Franklin 
County. In the now beautiful and prosperous 
city there was then only one house, and it was 
occupied by an Indian. The surrounding coun- 
try, too, was in the primeval condition of nature. 
In the soil scarcely a furrow had been turned, 
no trees had been planted, and the prairie 
stretched, in unbroken lengths, as far as the eye 
could sweep in its vision. He has lived to see 
the wonderful transformation wrought in the past 
forty years and has himself contributed his quota 
to the development of material resources. In 
1869 he purchased one hundred and sixty acres 
in Greenwood Township and afterward added 
more land, so that he now owns two hundred 
acres altogether. Here he has since resided, en- 
gaged in raising stock and farm produce. In his 
younger years every election day found him at 
the polls, working in the interests of the Demo- 
cratic party and winning converts to the old Jef- 
fersonian doctrines. For two years he was town- 
ship treasurer and for several years served as a 
member of the school board. Before leaving 
Iowa, in April, 1852, he married Miss Mary Bal- 
lance, by whom he has a son, William H., and a 
daughter, Lucy, Mrs. John Davidson, of Quenemo. 



r~ REDERICK B. PONTIOUS, who is engaged 
rS in farming in Kanwaka Township, Douglas 
I County, was born in Ross County, Ohio, be- 
tween Circleville and Chillicothe, March 7, 1830. 
His grandfather, Frederick Pontious, who re- 
moved from Berks County, Pa., to Ohio in an 
early day, built from native timber a remarkably 
large barn, which still stands, with the date 
(1808) carved by himself in one corner of the 
building. The land was in its primitive condition 
and he "grubbed" and cleared it, then brought 
it under cultivation. To each of his six children 
he gave one hundred and si.xty acres, after which 
he still had three hundred acres left. His death 
occurred in Ross County some time during the 
'50s. Twice married, his first wife left two chil- 
dren at her death. By his second wife, Catherine 
Reedy, he had six children, of whom Andrew 
was the father of our subjeet. A daughter by 



the first marriage became the mother of J. S. 
Rarey, the noted horse-trainer, and our subject 
remembers having seen the famous horse, "Crui- 
ser," which no one but Mr. Rarey was ever able 
to'handle. 

Born in Pennsylvania, Andrew Pontious was 
eight years of age when the family moved to 
Ohio. He assisted in cutting timber and clearing 
a farm. His boyhood years were passed in the 
large double log house which his father had 
built. Few educational advantages were possible 
to him. He continued to reside on the home 
farm until his death, which occurred at .seventy- 
six years. Active in politics, he was a champion 
of the Democratic party. In 1842-43 he erected 
a handsome brick residence. To aid in the work, 
he hired a man to go there and burn two hun- 
dred thousand brick, and from these he built the 
house and the United Brethren Church (of which 
he was a member). By his marriage to Mary 
Ann Betser he had six sons and six daughters, 
of whom all but one attained maturity, and two, 
Frederick B. and William Allen, reside in Kan- 
sas. The third of the children, our subject, grew 
to manhood on the home farm and early learned 
to be helpful around the house and in the field. 
At twenty-seven years of age he left home and 
rented a farm, where he remained for six years. 

In 1877 Mr. Pontious removed to Kansas and 
bought a quarter section that he had selected in 
187 1. At once he began the task of placing the 
land in shape for cultivation. From the first he 
met with success. A diligent worker, he gave 
all his time to the cultivation of the land. He 
employed methods that were the marvel of his 
neighbors, but his success was such as to justify 
the wisdom of his methods. In 1895 he sold his 
property and bought one hundred acres, mostly 
in grass, situated on section 29, Kanwaka Town- 
•ship. To the improvement of this land he gives 
his personal attention. He is a man who has won 
the confidence of the people, and his standing is 
so high and his reputation for honesty so great 
that, when borrowing money, either from a bank 
or from private parties, he has never been asked 
to give any security except his own name. 

A Democrat in politics, Mr. Pontious was once 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



755 



active in local affairs. He was a delegate to the 
convention at Columbus in 1863, and also served 
as delegate to many county conventions. He 
has held office as township trustee and clerk. 
During the Civil war he was made captain of a 
company organized in his township at the time of 
the Morgan raid, but as the Confederates re- 
treated before the men were fitted out with arms, 
he and his twenty men were discharged. For 
twenty-five years he was connected with the Odd 
Fellows, but his home being a considerable dis- 
tance from town, he finally withdrew from the 
lodge. His interest in religious work has ever 
been a noticeable trait of his character. He 
secured the erection of the United Brethren 
house of worship and on the completion of the 
building advanced $525 to avoid the necessitj^ of 
the church borrowing from outside parties. For 
many years he has been interested in Sunday- 
school work, but poor health of late years has 
prevented him from being actively connected with 
the school. In Ohio he married Jane C. New- 
house, daughter of Isaac Newhouse, a prominent 
farmer of Pickaway County, Ohio. Of their six 
children two died in infancy. Walter D. and 
Arthur C. are farmers in Kanwaka Township. 
Julia C. and Ina C. were married on the same day 
to brothers, the former becoming the wife of 
Frederick Richardson and the latter the wife of 
Herman Richardson. Ina C. died Augu.st 23, 

1899- 

30SEPH M. SHIVELY, a pioneer of Douglas 
County, residing in Marion Township, was 
born in Stark County, Ohio, September 21, 
1836, a son of Isaac and Susannah (Snyder) 
Shively. His paternal grandparents, Jacob and 
Barbara (Thomas) Shively, both American-born, 
spent the most of their lives in Pennsylvania, but 
finally removed to northeastern Ohio, settling in 
the midst of forests filled with Indians and wild 
animals. The grandfather, who was a preacher, 
often rode to the place of meeting carrying a shot 
pouch and gun on his shoulder, in order to pro- 
tect himself from the beasts of the forests. He 
wielded great influence over the red men of his 
locality, which fact was due not only to his work 



as a preacher, but also to his remarkable size and 
strength. He was six feet and eleven inches in 
height, of stalwart proportions and unusual 
strength. At one time, when putting up a log 
building, two men were starting to fight a sham 
battle in order to keep others from work. Seeing 
them, he climbed down a corner of the building, 
made his way through the large crowd to where 
the men stood, caught them by the back of their 
necks, raised them both up and slapped their 
foreheads together, then brought them down to 
the ground again with a command to get to work, 
which order the men probably hastened to obey. 
During the whiskey insurrection, to escape mili- 
tary duty, he swam across the Ohio River, with 
a gun and overcoat on his back. Meeting some 
Indians on the other side, he dried his clothes by 
their camp fire; however, the exposure brought 
on a sickness, from which he never recovered. 
In his family there were eight sons (of whom all 
but one were more than six feet tall) and eight 
daughters; those who attained mature years be- 
came large women. 

The maternal grandparents of our subject were 
Joseph and Susannah (Snyder) Snyder, both of 
whom, like the paternal grandparents, were born 
in America and possessed great physical strength 
as well as sterling mental endowments. It is 
said that Mr. Snyder could shoulder four bushels 
of wheat and stand on the rim of a half- bushel 
measure, while his daughter, Mrs. Shively, was 
seen by her children standing inside of a half- 
bushel measure shouldering three bushels of 
■wheat. The Snyders were members of the Breth- 
ren (or Dunkard) Church. 

Isaac Shively was born and reared in Bedford 
County, Pa., and, in company with other mem- 
bers of the family, moved to Stark County, Ohio, 
before that region was settled by white men. In 
1842 he removed to Elkhart County, Ind., where 
he died (the result of an accident) at forty-six 
years of age. While farming was his principal, 
it was not his only, occupation, as he also followed 
the blacksmith's trade and carried on a sawmill. 
Politically he was a Whig, and in religion a 
Dunkard. His wife died in Indiana when fifty- 
six years of age. Of their ten children one died 



756 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



young, and Mrs. Margaret Warntz died in Au- 
gust, 1899. Eight are living, the eldest being 
seventj--four and the j-oungest fiftj'-seven. They 
are named as follows: Jonas, of Goshen, Ind.; 
Daniel, also of that place; Marj' P., wife of Paul 
H. Kurtz; Barbara, wife of George W. Cripe; 
Susannah (twin of Barbara), wife of J. J. Baker; 
Joseph M. ; Lydia, who married Elias Harshmann; 
and Easter, wife of Benjamin Ulrich, of Douglas 
County. 

Being quick to learn, our subject picked up a 
good knowledge of carpentering when he was a 
boy. In April, 1857, he came to Kansas and 
took up a claim in Franklin County, but the fall 
of the same year found him in Douglas County, 
where he took up a claim on sections 21,14 ^"d 
18, in Willow Springs Township. After Quan- 
trell's raid he went to Lawrence and worked at 
his trade, assisting in rebuilding many of the 
business blocks destroyed by the raiders. In 
1867 he purchased his present farm of five hun- 
dred acres, where he has since engaged in general 
fanning and stock-raising, at the same time do- 
ing considerable work as a builder. In 1884 he 
erected his residence, which is one of the finest 
rural homes in this county. He has also put up 
other farm buildings and made valuable improve- 
ments on the place. For twelve seasons he ran a 
threshing machine. 

Mr. Shively has invented and patented a corn- 
cutting and shocking machine, which is now in 
process of manufacture by the Deering Harvester 
Company of Chicago. The machine was ex- 
hibited on Mr. Shively's farm during the season 
of 1899, and tho.se who examined it were unani- 
mous in declaring that it could have been devised 
only by a mechanical genius. Mr. Shively also 
manufactured the first suction pumps ever used 
in Kansas, by boring logs and fitting them with 
valves. In 1884 he retired from active bu.siness, 
giving the supervi.sion of the farm into the hands 
of his only son, Edward. Since then he has 
spent considerable time in travel to the Pacific 
coast and other parts of the country, and being a 
man of close observation he has gained a thorough 
knowledge of people and customs in different parts 
of the laud. Notwithstanding that he began 



without means, he is now well-to-do, in a position 
that will enable him to pass his declining years 
in comfort. He is a supporter of the Dunkard 
religion. In politics he votes with the Repub- 
licans, and during his several years of service on 
the school board assi,sted in building schools and 
promoting their welfare. 

In 1862 Mr. Shively married Miss Mary Ulrich, 
daughter of Jacob Ulrich, a pioneer of Douglas 
County. They have five children living and one 
dead: Sarah, the widow of Abraham L. Hart- 
man; Lutitia, who married William M. Stuts- 
man; Edward, who married Ella Stutsman; 
Minnie, wife of Elijah A. Stutsman; Lydia, who 
died of the measles May 20, 1887, at the age of 
fifteen years and two months; and Alice, who 
married Samuel S. Garst. 



30HN BRANDON, senior member of the firm 
of Brandon & Beal, of Leavenworth, was 
born in England, August 27, 1831, a son of 
William Brandon, who followed the machinist's 
trade and civil engineering in his native land. 
When sixteen years of age he came to the United 
States, joining a brother in Massachusetts, but 
soon proceeded west to St. Louis, and was en- 
gaged in running a steam engine in that city. 
Two years later he settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, 
where he served an apprenticeship to the black- 
smith's trade. At the expiration of his time he 
returned to St. Louis, where he engaged in 
horseshoeing and general blacksmithing. In 
1857 he was interested in the manufacture of soda 
water. 

The year 1858 found Mr. Brandon in Leaven- 
worth, Kaiis., where he began a soda manufac- 
turing business. The town, though then small, 
was the centre of a large amount of business, 
owing to the fact that trains outfitted here for the 
west. From the first his business was a success. 
In 1862 he commenced brewing as a member of 
the firm of Block, Brandon & Kirmeyer. When 
Mr. Block entered the army the title was 
changed to Brandon & Kirrae}-er. This con- 
tinued until 1885, when the prohibition law 
closed his business, and his building was burned, 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



757 



causing the loss of all he had accumulated in 
twenty-five years. In 1893 the firm of Brandon 
& Beal was organized. They employ twelve 
hands and have built up a large business. The 
factory has a capacity of ten thousand barrels. 

In national politics Mr. Brandon votes with 
the Democrats, but in local matters he is inde- 
pendent, preferring to vote for candidates best 
fitted for office rather than adhere strictly to par- 
ty lines. He has served in the city council. He 
has done considerable building in the city, in- 
cluding his residence at No. 210 Dakota street 
and a store building on Pottawatomie street. 
While he keeps in touch with the firm's business, 
the active superintendent of the establishment is 
his son, Henry L,., a capable young man, who is 
a graduate of the Milwaukee Brewers' Academy 
and the Chicago College of Pharmacy. 



QOHN LLrOYD. Upon coming to Kansas in 
I 1879 Mr. lyloyd took up his residence in 
(2/ Ohio Township, Franklin County, where 
he bought land from time to time as his finances 
permitted. While he followed general farming 
to some extent, the cattle business was his prin- 
cipal occupation. During the '80s he was par- 
ticularly successful, and investing his money in 
land, he acquired large possessions. He is now 
the owner of eleven hundred and sixty acres of 
land, besides which he leases five hundred acres. 
The land is used principally for pasturage, such 
grain as is raised being only for feed and not for 
sale. As a cattle-feeder he has the largest busi- 
ness of any man in Franklin County, and his 
work has been so successful that he is one of the 
most prosperous men for miles around. The 
residence which he owns and occupies was built 
in the fall of 1888 and is one of the largest farm 
houses in Ohio Township. 

Born in South Wales, April 5, 1840, our sub- 
ject is a son of John and Catherine (Richards) 
Lloyd. He was one of eight children and the 
second of five now living, the others being 
Thomas, a farmer in Mills County, Iowa; Evan, 
a stockman in that county; Caleb, of Wichita, 
Kans.; and Katie, at home. The father, who 

36 



was born, reared and married in South Wales, 
acquired a competency through farming, but 
after a time met with business reverses and lost 
his fortune. In 1848 he came to America and 
settled in Morgan and Macoupin Counties, succes- 
sively, but in 1863 removed to Mills County, 
lov/a, where he died. He was a highly educated 
man and a graduate of Oxford University. His 
boyhood days were spent in an old French castle 
in South Wales, where his ancestors had lived 
for many generations, and he was the first mem- 
ber of the family who had been buried outside of 
the family cemetery for three hundred years. 
After coming to America he became a devoted, 
patriotic citizen of his adopted country, and did 
much to advance the cause of Abolition. In 
politics he was first a Whig and later a Republi- 
can, and kept well posted concerning all political 
subjects. He was an active member of the Con- 
gregational Church. His wife, like himself, was 
a member of an old farming family of South 
Wales. 

Reared in the country, and where schools were 
few and poor, our subject did not receive any 
educational advantages, but, in spite of disadvan- 
tages, he has gained a broad knowledge of men 
and things. He began in the world for himself 
at twenty-one years of age and for some time 
worked as a farm hand. After a few years he 
began buying and selling cattle. In 1866 he 
made his first trip to Kansas, coming out to buy 
cattle for his employer and bringing with him be- 
tween six and seven thousand dollars of his em- 
ployer's money to be used in the purchases. He 
discharged his responsible task satisfactorily and 
returned home. In 1870 he began driving cattle 
from Missouri into Illinois, where he disposed of 
them as feeders. In 1879 he settled permanentlj' 
in Kansas, where he has since devoted his atten- 
tion almost exclusively to the cattle business. 
He has had little leisure for public affairs and 
has never identified himself with politics, but is 
a stanch Republican nevertheless. In religion he 
is a Baptist. 

In 1872 Mr. Lloyd married Miss Martha Kitz- 
miller, a native of East Tennessee. They have 
had five children, Walter E., Albert M., James E. 



758 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



and John Arthur, at home, and Elizabeth, de- 
ceased. Mrs. Lloyd is a daughter of Martin V. 
Kitzmiller, who was one of the earliest settlers of 
Macoupin County, 111., and was for years a 
prominent Baptist minister, but is now living 
retired. 



(lESSE W. BROCK, M. D. Fewofthephy- 
I sicians of Leavenworth have been so con- 
(2/ tinuously and honorably identified with the 
history of the city as has Dr. Brock, who from 
the time of coming here, in October, 1865, has 
been associated with many of the movements that 
have contributed to the progress of the town. 
His recognized prominence in the profession led 
to his election as president of the Leavenworth 
County Medical Societj' and vice-president of the 
Kansas State Medical Association, both of which 
offices he filled with credit to himself. His con- 
tributions to medical literature have been im- 
portant and have extended over a long period of 
years. Associated with Dr. C. A. Logan, he 
founded the Medical Herald, which he edited and 
published, monthly, in Leavenworth, for a num- 
ber of years. In many other ways he has con- 
tributed to the progress of the science to which 
his active years have been devoted. 

The Brock family was founded in Virginia by 
English ancestry. George S. Brock, son of 
Thomas Brock, a native of England, was born in 
Culpeper County, W. Va. , and from there re- 
moved to F'lushing, Belmont County, Ohio, where 
he first taught school and later cleared a farm. 
During the war of 1812 he served as lieutenant 
of a company. His death occurred in Ohio when 
he was sixty years of age. He married Cather- 
ine Carpenter, a native of Loudoun County, Va., 
and a descendant of Revolutionary stock, of Eng- 
lish extraction. She was married in Virginia, 
whence she accompanied her hu.sband to Ohio, 
and there remained until death. Of her eleven 
children, all but one attained mature years, and 
two are now living, a daughter, Mrs. Caroline 
Packer, of Iowa, and the subject of this sketch. 
The latter was born at Flushing, Ohio, June i, 
1830, and in boyhood attended public schools, 
later was a student in Granville College in Lick- 



ing County, Ohio, until the completion of the 
sophomore year. It was from childhood his de- 
sire to study medicine, and when the way was 
opened for him to do so he entered the office of 
Dr. Benjamin Bethel. Afterward he was a stu- 
dent in the Maryland University at Baltimore, 
from which he graduated in 1835, with the de- 
gree of M. D. 

Opening an ofiice at North Lewisburg, Cham- 
paign County, Ohio, in 1856, Dr. Brock began 
the practice of medicine. He remained there 
until the Civil war began. In September, 1861, 
he was commissioned surgeon of the Sixty-sixth 
Ohio Infantry by Governor Todd and continued 
in that capacity until the close of the war, being 
two years in the army of the Potomac and a 
similar period in the army of the Cumberland. 
He was present at many important engagements, 
among them those of Winchester, Gettysburg 
and Antietam, also in the battles of the Atlanta 
campaign. While performing a surgical opera- 
tion he was injured in such a way that blood- 
poisoning resulted, and he lost a finger of the 
left hand. As soon as able to rejoin the army he 
left the hospital in Cincinnati and returned to the 
front. At the close of the war he took part in 
the grand review at Washington, from which 
city he was .sent to Louisville, Ky., and was 
mustered out at Columbus, Ohio, in July, 1865. 
He returned home, with the rank of major and 
a most creditable record as an army surgeon. In 
October of the same year he opened an office in 
Leavenworth, where he has since carried on a 
general practice in medicine and surgery. He has 
been called upon to perform many difficult opera- 
tions and has also for many years acted as local 
surgeon for the Rock Island Railroad Company. 
While in Ohio he was made a Mason, and he has 
identified him.self with the Knights of Pythias 
and Knights of Honor. He was one of the first 
members of the Kansas Commandery of the Mili- 
tary Order of Loyal Legion, with which he is still 
identified. 

The marriage of Dr. Brock, in North Lewis- 
burg, Ohio, united him with Miss Eliza Jane 
Gunn, who was born in that city. She was a 
graduate of Delaware (Ohio) College, and by 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



759 



study and travel acquired a broad knowledge of 
the world. Hers was a most gifted mind; her 
tastes were refined, her disposition amiable. She 
possessed unusual ability as an architect and 
planned her residence in L,eavenworth, "Terrace 
des Italiens," modeling it on the style of an 
Italian castle. Within and without are evidences 
of refined tastes and culture. The apartments 
are finished with delicate woodwork and are 
adorned with oil paintings, the work of Mrs. 
Brock. She was so absorbed in this fascinat- 
ing work that her health became undermined, 
and, hoping a trip to California would prove 
beneficial, Dr. Brock started with her for the west 
in January, 1896. While en route, a sudden 
lurch of the train, as she was walking down the 
aisle, caused her to fall and break her left thigh. 
She was taken to Albuquerque and given the 
best attention which ample means and loving 
foresight could suggest. From Albuquerque Dr. 
Brock started to return home with her, but she 
died before reaching lyeavenworth. Her sudden 
and accidental death was a sad blow to the many 
who loved and admired her for her beautiful life 
and gentle character. 



(SlLVA E. B. WHITE, who resides upon a 
LA valuable farm adjoining the village of Ton- 
I I ganoxie, Leavenworth County, was born 
near Indianapolis, Ind., May 12, 1858, a son of 
David and Malinda (Hodson) White, natives re- 
spectively of North Carolina and Indiana. His 
paternal grandparents were David and Ruth 
White, and his maternal grandmother was Delilah 
Hodson, who died May 29, 1875, aged sixty 
years, four months and twenty-three days. Our 
subject's father was born May 10, 1832, and in 
childhood accompanied his mother to Indiana, 
where he grew to manhood on a farm. He fol- 
lowed agricultural pursuits in Indiana until 1866, 
when he brought his family to Kansas and pur- 
chased a farm near Tonganoxie. From that time 
he was identified with farming interests of this lo- 
cality. He was a believer in Republican principles 
and on that ticket was elected to numerous town- 
ship offices. In 1854 he married Miss Hodson, 



who, like himself, was a member of the Quaker 
Church. She died May 24, 1874, and he passed 
away June 24, 1898. 

The oldest daughter of David and Malinda 
White is Cynthia, born at Plainfield, Ind., Oc- 
tober 11, 1855. She was about eleven years of 
age when the family moved from there to Kansas. 
April 12, 1878, she was married to Robert L. 
White, also from Indiana, who though bearing 
the same family name was not related. They 
have lived on a farm almost all of the time since 
their marriage and now reside two miles south of 
Tonganoxie. They have four sons and one 
daughter: Truman, nineteen years old; Alonzo, 
seventeen; Mae, fourteen; Ora, twelve; and 
Leonard, five. 

The second daughter of David White, Del- 
phina, was born August 10, i860. She was 
married October 10, 1883, to Rees Cadwallader, 
of Cadiz, Ind. They now reside in Tonganoxie, 
where he is engaged in the undertaking business. 
They have four children, namely: Leta, twelve 
years of age; Izola, nine; Irena, six; and David, 
two. Eva White was born July 19, 1863. Nora 
E. White, born November 10, 1866, was married 
March 4, 1892, to George Russell and they live 
on a farm three miles northwest of Tonganoxie. 
They are the parents of three children, viz.: 
Eryin T. , born January 30, 1893; Rachel V., 
August 9, 1894; and Neola, August 25, 1898. 
Willie L- White was born in 1869 and died on 
Christmas day of 1874. Almina White, born on 
Christmas day of 1873, became the wife of Fred 
Mark June 12, 1896, and they reside on a farm 
five miles north of Tonganoxie. They have two 
children, Ray, three years of age, and Stella, one 
year old. 

At the time the family came to Leavenworth 
County our subject was about nine years of age. 
He continued at home, assisting his father in the 
cultivation of the farm. Upon the death of his 
father he was made administrator of the estate, 
which he is now settling. Being the only living 
son, he has succeeded to the management of the 
homestead and is maintaining it at the high stan- 
dard of cultivation to which it was brought by 
his father. Besides a one-fifth interest in this 



760 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



place he has other laud, owning one hundred 
and sixt}' acres, half of which he cultivates, and 
the other half rents. He is a capable j^oung man, 
and is managing the estate in a manner satisfactory 
to all concerned. Like his father he is energetic 
and possesses keen judgment and sound common 
sense. Like him, too, he is of a quiet, retiring 
disposition, little inclined to mingle in public 
affairs or seek public positions of prominence. 
In this locality, where almost his entire life has 
been passed, he has many warm friends, and oc- 
cupies a high position socially. 



VyiAJ. LEVI PEMBROKE MASON, de- 
Y ceased, was born in Penfield, N. Y., April 
is 12, 1833, a son of Jarvis G. and Nancy 
(Pierce) Mason, who lived upon a farm in that 
state. When he was a child his parents moved to 
Michigan, settling in Romeo, Macomb Count}', 
and there he was a pupil in the common schools. 
From an early age it was his ambition to become an 
attorney. As soon as po.ssible he began the study 
of law, and in due time was admitted to the bar. 
He then went to Missouri an opened an office in 
Caledonia. At the opening of the war he enlisted 
in Company I, Twelfth Missouri Cavalry, which 
he assisted in raising in August, 1861, and in 
which he served for six months. At the expir- 
ation of his time, in March, 1862, he enlisted in 
Company H, Twelfth Missoari Regiment, in 
which he continued for two and one-half years. 
In October, 1864, he was transferred to Company 
I, Thirteenth Missouri Cavalry, and was com- 
missioned second lieutenant at Denver, Colo., in 
December, 1865. He was honorably discharged 
at Fort Leavenworth, Kans., July 3, 1866. 

Coming to Lawrence immediately after his 
discharge from the army. Major Mason continued 
to make this place his home until he died. In 
Masonry he was for years a prominent figure. 
He was a charter member of Valley Lodge No. 
30, A. F. &A. M., of which he was master in 
1867, 1868 and 1869; treasurer in 1870, 1871, 
1872 and 1873; senior warden in 1874, and master 
in 1875. In 1875 he became a member of Law- 
rence Lodge No. 6, of which he was master in 



1879, and from which he was demitted April 11, 
1 88 1. He was a charter member of the defunct 
Valley Lodge No. 30, of which he was ma.ster in 
188 1, secretary in 1882 and tyler in 1883. He 
was assistant lecturer in 1874, 1882 and 1883, 
and custodian from 1874 to 1881 inclusive. He 
was al.so connected with the chapter and Knights 
Templar. In the organization of the Indepen- 
dent Order of Odd Fellows he took an active part, 
and was one of the officials of the lodge in Law- 
rence. In politics he was a Republican. He was 
a well-educated man, with literary tastes and high 
culture, and his death, January 6, 1885, was 
mourned by his many friends whose respect he 
had won by his upright life and noble principles. 



i yiRS. EMELIE H. MASON, the widow of 
y Maj. L. P. Mason, is a member of an old 
(9 and well-known eastern family. Her father, 
Cyrus Anson Robinson, who was a son of Jona- 
than Robinson and a brother of ex-Governor 
Robinson of Kansas, was born in Hardwick, 
Mass. , and in early life followed the occupations 
of farmer and builder. At the time of the dis- 
covery of gold in California he and his brother 
started for the west, crossing the plains to the 
Pacific coast. Unfortunately he became sepa- 
rated from his brother, who was a successful phy- 
sician, and falling sick with the cholera he had 
no medical attention, and died November 12, 
1850, in Sacramento, where he was buried. At 
the time of his death he was thirty-four years 
of age. Had his life been spared, he would prob- 
ably have attained an eminence equal to that 
reached by his brother, for he was a man of 
great ability, a stanch advocate of anti-slavery 
and possessed the determination and force of 
character that bring success. 

The mother of Mrs. Mason bore the maiden 
name of Jane Ann Mandell, and was born in 
Barry, Mass., May 28, 182 1, a daughter of Mason 
and Luthera (Gorham) Mandell, and a grand- 
daughter of Moses and Abigail (Mason) Mandell. 
At the opening of the Revolutionary war, Moses 
Mandell enlisted in the continental army and was 
made aide-de-camp to his brother-in-law, Major- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



761 



General Warner. At the alarm of L,exington 
he hastened to the protection of that town. While 
he was serving in the battle ofBrandywine he found 
a gun unmounted because the men had all been 
shot down. He at once dismounted and served 
alone at the gun. He was known as Major 
Mandell. 

In November, 1867, Mrs. Robinson came to 
Lawrence, Kans., accompanied by her two daugh- 
ters, Emelie H. and Mary Lawton. She con- 
tinued to make her home in this city until her 
death, which occurred March 3, 1899. Eight 
days later her younger daughter passed from 
earth, leaving Mrs. Mason the 'only representa- 
tive of the family. Her sister was a very cul- 
tured woman, and took a prominent part in the 
work of the Daughters of the Revolution, also 
in the Republican Club of Kansas. The educa- 
tional advantages enjoyed by Mrs. Mason were 
such as to qualify her for successful work as a 
teacher, which profession she followed for five 
years in Massachusetts and for two years in Law- 
rence. In this city, May 29, 1870, she became 
the wife of Major Mason, whose faithful help- 
mate she remained until his death fifteen years 
later, and since that time she has devoted herself 
to the education and training of her three sons. 
The eldest of these sons, Myron Robinson Mason, 
graduated from the University of Kansas in 1896 
with the degree of Ph.G., and is now hospital 
steward in the marine hospital at Portland, Me. 
The second son, Ernest Gladden Mason, is agent 
for the Santa Fe road at Burden, Kans. The 
youngest, Lynne Emerson Mason, is studying 
electrical engineering in the University of Kansas. 



r^IUS H. BAUER, of Leavenworth, was born 
L^ in this city July 9, 1861, a son of Sebastian 
1^ and Annie (McHale) Bauer. His father, 
who was a native of Germany, emigrated to 
America in early life and has since made his home 
in Leavenworth. During his residence in Ger- 
many he followed the rope-maker's trade, but 
since coming to Kansas he has engaged in mer- 
cantile pursuits, and is now the proprietor of a 
grocery on Shawnee street. Of three children. 



the subject of this sketch is the eldest. He was 
educated in private schools in Leavenworth and 
when very young began to be interested in pho- 
tography, with which business he has since been 
identified. When twenty years of age he began 
in business on his own account, since which time 
he has steadily striven to learn all the improve- 
ments made in the science and keep in touch 
with its developments. Beginning on a small 
scale, he was greatly hampered in getting a start, 
but worked earnestly and with determination, and 
put all the money he could spare into the latest 
appliances. He finally overcame all the obsta- 
cles with which he had to contend and earned 
a reputation for excellence of work. By artistic 
posing of subjects and by the fine finish of 
photographs, he won the admiration of his cus- 
tomers. As a result of his energy and persever- 
ance he has gained a reputation as an artist sec- 
ond to none in the city. 

In 1897 Mr. Bauer made a display of his work 
at the meeting of the Photographers' Association 
of America. There, in competition with the finest 
artists in his line from all parts of the country, 
he was awarded the first medal in the class in 
which he exhibited. At the convention of 1898 
of the same association (which is the only na- 
tional organization of photographers) he was 
awarded the medals in two different classes. In 
competition, in 1897 and 1898, at the meeting of 
the Photographers' Association of Kansas, he 
was also awarded medals. In July, 1899, the 
Photographers' Association of America awarded 
him two medals, first prizes on two entries. His 
work has stood the test of comparison , both with 
the best of its kind in the state, and also with 
the exhibits at the national meetings, where the 
judges are experts. He makes a specialtj' of 
genre work, in series of character pictures. Be- 
sides his exhibits at conventions, he has also had 
displays at various fairs, and has always received 
premium or high commendation. 

Interested in fraternal organizations, Mr. Bauer 
has joined the Improved Order of Red Men, 
Maccabees, Foresters of America (of which he 
was secretary for some time), Knights of Pythias 
and National Union, and has held the chairs in 



762 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



mostofthem. In 1890 he married Miss Virginia 
Cook, of Kickapoo, Kans. Of their three chil- 
dren, two are living, Virginia and Ruth. Mr. 
Bauer has recently purchased a home at No. 214 
North Broadway, where he now resides. 



(TOHN McCURRY, who is one of the pioneers 
I of Franklin County, is engaged in farming 
(2/ and stock-raising on section 13, Ottawa Town- 
ship. He was born in Montgomery' County, 111., 
June 9, 1839, a few months after the death of his 
father, John McCurrj', Sr. ,a native of Indiana. 
He grew to manhood on a farm and received a 
common-school education. While he was en- 
gaged in farming the Civil war broke out, and at 
the first call for volunteers he determined to en- 
list. April 19, 1861, his name was enrolled in 
the Union army and he was ordered to Spring- 
field, 111., where, however, he was rejected. 
Later, he met with better success. August 12, 
1862, he was as.signed to Company L, Third Illi- 
nois Cavalry. With his regiment he took part in 
the battles of Arkansas Post, and those around 
Vicksburg, Champion Hill and Black River. In 
a cavalry skirmish in Louisiana he was shot 
through the ankle and fell into the hands of the 
enemy, but was recaptured by his own forces the 
same daj'. His wound proved to be a serious 
one, and pieces of the bone were taken out at 
various times during the following year. He 
was honorably discharged May 23, 1865. 

In August, 1865, Mr. McCurry came to Kan- 
sas and bought eighty acres of bare prairie land 
in Ottawa Township, Franklin Countj'. He put 
up the first shanty and broke the first land in his 
neighborhood. With another man he "bached" 
for some time, and often, for weeks at a time, 
they were without even a glimpse of any white 
men but themselves. His most difficult task was 
the securing of a start, but at last he found him- 
self making satisfactory progress. By subsequent 
purchase he has become the owner of two hun- 
dred acres. All of the trees on the farm were 
set out by him, and the shade trees surrounding 
the house were raised from the seed. At one 
time he had a large number of stock, but now he 



has only about twenty head of cows, and sells the 
milk to the creamery. Though he has accumu- 
lated a competency that would enable him to live 
comfortably in retirement, he prefers to be busj', 
and has no desire to give up the activities of life. 
The Republican party has the stanch support 
of Mr. McCurry. For twenty years or more he 
has sen'ed as clerk of the school board and he 
has also filled the offices of township clerk and 
trustee. By membership in the Grand Armj' of 
the Republic he keeps in touch with the veterans 
of the Civil war. In religion he is connected 
with the Congregational Church. His marriage, 
February 7, 1867, united him with Eunice M. 
Seward, who was born in Albany County, N. Y., 
the daughter of John and Harriett (Painter) 
Seward. Her parents moved to Montgom- 
ery County, 111., when she was a child, but 
at the time of her marriage she was living in 
Franklin County, Kans. Mr. and Mrs. McCurry 
have three children: George G., who married 
Jennie Diven and farms a part of the homestead ; 
Nettie D., at home; and Fannie E., wife of Willis 
Rodgers, a farmer in the northwestern part of 
Ottawa Township. 



HENRY G. BREESE is the owner of a large 
farm in Reno Township. In 1883 he re- 
moved from Illinois to Kansas and bought 
the Burr Oak farm in Leavenworth County. 
Upon this place, which consists of four hundred 
and eightj' acres, he has since engaged in general 
farming and stock-raising. In the stock business 
his specialty has been Poland-China hogs, but he 
has also been interested in feeding cattle. On 
his farm he has a large orchard, planted to the 
various varieties of fruit trees, and he has found 
horticulture a valuable adjunct to general farming. 
The Breese family came from Holland to New 
York state in colonial days. Maj. Henry G. 
Breese, our subject's father, was born near Hoo- 
sick, N. Y., and during the war of 1812 he 
served in the American army, receiving a com- 
mission as major in recognition of his bravery. 
He remained a resident of New York state until 
1863, when he moved to Greenville, Mich., and 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



763 



there the remainder of his life was spent. His 
principal occupation was that of mechanical en- 
gineering, and he had many important contracts 
from states and counties for the building of 
bridges. In politics he was a Democrat. He 
married Lana Martin, who died in New York at 
forty years of age. They were the parents of 
five children, four of whom are living, two, 
Henry G. and DeWitt C, being residents of 
Reno Township. 

In Washington County, N. Y., where he was 
born December 7, 1824, the subject of this sketch 
received such advantages as the schools of his 
neighborhood afforded. In 1847 he settled in 
Fulton County, 111., where he engaged in car- 
pentering and farming. From there, in 1852, he 
removed to Marshall County, 111., where he 
owned and operated a farm for many years. He 
continued to reside in that county until his re- 
moval to Kansas. The principles of the Repub- 
lican party have received his .support and he has 
been actively identified with local politics. 
Through his service upon the school board he has 
been instrumental in promoting the welfare of 
the local schools. He and his family are members 
of the German Baptist Church, in the work of 
which he has been warmly interested. March 31, 
1 858, he married Mar}^ daughter of John Phenicie, 
of Leavenworth County. The children born of 
their union are named as follows: Charles E. ; 
Joseph P.; John H.; Frank S.; Eva A., who is 
the wife of Henry W. Benton; Emma J., who 
married A. W. Scott; and Hattie B., who is with 
her parents. 

"HOMAS McFARLAND. Having resided 
in the Kaw Valley since 1864, Mr. McFar- 
land is familiar with its progress and has 
contributed his quota to the development of its 
resources. On settling here he purchased forty 
acres of Shawnee land in Eudora Township, 
Douglas County, and has since added to it until he 
now owns two hundred and twenty acres. Upon 
this place he has since resided, engaged in raising 
stock (with a specialty of hogs) and also in rais- 
ing such farm products as best suit the soil. He 
was one of the organizers of school district 



No. 12, of which he has since served as a direc- 
tor. In politics he votes with the Republicans. 
During the Civil war he served for ninety days 
as a member of the home guard, which helped to 
drive Price out of Kansas. Both in times of 
peace and war he has done his part to preserve 
the honor of Kansas and enlarge its influence in 
the west. 

Robert McFarland, our subject's great-grand- 
father, came from Scotland and settled in eastern 
Pennsylvania, but later moved to Indiana Coun- 
ty, the same state. Crossing the ocean prior to 
the Revolutionary war, when he was a young 
man, he was one of the pioneers of his part of 
Pennsylvania, and became an exten.sive miller 
and farmer, owning several hundred acres of land 
which he took up from the government. His 
grandson, Robert, Jr., was born in Indiana 
County, where he engaged in farming in early 
and middle life. The year 1854 found him in 
Kansas City, Mo., but he remained there six 
months only. In September of the same year he 
came to Kansas and settled near old Franklin, 
where he entered and improved eighty acres of 
government land. Selling the property in 1861, 
he moved to Tonganoxie Township, Leavenworth 
County, where he purchased three hundred acres 
and engaged in farming during the remainder of 
his life, meeting with fair success. As a Repub- 
lican he was active in politics, and for two terms 
he served as township trustee. Before Kansas 
was admitted to the union he served in the terri- 
torial legislature and, with the other members of 
the house, was arrested at the time of the Big 
Springs constitutional convention. He was a 
stanch advocate of the abolition of slavery and 
the admission of Kansas as a free state, and never 
hesitated, whatever his surroundings, to express 
his opinions boldly. He died in 1886, when sev- 
enty-three years of age. 

The marriage of Robert McFarland, Jr., united 
him with Rosanna, daughter of Abram Lowman, 
of Indiana County, Pa., the latter being a soldier 
in the war of 18 12, and by occupation a farmer 
and also a tanner. She died at the old home- 
stead in Leavenworth County in 1884, when 
seventy years of age. Of her eleven children only 



764 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



two are now living, Thomas and Winfield Scott, 
the latter living in Leavenworth County. The 
former, who is the subject of this sketch, was 
born in Indiana County, Pa., December 25, 1833, 
and in boyhood attended common schools. At 
the age of nineteen he accompanied his parents 
to Kansas and .settled with them near Franklin. 
In 1864 he came from there to his present loca- 
tion in the Kaw Valley. June 16, 1863, he mar- 
ried Nancy J. Garven, who was a daughter of 
Thomas and Mary Garven, the former of Scotch 
and the latter of Irish descent. Mrs. McFarland 
was born in Illinois, and has two sons: William 
G., who a.ssists in the cultivation of the home 
farm; and Fred, deceased. William G. married 
Rertha Van Tries, and they have two children 
living, Bernice and Paul. The family is connected 
with the Methodist Episcopal Church and con- 
tributes to its maintenance. 



NGN. T. G. V. BOLING, M. D., deceased, 
was born in Holmes County, Ohio, the son 
of a pioneer farmer of that section of the 
state. His education was thorough and prepared 
him for the successful practice of the medical pro- 
fession. After having graduated from the Cleve- 
land Medical College he opened an office in 
Holmes County and there became a well-known 
physician and surgeon. During the Civil war he 
acted as examining surgeon of those who had 
been drafted into the service. Coming west, in 
1865, he settled in Leavenworth, but soon re- 
moved to a farm in High Prairie Township. 
When the Leavenworth, Topeka and Southwest- 
ern Railroad was built through the county, a sta- 
tion was established near his farm and was named 
Boling, in his honor. In connection with the 
management of his property he continued medical 
practice. He became influential in public affairs. 
The high standing which he had attained among 
his fellow-citizens made him an excellent candi- 
date for his party to select for positions of trust. 
He accepted a nomination for the state senate in 
1884 and was elected to that body. In the re- 
sponsible position to which he was called he 
maintained the reputation for honestj' and ability 



he had previously established. His service was 
such as to reflect credit upon himself and give 
satisfaction to his constituents. On his retire- 
me!it from office he resumed professional and ag- 
ricultural duties, and in these he continued until 
his death in June, 1893. His body was interred 
in a cemetery near his home in High Prairie 
Township. 

Dr. Boling married Mary F. Long, who was 
born in Ohio and died in Kansas in 1871. Of 
their three children, only one is now living, 
Robert L. Boling, M. D. Mrs. Boling was a 
daughter of Robert Long, a native of Fayette 
County, Pa., and of Scotch-Irish descent. An 
early settler of Ohio, he there built and operated 
a mill, also engaged in the mercantile business, 
and later became the head of the Long & Brown 
Banking Compan}^, at Millersburg, Ohio. On 
withdrawing from that concern he established 
the Commercial Bank of Millersburg, of which 
he was president and sole proprietor, and which 
is now conducted by a son-in-law and wife. 



ROBERT L. BOLING, M. D., of Leaven- 
worth, one of the rising young physicians of 
this citjr, was born at Boling Station, Leav- 
enworth County, Februarj^ i, 1867, and is the 
son of Hon. T. G. V. Boling, M. D., late of this 
county. In youth he was given good educational 
advantages, both in the common schools and the 
Lawrence Business College. His rudimentary 
knowledge of the medical profession he obtained 
under the preceptorship of his father. In 1894 
he matriculated in the University Medical Col- 
lege, of Kansas City, Mo., from which he grad- 
uated in 1897, with the degree of M. D. On his 
return to Leavenworth he opened an office for 
general practice and has since devoted himself to 
professional work. He holds the position of 
treasurer in the Leavenworth Hospital Associa- 
tion. 

In fraternal organizations Dr. Boling is promi- 
nent and influential. He is past chancellor of 
Ivanhoe Lodge No. 14, K. of P., and assistant 
surgeon (with the rank of captain) in the First 
Regiment of Kansas, U. R. In Masonry he is 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



765 



also active, being a member of King Solomon 
Lodge No. ID, A. F. & A. M., and Topeka Con- 
sistory, Scottish Rite. While he has never taken 
a prominent part in politics, yet he is firm in his 
convictions upon all matters pertaining to the na- 
tional progress or local prosperity, and he sup- 
ports Republican principles. 

The marriage of Dr. Boling took place in High 
Prairie Township and united him with Elizabeth, 
daughter of Zina A. Mason, who was born, in 
Ohio, and during territorial days migrated to 
Kansas, settling in High Prairie Town.ship, 
Leavenworth County, where she was born. Dur- 
ing the Civil war he was a lieutenant in a Kansas 
regiment, which took a very active part in driv- 
ing Price out of the state. 



©AMUEL COCHRAN. The life and charac- 
vA ter of Mr. Cochran, for years inseparably 
VjJ/ associated with the history of Leavenworth, 
left an impress upon the business interests and 
the religious standing of his city. He was a man 
whose principles of honor were the highest and 
whose reputation remained untarnished through- 
out a long, active and successful career. Relig- 
ion formed the keynote of his life. He was a 
member of the old Covenanter Presbyterian 
Church, and took a deep interest in the various 
institutions supported by his denomination at 
home and abroad. In common with the mem- 
bership of that church he was strict in the ob- 
servance of the doctrines and forms of religion. 
Especially was he careful in the observance of 
the Sabbath day and carried out in his life the 
command, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep 
it holy." No stress of business and no offered 
social relaxation ever tempted him to do the 
least thing not in strictest accord with the tenets 
of his faith. He was a daily reader and student 
of the Bible. While firm in his doctrinal belief, 
he was not narrow, but admired a man for his 
own merits, even if differing from him in religious 
views. 

In the north of Ireland Mr. Cochran was born 
February i, 1829. He came to America in boy- 
hood with his brother, William, following their 



older brother, John, who had come to the United 
States a few years before. He apprenticed him- 
self to the carpenter's trade in New York City, 
where he remained for some years. His brother, 
John, had established a business at Enterprise, 
Miss., and in 1843 he joined him and was inter- 
ested in a department store for twelve years. 
Later he engaged in the grain business for him- 
self in St. Louis. From there he came to the 
new town of Leavenworth, of which he was one 
of the first settlers, finding the place a small 
hamlet, overgrown with brush and destitute of 
sidewalks. He opened a grocery on the corner 
of Third and Shawnee streets in a building that 
is still standing. Here he built up a profitable 
business. After a few years he decided to en- 
gage in the wholesale grocery business, so dis- 
posed of the retail store, and, with a partner, 
started under the firm name of Cochran & Bitt- 
man. Later O. B. Taylor was taken into the 
firm. This partnership was continued until 1878, 
when Mr. Cochran sold out his interest and or- 
ganized the wholesale grocery firm of Cochran, 
Carroll & Beckham at Kansas City. After sev- 
eral years of successful business there he retired 
from that line of business and invested in Kansas 
City real estate, continuing interested in property 
matters up to the time of his death, which oc- 
curred November 24, 1889. For several years 
he was president of the German Savings Bank in 
Leavenworth. 

His summers for three years prior to his death 
Mr. Cochran spent in Los Angeles, Cal., where 
he was interested in property and had planned to 
establish his home. His last day on earth was 
spent in looking after and settling up with some 
workmen who had been repairing a bank build- 
ing in Kansas City. On his return home he had 
a six o'clock dinner and retired in his usual 
health. At four o'clock the next morning his 
spirit took its flight. Many instances of his char- 
ity are known, but the greater part of his kindly 
deeds were never known except to the recipient, 
as he abhorred any show or ostentation, and what 
he gave was never alluded to by himself. He 
was much more disposed to help the poor per- 
sonally than through the medium of organized 



766 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



charities, believing the relief would be more effec- 
tive and prompt. Many deserving young men 
received aid from him. His own relatives, too, 
were the recipients of his bounty. Upon the 
death of his brother, William, he assisted the lat- 
ter's children, whom he helped to rear and edu- 
cate. One of them, William, is now in New York 
City, John K. lives in Leavenworth, and Marga- 
ret is a teacher in the Leavenworth schools. 

The marriage of Mr. Cochran united him with 
Miss Nettie Wilson, who was born in Westfield 
(near Buffalo), N. Y. , where she was reared and 
educated. She is a cultured lady and was for 
some years a member of the Art League, the Or- 
phan Asylum board and connected with other 
charities; but upon the death of her husband, it 
required so much of her time to attend to the 
settlement of the estate that she was obliged to 
relinquish outside matters. She is a member of 
the First Presbyterian Church and a liberal con- 
tributor to religious and charitable work. 



30HN M. Mccormick, m. d., who for 
years has been successfully engaged in the 
practice of medicine in Leavenworth, was 
born on a farm lying on the banks of the Susque- 
hanna River in Pennsylvania, near the city of Lock- 
haven. His father, Robert, a native of the same 
place, spent his entire life on the home farm, and 
in addition to the management of the estate took 
an active part in local affairs. In politics he was a 
Whig and on that ticket was elected county com- 
missioner. His religious faith was in sympathy 
with the Presbyterian Church. He died when 
sixty-five years of age. The farm where he lived 
had been entered by his father, John McCormick, 
a native of the north of Ireland, but from sixteen 
years of age a resident of Pennsylvania, where he 
took up land from the government, cleared a 
farm, and there .spent the remainder of his life. 

When a boy Dr. McCormick attended the pub- 
lic school and an academy in Lockhaven. At 
twenty years of age he began to read medicine 
with Dr. A. B. Massey, of that city, under whose 
supervision he gained a rudimentary knowledge 
of the profession. Afterward for three years he 



was a student in Jefferson Medical College of 
Philadelphia, from which he graduated. Begin- 
ning practice in Lycoming County, Pa. , he, how- 
ever, soon returned to Lockhaven, and there 
practiced for several years. Next he went to 
California, stopping for a short time in Cuba 
while en route to the west. He located in Ne- 
vada City, opened an office there and engaged 
in practice. He also owned mining interests in 
California. In both mining and professional 
work he was successful. On his return east 
he practiced for a time in partnership with Dr. 
Lichtenthaler, of Lockhaven, but in 1862, when 
the latter resigned his commission as surgeon in 
the army, Dr. McCormick determined to come to 
Kansas. During that year he settled in Leaven- 
worth, where he has since been in continuous 
practice. For a time in the Civil war he filled a 
vacancy as surgeon and also acted as .surgeon for 
the volunteers in Leavenworth. His practice is 
general and he has gained an enviable reputation 
for skill in his profession. He is a member of the 
Presbyterian Church and in politics ca.sts his vote 
with the Republicans, whose party principles he 
upholds. 

In 1864 Dr. McCormick married Mi.ss Anna 
P. Massey, of Lockhaven, a daughter of Dr. A. B. 
Massey. 

Dr. McCormick has had the benefit of travel 
through many parts of the western continent. 
Several years ago, while on a tour through the 
Spanish-American countries, including the West 
Indies, he visited many points of great historic 
interest, among them the tomb of Christopher 
Columbus. He has also had a great and varied 
experience as a surgeon, in which he has met 
with almost unbounded success, frequently saving 
members of the human body in cases where most 
surgeons would unhesitatingly have resorted to 
amputation. His disposition is of the kindest, 
and his cheerful presence in the sick room has 
frequently resulted in as great benefit to the 
sufferer as the medicine administered. 

In the possession of Dr. McCormick is a collec- 
tion of curios well calculated to excite the interest 
of all who are privileged to view them. Many of 
these have been obtained from time to time in the 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



767 



course of his long and varied career as a prac- 
titioner, and all are highly prized by this eminent 
pioneer physician and surgeon. 



(TOHN BOLLIN. Having been born and 
I reared on the farm where he now lives, Mr. 
(2/ Bollin is familiar with this section of country 
and has witnessed the changes made here during 
the past thirty or more years. Since he pur- 
chased the old homestead from the other heirs 
he has given its cultivation and improvement the 
closest attention, and by industry and intelligence 
has increased its value. Tlje property consists 
of one hundred and sixty acres, situated on sec- 
tion 29, Kickapoo Township, Leavenworth 
County. Through careful selection of seed to be 
planted, and through a judicious rotation of crops, 
the best results have been secured in the cultiva- 
tion of the land. All of the cereals are raised, 
but a specialty is made of wheat and corn. In 
addition to general farming he engages in stock- 
raising, and owns a number of Poland-China 
hogs and jacks, also cattle and horses. He is a 
progressive farmer, and avails himself of every 
opportunity for promoting the interests of his 
farm and increasing the returns therefrom. 
At the same time he does not neglect his duty 
as a citizen, but supports measures calculated 
to benefit the people of his community, and 
has been especially active in his advocacy of a 
system of good roads, realizing that nothing so 
enhances the prosperity of a community as the 
excellent condition of its roads. In politics he is 
a Democrat and frequeutly attends the conven- 
tions of his party. 

Born December 29, 1862, Mr. Bollin is a son 
of Jerome and Jacobine (Schultheis) Bollin, both 
natives of Germany, who emigated to America 
and settled in Weston, Mo., thence came to Kan- 
sas in i860. From that time they made their 
home on a farm one-half mile west of Kickapoo, 
where their father engaged in grain and stock 
farming. A leading Democrat of his vicinity, he 
served as township treasurer and in other local 
positions of trust. In religion he was a Roman 
Catholic. His death occurred in 1873. when he 



was forty-five years of age. By his marriage to 
Jacobine Schultheis he had six children, of whom 
four are living: Mrs. Mary Klasinski; Josephine, 
.wife of J. A. Aaron; Lucy, Mrs. Michael Molloy; 
and John. Mrs. Bollin is still living and makes 
her home with Mrs. Molloy, in Kickapoo. 

The marriage of our subject took place Novem- 
ber 14, 1888, and united him with Clara Aaron, 
daughter of John Aaron, of Leavenworth. They 
have five children, viz.: John J., Aloysius R., 
Frank J., Clara H. and George A. The family 
are members of the Kickapoo Catholic Church, 
and Mr. Bollin is active in the work of the Cath- 
olic Mutual Benefit Association, being a promi- 
nent worker in the local lodge, in which he has 
filled the ofiices of president and recording secre- 
tary. Fraternally he is connected with the Mod- 
ern Woodmen of America. 



EAPT. EDWARD MUNK, proprietor of the 
Lawrence Roofing Company's business in 
Lawrence, was born on Kirkland Flats, near 
Cleveland, Ohio, in 1836, a son of Edward and 
Sarah (Baker) Munk. His father, who was born 
eighteen miles from London, England, was a 
teamster for a large land owner there. After his 
marriage he came to America and settled in 
Ohio, but about 1842 removed to Illinois, settling 
upon an unimproved tract in DuPage County, 
from which he improved a fine farm. On selling 
his land he retired from business cares and estab- 
lished his home in Nunda, 111., where he died. 
He was a member of the Christian Church and a 
contributor to its enterprises. His wife was born 
near London and died in Batavia, 111., in 1897. 
They were the parents often children, who grew 
to manhood and womanhood, of whom Edward 
was the oldest son and third child. One of the 
sons, Joseph, who was a lieutenant in the Union 
army, died at Little Rock, Ark. Another son, 
James C, was a member of the One Hundred and 
Fifth Illinois Infantry and was killed at Resaca. 
Six of the family are now living, viz.: Mrs. Jen- 
nings, of Lawrence; Betsey and Sarah, in Illinois; 
Lewis B. , who lives in Republic County, Kans. ; 
Susan, of Illinois; and Edward. 



768 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



From the age of six years Captain Munk was 
reared in Illinois, where he attended public school 
and Warrenville Seminary. He worked on a 
farm until nineteen years of age, after which he 
learned the carpenter's trade and later followed the 
millwright's trade in Illinois, Kentucky, Ten- 
nessee and Mississippi. When the war broke 
out he was working in the south, where he was 
building a house under contract. He attempted 
to finish the job, but finding it impossible, he 
left, although by so doing he lost considerable 
money. He went to St. lyOuis on the steamer 
"Silver Moon," and from there proceeded home. 
In September, 1861, he enlisted in Company D, 
One Hundred and Fifth Illinois Infantry, and 
was mustered in at Dixon, after which he was or- 
dered to Gallatin, Tenn. He held the commis- 
sion of first sergeant for a time and in 1863 was 
commissioned captain in the Fourteenth United 
States Colored Troops, which were detailed at 
Chattanooga. After the battle of Resaca he took 
his brother's body back to Illinois for burial. 
Later he was at Knoxville and Nashville, where 
five holes were shot through his coat and where 
Hood's army was demoralized. He followed 
Hood and assisted in driving him out of the 
country, after which he fought guerillas. In the 
summer of 1865 he" was mustered out at Nash- 
ville. 

On returning home Captain Munk became 
master mechanic in Holliday's windmill works 
at Batavia. In 1871 he came to Kansas and for 
a year worked as a carpenter in Lawrence, after 
which he was for twenty-one years master me- 
chanic and millwright in the Douglas County 
flour mill. As superintendent he had charge of 
the building of the dam from the first cribs, a 
work for which he is entitled to great praise. In 
March, 1896, he resigned his position and started 
the Lawrence Roofing Company, which takes 
contracts for roofs, and al.so does some building. 
The shop is on West Henry street. He was 
married in DuPage County to Miss Addie Ger- 
maine, who was born in Vermont, but at an early 
age settled on a farm in Illinois. Both he and his 
wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. He is connected with Washington Post 



No. 12, G. A. R., and the One Hundred and 
Fifth Illinois Veterans' Association. In politics 
he is a true-blue Republican. On that ticket 
he was elected to represent the first ward in the 
city council, and during his term of two j^ears 
served as chairman of the committee on streets, 
alleys and bridges. During his residence in 
Illinois he was active in Masonrj-, but has since 
been demitted. 



HON. JOHN C. CALHOUN. Though many 
years have passed since the death of Mr. 
Calhoun his prominence in public life was 
such that he still lives in the annals of our coun- 
try. He was born in Boston, Mass., October 14, 
1806, and settled in the Mohawk Valley in New 
York during 1821. After completing his studies 
at the Canajoharie Academy he studied law and 
was admitted to the bar. In 1830 he established 
his home in Springfield, 111., and after serving in 
the Black Hawk war taught school for a time, 
then took up engineering and surveying, and was 
appointed surveyor of Sangamon County. His 
fitness for positions of trust led to his selection for 
numerous posts within the gift of his fellow-citi- 
zens. In 1838 he was elected to the legislature 
on the Democratic ticket, and two years later he 
was clerk of the house. In 1842 he was elected 
circuit clerk and two years afterward served as 
Democratic presidential elector. In 1 846 he was 
a candidate for governor of Illinois before the 
Democratic state convention. From 1849 to 185 1 
he held the office of mayor of Springfield. In 1852 
he was a candidate for congress and a presidential 
elector. Under the administration of President 
Pierce, in 1854, he was appointed surveyor-gen- 
eral of Kansas and Nebraska, and afterward held 
a conspicuous position in western politics, being 
a Democratic leader. He was president of the 
Lecompton convention, and served in other posi- 
tions where executive ability and sound judg- 
ment were necessary qualifications. 

December 29, 1831, Mr. Calhoun married Miss 
Sarah Cutter, who was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, 
August 24, 1812. She was a daughter of Seth 
Cutter, who at one time owned large tracts of 
property in Cincinnati, some of which he leased 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



769 



for one hundred years. In an early day he re- 
moved to Sangamon County, 111., where he en- 
gaged in farming and where his daughter, Sarah, 
was reared. Nine children were born to the 
union of Mr. and Mrs. Calhoun, of whom the 
following survive: Elizabeth, Martha, Mary 
Brayman, James and Seth. The oldest daughter 
married Henry H. Jackson, who served as major 
of the Third United States Cavalry in the Spanish 
war and was breveted lieutenant-colonel for brav- 
ery on the field of battle at Santiago. He now 
has command of Fort Meyer, opposite Washing- 
ton, D. C. The daughters were educated in the 
Sacred Heart Convent at St. Joseph, Mo., and St. 
Mary's Academy at Leavenworth, Kans. , and all 
are cultured ladies and earnest members of the 
Catholic Church. While the family were living 
at St. Joseph, Mo., Mr. Calhoun died there Octo- 
ber 25, 1859. The following year the widow and 
children removed to Leavenworth, where Mrs. 
Calhoun died June 10, 1887. 

One of the most interesting chapters in the life 
of Mr. Calhoun was that pertaining to his con- 
nection with Abraham Lincoln. He knew this 
famous man when he was poor and unknown, 
and recognized in him those magnificent traits 
that in later years attracted world-wide attention. 
The two were opposed politically and often met 
in debates and campaigns, where each main- 
tained his position with tenacity and skill. In 
spite of their difference in politics they were 
stanch friends, and Mr. Lincoln always remem- 
bered with gratitude Mr. Calhoun's kindness in 
instructing him in surveying. The history of 
Abraham Lincoln, published in McClure's Maga- 
zine in 1896, contains a portrait of Mr. Calhoun 
and a notice of his timely assistance given Lin- 
coln, when the latter was without means. It 
publishes a letter from Frederick Hawn, who 
married a sister of Mrs. Calhoun, and who wrote, 
among other things, the following: "It has been 
related that Calhoun induced Lincoln to study in 
order to become his deputy. Presuming he was 
ready to graduate and receive his commission, he 
called on Calhoun, then living with his father- 
in-law, Seth R. Cutter, on Upper Lick Creek. 
After the interview was concluded Mr. Lincoln, 



about to depart, remarked: ' Calhoun, I am en- 
tirely unable to repay you for your generosity at 
present. All I have you see on me, except a 
quarter of a dollar in my pocket. ' This is a family 
tradition. However, my wife, then a girl of six- 
teen, says she distinctly remembers this inter- 
view. After Lincoln had gone, she says she and 
her sister, Mrs. Calhoun, commenced making 
jocular remarks about his uncanny appearance 
in the presence of Mr. Calhoun, to which, in sub- 
stance, he made this rejoinder: ' For all that, he 
is no common man.' " 



I O. McINTlRE. During the early settle- 
I C ment of America John Mclntire, a Scotch- 
l_2f man, crossed the ocean and settled upon a 
farm in Lancaster, Pa., but later removed to 
Wooster, Ohio. His son, Cornelius Mclntire, 
who was born in Beaver County, Pa., and settled 
in Wooster, Ohio, engaged in farming during his 
entire life and died at eighty-four years. Cor- 
nelius had a son, R. B., who was born and reared 
in Wooster, and there carried on a grain and gro- 
cery business, but in 1876 removed to the west, 
settling in Lyons, Rice County, Kans. Some 
years later he came to Lawrence and now makes 
his home at No. 1321 Massachusetts street. He 
married adaughterof John andTabitha (Thomas) 
Culbertson, the latter a daughter of William 
Thomas, who built on his farm the first Presby- 
terian Church in Wayne County, Ohio. The two 
sons of R. B. Mclntire are L. O. and H. R., the 
latter a dry-goods merchant of Newton, Kans. 

After having spent some years in the grammar 
and high schools of Wooster, at eighteen years of 
age our subject secured a position as clerk in a 
store, and during the years that followed he 
gained a thorough knowledge of the dry-goods 
business. He remained in his native city, Woos- 
ter, until he was twenty years of age. He then 
came to Kansas. In September, 1878, he ar- 
rived in Lawrence, where he clerked in George 
Innes' dry-goods store. Mr. Mclntire and J. B. 
Shearer opened a dry-goods and carpet store 
at Ottawa, under the firm name of L. O. Mclntire 
& Co., where they remained from 1880 to 1886. 



770 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Meantime, in 1883, they started a store in Law- 
rence under the same firm name, opening a stock 
of dry goods, carpets and house furnishing goods 
at No. 919 Massachusetts street. After selling 
the Ottawa business he gave his entire attention 
to the store at Lawrence, remaining its manager 
until he sold his interest, in 1893, and opened a 
department store in Springfield, Mo. , occupying 
a four-story building, 50x130. However, the 
management of the large business demanded such 
intense application and constant thought that his 
health broke down beneath the strain, and in 1S96 
he sold his interest in the business. Afterward, 
accompanied by his wife, he made a tour of Europe, 
visiting Great Britain, Germany, France, Swit- 
zerland, Austria, and Italy as far south as Naples, 
returning via the Netherlands and England and 
thence home. The trip occupied nine months of 
travel and was not only delightful intellectually 
but beneficial physically. Since his return home 
he has taken a number of shorter trips, and has 
spent much of his time in visiting points of his- 
torical interest in old Mexico, has traveled through 
the south and into California, where he has en- 
joyed the benefits of a perfect climate and beautiful 
scenery. While he is no longer personally en- 
gaged in business as heretofore, he is by no 
means retired. He is interested in the Cripple 
Creek gold district in Colorado, owns considerable 
property in Excelsior Springs, Mo., as well as 
large real-estate interests in Lawrence, Kansas 
City and different parts of Missouri. 

The success which Mr. Mclntire has attained 
is remarkable when it is considered that he started 
for himself in Kansas a stranger, with but limited 
means. He had his own way to make in the 
world. Possessing a faculty for business, he was 
so sagacious in his judgment that he was fortu- 
nate from the first. When he began in Ottawa 
he had a capital of only $1 ,200, but within three 
and one-half years he had cleared almost $20,000, 
a result of energy, determination and wise judg- 
ment. The stores that he conducted in that city 
and Lawrence were as large as any either town 
possessed and were conducted with a keen super- 
vision and wise oversight characteristic of the 
owner. In Springfield he started the first large 



department store in the city, with a capital of 
nearly $125,000, the business being conducted 
under the firm title of the Mclntire, Grubbs & 
Anderson Dry Goods Company. 

In Lawrence Mr. Mclntire married Miss Clara 
E. Shearer, who was born in Prairie City, 111., 
and reared in Lawrence, receiving an excellent 
education in the University of Kansas. Her 
father, Hon. George Shearer, who was the largest 
real-estate owner in this citj' in early days, en- 
gaged in the mercantile business here and con- 
tinued successfully until he was burned out at the 
time of Quantrell's raid. Later he officiated as 
president of the Ottawa State Bank until his 
death. He was one of the original stockholders 
in the Farmers' State Bank, which was merged 
into the Merchants' National, and he was also a 
stockholder in the Lawrence National Bank. His 
death occurred in this city January 4, 1890. 

For many years Mr. Mclntire served as a trus- 
tee in the Presbyterian Church, and at this 
writing he is serving as deacon. At the time of 
the building of a new house of worship he served 
as chairman of the building committee having 
charge of the same, and he laid the corner stone 
of the new church July 12, 1S99. Politicallj' he 
has always been an adherent of Republican prin- 
ciples, and has voted that ticket at every presi- 
dential election since he attained his majority. 



HERMAN BLOCHBERGER, deceased, for- 
merly one of the successful business men of 
Leavenworth, was born in Saxe, Germany, 
January 22, 1846, a son of Wilhelm and Wilhel- 
mina ( Wohlfrom) Blochberger. His father, who 
was a member of an old and prominent Lutheran 
family of Germany, followed the occupation of a 
stock-dealer and also served in the army at two 
different times, taking part in the war with 
France. Of his eight sons, five came to Amer- 
ica, two of whom, Edward and Herman, settled 
in Leavenworth, while three remained in the 
east. 

In youth our subject learned the butcher's 
trade. He volunteered in the army and served 
in the war of 1866. During one battle in that 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



771 



war he and sixty comrades were ordered to the 
front. They obeyed the order and went into the 
thickest of the fight. When the battle was ended 
only he and one comrade were left out of the 
sixty. He received a sabre wound in the head, 
which confined him in a hospital for a time; his 
comrade also was wounded. Of all of the sixty 
they alone lived to tell the story of that battle. 
Upon the close of the war he was honorably dis- 
charged. Afterward he came to America and for 
a few years worked in Chicago. In the spring of 
1870 he came to Leavenworth, arriving in the 
city with only $ I in his possession. He secured 
employment at his trade, and worked in this way 
for two years, after which he started a butcher 
shop in North Leavenworth. On selling out that 
business he started a market on the corner of 
Fifth and Olive streets. For $ i , 600 he purchased 
two lots with a small frame building. As soon 
as he was able to do so he built a brick store of 
three stories, 24x90, at a cost of more than 
$6,000. In this place he carried on business dur- 
ing the remainder of his life. To assist him in 
his business he bought and fed cattle and also 
carried on a packing house. Uniform success 
rewarded his eSbrts. He became well-to-do. 
The lots that he purchased in the west part of 
the city increased in value, thereby benefiting 
him materially. He bought the remainder of the 
half-block between Chestnut and Walnut on Fifth 
street, and built a double brick structure, 48x90, 
three stories in height, at a cost of $9,000. He 
also erected a number of frame buildings. Both 
in the meat business and the real-estate improve- 
ments he was unusually successful. He did not 
take an active part in politics, although he al- 
ways voted the Democratic ticket. Fraternally 
he was a past ofiicer in Germania Lodge No. 9, 
I. O. O. F. His death occurred at his home in 
Leavenworth, February 27, 1896. 

The lady who, in 1872, became the wife of our 
subject was Miss Martha Wendel, a native of 
Rheinpfalz, Germany, the daughter of Frederick, 
and granddaughter of Frederick Wendel, Sr. , 
both of whom were engaged in the meat business. 
Her mother, who bore the maiden name of Bar- 
bara Huhn, was born in Germany and died in 



Leavenworth in 1886; she was a daughter of John 
Huhn, a cabinet-maker. Mrs. Blochberger was 
one of six children, viz.: Katie, who lives in 
Germany; Frederick, deceased; Martha; Mar- 
garet, Barbara and Jacob, who are in the old 
country. The children born to the marriage of 
our subject and his wife are named as follows: 
Herman F. , who has charge of the meat business 
started by his father; Edward, who has a bakery 
in Joplin, Mo. ; Henry, who is assistant foreman 
for the Armour packing house in Kansas City; 
Carl, a graduate of the University of Kansas law 
department, class of 1899, with the degree of 
LL. B.; Martha, a graduate of the Lawrence 
Business College and now employed as a stenog- 
rapher. The family are connected with the 
German Evangelical Lutheran Church and Mrs. 
Blochberger is an active worker in the Woman's 
Society of that congregation. She is a lady of 
earnest character, whose active life has been 
given to the rearing of her children and the 
management of her home. 



pCjlLLIAM CORLETT was a pioneer of '58 
\ A / in Kansas. During the early years of his 
V V residence here he endured all the hard- 
ships and privations incident to life in a new 
country, in addition to the dangers connected 
with border warfare. Nor did these represent 
the entire aggregate of his hardships; for he also 
had to endure three sieges of grasshoppers, in 
each of which he lost all he had. Sometimes he 
grew discouraged, but his brave wife by his side 
worked so courageously and spoke so hopefully 
that he began again with renewed energy. Now, 
in the twilight of his life, he is retired from ac- 
tive cares, and is living quietly on his farm in 
Tonganoxie Township, Leavenworth County. 

A native of the Isle of Man, born in 1830, Mr. 
Corlett spent his boyhood in that region made fa- 
mous by the noted author, Hall Caine. When 
nineteen years of age he took passage on a sailing 
vessel, which after a voyage of more than five 
weeks anchored in New York City. From there 
he went to Illinois, and engaged in farming and 
blacksmithing at Kankakee. Afterward he spent 



772 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



a short time in Mississippi, Louisiana and Georgia. 
In 1854 he returned to the Isle of Man, where he 
was married, in the Episcopal Church, to Sophia 
Cowen. Four 5'ears afterward he and his wife 
settled in Kansas. For two years he worked as 
a blacksmith in Anderson County, after which 
he came to Leavenworth County and began farm- 
ing and gardening. He owned a market garden 
near Leavenworth, and raised vegetables which 
he sold in town; at the same time his wife made 
and sold butter. In 1879 he bought one hundred 
and thirty acres on section 13, Tonganoxie Town- 
ship, where he has since made his home. On his 
place he has some cattle and hogs, but not enough 
to demand his constant attention, and he there- 
fore has leisure for the enjoyment of the comforts 
his former activitj' renders possible. During the 
war he served for three j'ears in the army. He 
has never been identified with any party and 
always refuses oiBcial positions; at one time he 
was elected justice of the peace, but refused to 
serve. Reared in the Methodist faith, he is a be- 
liever in Christianity and has aided various Prot- 
estant churches. 

Of the seven children of Mr. and Mrs. Corlett 
five are living, namely: John W.; Mary J., wife 
of D. V. Umholtz, a merchant at Neely; Charles 
Wesley, a farmer of Tonganoxie Township; Mar- 
garet, wife of P. Sanders; and Sophia, who mar- 
ried Edwin Carr. 



WILLIAM NADELHOFFER, a contractor 
of Lawrence, was born in Chicago, 111., 
September 22, 1845, a son of William and 
Mary (Wolfersheim) Nadelhofifer, natives of Al- 
sace. His father came to America in 1844 and 
settled in Chicago, but two j'ears later went to 
Naperville, 111., where he was an undertaker and 
was also interested in the organization of the 
Northwestern College, being one of its officers for 
a time. He died there at eighty- four years, and 
his widow is still living in the same town. Of 
his five sons and three daughters, William, the 
eldest, was reared in Naperville and completed 
his education in the academy there. At the 
opening of the Civil war he was anxious to en- 
list, but his parents refused. In 1862 he ran 



away from home and on the 7th of March en- 
listed in Company H, Seventeenth Illinois Cav- 
alry, which was sent to Alton, 111., to guard the 
old state prison. In August they were trans- 
ferred to the army of the west, and helped to drive 
Price out of Missouri, taking part in the battle of 
Big Blue. Afterward tliej' were sent against the 
Indians in Kansas and Colorado, going as far west 
as Salt Lake City. While bushwhacking in Mis- 
souri Mr. Nadelhoffer was wounded in the shoul- 
der and knee, and for two months was confined 
in a hospital at Kansas City. He was mustered 
out at Leavenworth, Kans., and honorably dis- 
charged at Springfield, 111., December 29, 1865. 

Returning to Naperville, Mr. Nadelhoffer 
learned the cabinet-maker's trade, under his 
father. In the spring of 1867 he came to Law- 
rence. He had visited this city twice before, the 
first time being in the fall of 1862 and the second 
time August 22, 1863, when, having just heard 
of the Quantrell raid, his regiment was sent from 
Missouri to assist in restoring order in the burned 
city. On settling here he worked at the carpen- 
ter's trade, and in 1883 began contracting. He 
had the contract for the Fowler shops, the first 
buildings of the Haskell Institute, the office 
building and the large barn there, two stores for 
Barthlow, Albach's block, the rebuilding of the 
opera house after the first fire, the building of the 
Johnson block and Donnelly's barn in Lawrence, 
the Santa Fe depot at Kingsley, Kans., the 
academy in Labette County, the schoolhouse and 
academy at Hesper, a fine residence for Charles 
Pilla at Eudora and numerous houses and busi- 
ness blocks in his home city. He was married in 
Lawrence to Mary A., daughter of George Mos- 
ser, and they have three children, Carrie, Emma 
and Minnie. 

Politically Mr. Nadelhofier is a Republican. 
From 1895 to 1899116 represented the third ward 
in the common council, where he was chairman 
of the committee on streets, alleys and bridges. 
He has the credit of starting the curbing of 
streets and condemning wooden sidewalks. He 
is a member of the Commercial Club. In the 
English Lutheran Church he is clerk of the board 
of trustees and contributes generously to the 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



773 



work. He is past officer of Lawrence Lodge 
No. 6, A. F. & A. M., and a member of the Fra- 
ternal Aid Association, the Modern Woodmen 
and Washington Post No. 12, G. A. R. 



["ORREST SAVAGE, one of the earliest set- 
r^ tiers of Lawrence, was born in Hartford, Vt. , 
I September 27, 1826, a son of William and 
Polly (Hazen) Savage, and a descendant of 
Scotch-Irish ancestry represented among the pio- 
neers of New England. His grandfather, Seth 
Savage, a native of Connecticut, was one of the 
first to settle at Hartford, Vt., where he engaged 
in farming until he died. During the war of 18 12 
he served in the American army. William Sav- 
age, who was a farmer in Vermont and a select- 
man there, first came to Kansas in 1855, and 
three years later settled in Lawrence, where he 
died at eighty-two years. His wife was born in 
Hartford, Vt. , and died in Lawrence aged eighty 
years. She was a daughter of Hezekiah Hazen, 
who was born in Connecticut and served in the 
war of the Revolution. 

The subject of this sketch was the third of four 
children. The eldest, Mrs. Maria Hood, now of 
California, formerly lived at Springfield, Mass., 
where her husband was associated with Dr. J. G. 
Holland in the publication of the Springfield 
Republican. Joseph, who came to Kansas with 
our subject, and was an early and prominent 
mineralogist here, died in Lawrence. Daphne 
died at ten years of age. Our .subject was educa- 
ted in the public .schools of Hartford. When he 
was a young man public attention was being 
called to the crisis in Kansas. One man, S. N. 
Wood, through his articles in the National Era, 
aroused a widespread interest in that region and 
induced many people to emigrate to the west. 
Our subject and his brother joined a party of one 
hundred and twenty that started from Boston in 
1854. Just before starting he went into a gun 
shop and was shown a Sharp gun, one of the first 
installment brought to Boston. Purchasing one 
of these, he took it with him, and as it was differ- 
ent from any ever seen and so superior to all 
others, it caused universal admiration and aston- 

37 



ishment, and led a company of militia to send in 
an order for the same make. No doubt this rifle 
saved their lives many a time. 

The party of emigrants went from Boston to 
Albany, where they stopped at the Delavan house. 
They proceeded by rail to Buffalo, crossed the 
lake to Detroit, thence went by rail to Chicago. 
The Chicago & Alton road had recently been 
completed to Alton, and they were among the 
first to travel over it, finding it very rough and 
jolty, presenting a marked contrast to the fine 
road of to-day. From Alton by boat they reached 
St. Louis, enjoying a ride down the Mississippi 
on one of those early river steamboats that were 
unrivalled for comfort and elegance. They pro- 
ceeded by boat from St. Louis to Kansas City, and 
there bought teams and wagons with which to 
complete the journey to Lawrence. It was for 
this party that the poet, John Greenleaf Whittier, 
composed the poem, "The Kansas Emigrants," 
from which we give a brief quotation: 

"We cross the prairies as of old 

The Pilgrims crossed the sea, 
To make the west, as they the east. 

The homestead of the free. 

"We go to rear a wall of men 

On Freedom's southern line, 
And plant beside the cotton-tree. 

The rugged northern pine." 

Arriving in Douglas County, Mr. Savage and 
his brother took up claims, but soon he returned 
to Vermont; for, not knowing of his trip to the 
west until the morning he started, he had not left 
his business affairs in satisfactory' condition. He 
remained in Vermont until the fall of 1S55, when 
he moved his family west and took up a claim 
four miles southwest of Lawrence, proving up on 
one hundred and sixty acres for which he has the 
government deed and which he still owns. By 
subsequent purchase he now owns three hun- 
dred and eighty- five acres of improved land. In 
1895 he left this place and moved to Lawrence, 
where he now lives, and where he owns a home 
place of four acres. During the Civil war he was 
mustered into the Third Kansas Militia for serv- 
ice in the Price raid, and, like many others, never 
received a discharge. When he came to Law- 



774 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



rence, he and his brother and several other mem- 
bers of the party organized a baud, which was 
the first band in Kansas. They plaj-ed at Topeka 
and different parts of the state and were well 
known; during part of the time he was leader. 
Of those who were original members of the band 
only two are living, himself and Leonard Wor- 
cester, now of Leadville. He continued a mem- 
ber of the band until about 1879. Politically he 
was a Republican until the Hayes campaign, 
since which time he has been independent, favor- 
ing free trade and free coinage as national issues. 
He is a member of Plymouth Congregational 
Church. Interested iu educational affairs from 
an early day, he was a member of the school 
board when an old log house was used for a 
school building and continued until after a frame, 
then a brick, and lastly another frame building, 
had been erected. 

In Hanover, N. H., March 8, 1849, Mr. Sav- 
age married Miss Lydia Worth, daughter of Na- 
thaniel and Martha (Chandler)Wortli, her father 
being a miller of Hanover, where she was born. 
They are the parents of four children: William, 
who is engaged in the grocery business in Law- 
rence; Emma; Mary; and Frank, a graduate of 
the University of Kansas and an attorney in this 
city. On the 8th of March, 1899, Mr. and Mrs. 
Savage celebrated their golden wedding, on 
which occasion they were the recipients of the 
hearty congratulations of their friends and rela- 
tives. 



(pi DAM D. McCUNE, a pioneer of 1857 a"d 
l\ one of the framers of the constitution of 
/ I Kansas, is remembered by the surviving 
settlers of that early day in Leavenworth County, 
but was known only by reputation to later 
comers, as he died nine years after locating in the 
west. He was born in Jefferson County, Ohio, 
November 26, 1827, a descendant of Scotch an- 
cestors, by whom the name was .spelled McCuen. 
Of the Quaker faith, they were prominent in pub- 
lic affairs in Philadelphia, but were expelled from 
their church because they fought for independ- 
ence during the Revolution, during which war 
Col. Thomas McCune won his apaulets. A 



brotherofthecolonel, Joseph, hadason, Thomas, 
who was born May 30, 1799, and removed to 
Ohio, where he died December 10, 1847. ^^ 
was engaged in farming in that state. 

The education of our subject was acquired in 
Ohio, and his boyhood years were spent upon a 
farm there. In 1857 he came to Kansas, making 
the trip by water and spending fifteen days en 
route. On his arrival in Leavenworth County 
he purchased five hundred and forty acres, all but 
one hundred and sixty acres of which he bought 
of a squatter, receiving a deed direct from the 
government. The land was entirely unimproved 
and not even fenced. He broke some of the 
ground and cut considerable timber. Turning 
his attention to general farm pursuits, he engaged 
in raising wheat, oats, barley and millet, and al.so 
raised stock. He was a strong free-state man. 
He attended the meeting of the legislature at 
Wyandotte which framed the state constitution. 
All helpful enterprises received his support, par- 
ticularly the educational interests of High Prairie 
Township. He assisted in laying out the roads 
in his township and was an enterprising man and 
good citizen. 

In Ohio, October 2, 1S51, Mr. McCune married 
Margaret A. Medill. Her father, Joseph Medill, 
came to this country from Ireland in boyhood and 
settled in Jefferson County, Ohio, where he en- 
gaged in farming and stock-raising. He was 
very prosperous and accumulated a large fortune. 
In his community he was prominent and in- 
fluential, and in religion was actively connected 
with the Presbyterian Church of Mount Pleasant, 
Ohio. The eight children of Mr. and Mrs. Mc- 
Cune were named as follows: Joseph A., now de- 
ceased; Harry Russell, a contractor in Leaven- 
worth; Martha M., wife of William Smith, and a 
resident of California; William O., a farmer of 
High Prairie Township; Ida B., who is the wife 
of Charles Van Tuyl, of Leavenworth; Nancy 
Evelyn, who married William M. Larson, and 
lives in Oakland, Cal.; Thomas L-, who is in 
Colorado; and Adam D., who conducts the home 
farm. 

Nine years after he came to Kansas Mr. Mc- 
Cune passed away, August 18, 1866. His widow 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



775 



was left with five hundred and forty acres, upon 
a part of which a mortgage rested. The oldest 
of her children was then only fourteen years of 
age. The family had only a log cabin for their 
home, and the outlook might have been dis- 
couraging to some, but not so to her. With in- 
domitable spirit, and assisted by her children, she 
conducted the farm, superintended the planting 
and harvesting of the crops, and finally suc- 
ceeded in clearing the debt. Since then she has 
been uniformly prosperous. She has given con- 
siderable attention to the raising of stock, though 
not neglecting the crops of grain. In religion 
she is a member of the Presbyterian Church. As 
her children became old enough to assist her they 
relieved her of many responsibilities, and now 
she is enabled to pass the twilight of her busy, 
active life in the enjoyment of the comforts she 
has justly earned. 



p GJlLLIAM O. McCUNE, who is engaged in 
\ A / farming in High Prairie Township, Leav- 
VV enworth County, was born July 28, 1858, 
upon the farm where he now resides. At an early 
age he began to assist in the cultivation of the 
land, and when nineteen he started out for him- 
self, renting a part of the home place. Two 
years later he became the owner of thirty-two 
acres, his share of the estate, and with this small 
acreage he laid the foundation of his present suc- 
cessful agricultural operations. From time to 
time he added to his property, and is now the 
owner of two hundred and ten acres, besides 
which he cultivates other land, his total holdings 
being three hundred and twenty acres. He has 
given special attention to stock-raising, and in 
cereals raises wheat, corn and oats. The land 
which he owns is improved by a neat residence, 
good fences, agricultural implements and the 
other equipments of a modern farm. Running 
water adds to the value of the place. 

In matters political Mr. McCune is independent, 
giving his vote for the man he considers best 
qualified to represent the people in offices of trust. 
In no sense of the word is he a politician. He is 
especially interested in educational work and for 



nine years has served as a member of the school 
board. He is identified with the Gospel Taber- 
nacle of High Prairie. His marriage took place 
December 24, 1884, and united him with Minnie 
Margaret Murray, of Leavenworth County. They 
are the parents of five children, to whom they are 
giving the best advantages possible; and who are 
named as follows: Blanche Viola, Forest Earl, 
Malcolm Lloyd, William Orval and Margaretta 
Ellen. 



. DWARD E. COOMBS, general manager of 
^ the Leavenworth electric railroad, was born 
__ in Des Moines, Iowa, May 26, 1S69, a son 
of Charles Thomas and Elvira Jane (Coombs) 
Coombs, both natives of Maine, but, so far as 
known, members of entirely different families. 
His paternal ancestors came to America in the 
"Mayflower" and were of Scotch and English 
extraction; his grandfather was a soldier in the 
warofi8i2. During the Civil war his father 
served for three and one-half years in the Union 
army, being in the fourth battery, army of the 
Potomac. Among the battles in which he took 
part were those at Gettysburg, the Wilderness, 
Richmond and Bull Run. At one time he swam 
across the Potomac with others and pushed a 
craft with a piece of artillery on it. When dis- 
charged, he held a second lieutenant's commis- 
sion. His principal business was shipbuilding, 
but after coming west he engaged in the stock 
business and later in contracting. He is now liv- 
ing retired in St. Louis. His four sons are 
Charles Franklin, of Chicago; Edward E.; A. H., 
of St. Louis; and George A. 

The education of our subject was acquired less 
in schools than by observation and experience. 
At eighteen years of age he entered the employ 
of the Fort Scott & Memphis Railroad Company, 
in the road and general freight department; later 
became general bookkeeper for the receiver of 
the Kansas City, Wyandotte & North- Western 
Railroad. Going to Chicago, he was employed 
in the accounting department of the American 
Debenture Company, in whose interests he went 
to Crawfordsville, Ind., as manager of the water 
works company. His next enterprise was as a 



776 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



real-estate and insurance agent in St. Louis. He 
went to Oklahoma during the opening of the 
Cherokee strip, remaining about eight months. 

After a year in Kansas City Mr. Coombs came 
to Leavenworth, where he became cashier of the 
Leavenworth Electric Railroad Company. In 
August, 1897, he became general manager of the 
road, which he has since superintended with 
success. In his politics he is independent. Fra- 
ternally he is connected with the Masonic order 
and the National Union. He is fond of athletic 
games and sports, and his vacations are spent 
with his gun and his fishing tackle in the woods 
or on the banks of the river. November 2, 
1892, he married Jessie Irene Peak, daughter of 
James Peak, of Kansas City. They have two 
daughters, Helen E. and Olive Elvira. 



30HN H. MAGERS has spent his entire life 
in Leavenworth, in which city he was born 
May 30, 1861. His father, Frederick (bet- 
ter known as Fritz) Magers, was a native of 
Hanover, Germany, and at thirteen years of age 
came to America in company with his parents, 
who settled on a farm in Platte County, Mo. 
When twenty-one years of age he secured em- 
ployment in a bank at Weston, that county, 
where for several years he was bookkeeper and 
clerk, but after a time he bought an interest in 
the business and became a partner in the bank. 
The company owning the bank started a store at 
Hickory Point, Jefferson County, Kans. , and 
Mr. Magers took charge of the same for a few 
months. Later, coming to Leavenworth, he 
bought an interest in a grocery business, but after 
a few years he embarked in the fruit and com- 
mission business and continued in this until 1872. 
His next venture was the purchase of a small 
fruit farm in the suburbs, where he made his 
home during the remainder of his life. As a 
Democrat he was active in local affairs. He 
was a believer in universal education, and did all 
within his power to promote the interests of local 
schools, and served as a member of the school 
board for twenty years. Prominent in Masonry 
throughout Kansas aud Missouri, he was identi- 



fied with the blue lodge, chapter, commanderj' 
and Scottish Rite, and was an officer in the lodge 
at Leavenworth for almost a quarter of a century. 
He was a man of energy and resolute force of 
character, and activelj- promoted enterprises for 
the advancement of Leavenworth in important 
directions. His death occurred August 21, 1895, 
when he was sixty-six years of age. He left four 
children, Sophie, William, John H. and Rosie, 
who were born of his union with Sophia Shorn- 
horst, a native of Hanover, but from one year of 
age a resident of the United States. In religion 
he was a faithful member of the German Lu- 
theran Church. 

When twenty-four years of age our subject 
started out in life for himself, and for eleven years 
he engaged in the grocerj' business in Leaven- 
worth. This, however, he sold in 1897 in order 
to give his entire attention to the duties of depu- 
tj' .sheriff. After a year in the latter position he 
resigned and became interested with the Stand- 
ard Publishing Company as solicitor and col- 
lector, in which business he is still engaged. He 
is married and has two children, John and Rosie. 

In politics Mr. Magers has always supported 
Democratic principles. In the spring of 1897 ^i^ 
was elected alderman of the fifth ward, receiving 
the largest majority ever given any candidate in 
this ward. He has long been identified with 
Leavenworth Lodge No. 2, A. F. & A. M., and 
at one time was the youngest member of the blue 
lodge in the state. He is also connected with the 
Improved Order of Red Men, the Foresters and 
Ivanhoe Lodge No. 14, K. P. 



(TOHN A. BIEDERMAN.a well-known farm- 
I er of Salt Creek Valley, and deputy sheriff of 
Q) Leavenworth County, was born in Germany 
November 5, 1858, a son of Moritz and Susan- 
nah Biederman, the former a miller by occupa- 
tion. He was educated in local schools and for a 
year was employed as traveling salesman for a 
wholesale milling house. In order to avoid serv- 
ice in the German army he left his native land 
and came to America, landing in New Orleans 
January 6, 1877, when eighteen years of age. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



777 



The trip across the ocean and gulf was made on 
the steamer "Elbe," and occupied thirty days; 
some years afterward his vessel was lost at sea. 
At the time he boarded the vessel at Bremen 
a ship was exploded in the harbor there by Mr. 
Thomas, who was quite prominent on account of 
work of that kind. 

After spending six months in New Orleans 
Mr. Biederman proceeded to St. Louis, Mo. , and 
there remained until iSyg.whenhecame to Leav- 
enworth, Kaus. Near this city he secured work 
on a farm. In 1881 he began farming for himself 
in Salt Creek Valley, renting land owned by J.F. 
Taj'lor, and continuing there until 1889. He 
then moved to the city and began in the grocery 
business at No. 19 Kickapoo street. One year 
later he bought the old valley water house on 
military road and there opened a general store, 
besides which he carried on general farming. In 
1895 he opened a live-stock yard and livery sta- 
ble on Shawnee street in Leavenworth, and this 
be conducted for three years. Since 1898 he has 
given his attention largely to his duties as depu- 
ty sheriff; but in addition he carries on a farm 
of one hundred and sixty acres in Kickapoo 
Township. For one year he operated a thresh- 
ing machine for J. F. Taylor. In his various en- 
terprises he has shown him.self to be a man of en- 
ergy, industry and perseverance. He has been 
especially successful in the stock business, and 
feeds cattle in large numbers, afterward shipping 
them by the carload to the market. 

Ever since becoming a citizen of the United 
States Mr. Biederman has voted the Democratic 
ticket. He has been active in local politics. For 
two years he was township trustee. He has been 
a member of the school board of district No. 77, 
and has assisted in promoting the interests of the 
school here. In January, 1882, he was united 
in marriage with Mrs. Elizabeth (Taylor) Phile, 
and they have a pleasant home in Kickapoo 
Township. Fraternally he is identified with Hi- 
ram Lodge No. 68, A. F. & A. M., in which he 
has passed the chairs; Kickapoo Lodge No. 68, 
K. P.; and Lowemont Camp, Modern Woodmen 
of America. In 1893 he returned to Germany to 
visit his parents and friends, and remained abroad 



for six months renewing the associations of boy- 
hood. His parents were then living, but they 
died during the same year, shortly after his re- 
turn to the United States. 



HENRY BRUCE CALLAHAN, M. D., was 
born in Louisville, Ky., July 21, 1819, and 
died in his old arm chair in his ofEce at 
Leavenworth November 23, 1895, after an honor- 
able and useful life of seventy-six years. He 
was a member of an old Kentucky family and 
was the only child of his parents. When he was 
quite small his father died, but his mother was 
spared to the age of eighty-three years. After 
having graduated from the Ohio Medical College 
of Cincinnati with the degree of M. D., about 
1842, he began the practice of his profession in 
Kansas City, and he also engaged in the sawmill 
business there. In an early day he came to 
Leavenworth, where he built one of the first 
houses in the town. Afterward for many years 
he practiced in Platte City, Mo., and was in that 
city during a part of the Civil war, but went from 
there back to Ohio, practicing for two years in 
Cincinnati, and later spent a year in Indiana. 
Shortly after the close of the war he returned to 
Platte City. 

In 1866 Dr. Callahan established his home per- 
manently in Leavenworth, and in time he became 
one of the foremost citizens and most successful 
physicians of the city. For years he was a mem- 
ber of the pension board here. He was also 
actively identified with the State and Eastern 
District Medical Societies. At one time he held 
the office of police commissioner. For fifty years 
he was a member of the Masonic fraternitj-, being 
connected during much of that time with Leav- 
enworth Lodge No. 2, A. F. & A. M. He was 
one of the most active members of the Baptist 
Church in Leavenworth and was one of its 
deacons. Recognizing the awful ruin wrought 
by intoxicating drinks, he ca,st his influence with 
the Prohibitionists and ever afterward, both in 
precept and example, gave his support to that 
movement. The Prohibition part}- received his 
vote and his allegiance, and he was one of its 



778 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



most prominent members in Kansas. After he 
had engaged in the practice of medicine for fifty- 
two years he was given a reception in celebration 
of his long and honorable connection with the 
medical fraternitj', and the occasion was made 
even more memorable by the presentation of an 
ebony gold-headed cane to him. When he passed 
away resolutions were passed by the Masons and 
the physicians of Leavenworth, testifying to the 
high esteem in which he was held and to the loss 
sustained in his death. His body was taken to 
his former home in Platte City and there laid to 
rest beside the remains of his wife, Sarah H. 
(Metcalf) Callahan, who had died during the 
war, her death resulting from a fright received on 
the night the Platte County court house was 
burned. 

In the family of Dr. Callahan there were six 
children. The eldest, Henry Thomas, was a 
farmer in Platte County and died there. Those 
now living are Pickett L-, of Rocky Ford, Colo.; 
Elizabeth Jane, of Marceline, Mo.; Alfred; Mrs. 
Mary Early, of Marceline; and William Paxton, 
also of Marceline. 



GlLFRED CALLAHAN. One of the well- 
L_l known business men of Leavenworth, who 
/ I during business activities covering a con- 
siderable period has gained prominence in his 
special occupation, is the subject of this sketch, 
the proprietor of a men's furnishing and merchant 
tailoring establishment at Np. 114 South Fifth 
street. Since he bought out the business of C. H. 
Durfee, in 18S3, he has built up an extensive 
trade and established a reputation for efficiency 
in his work. His establishment is the finest of 
its kind in the city, and is conducted systematic- 
ally and with sound business judgment. 

Mr. Callahan was born in Platte City, Mo., 
May 5, 1854, a son of Henry Bruce Callahan, 
M. D. He was a boy when the family settled in 
Leavenworth, and here he attended the public 
schools. When eighteen he began to clerk for a 
dry-goods firm in this city, and he continued as 
an employe of various establishments until he 
started in business for hiuLself in 1SS3. His 
attention is given quite closely to the management 



of his business interests. In politics he has not 
been active, although always interested and well 
posted. Prior to 1896 he was a Democrat, but 
now votes independently. In religion he is con- 
nected with the Baptist Church. 

As a blue lodge and chapter Mason Mr. Cal- 
lahan is actively connected with that order. He 
is past chancellor of the Knights of Pythias and 
past first lieutenant of the Uniform Rank. He is 
also connected with the National Union and the 
National Reserve Association, of which latter he 
is the secretary. His marriage took place in 
Brooklyn, N. Y., and united him with Miss Belle 
Leidy, who was born in Keokuk, Iowa, and lived 
in the east until her marriage. 



30HN K. FAULKNER. When Mr. Faulk- 
ner first arrived in Kansas, June 20, 1849, it 
was one of the unknown regions of the 
United States, for the free-state agitation had not 
yet brought it into national prominence. His 
early life on the plains was replete with excite- 
ment and not a little danger, but being absolutely 
fearless, he remained undaunted in the midst of 
perils, and looks back upon that period of his life 
as one of the most interesting. After an exist- 
ence more than ordinarily active he has retired 
from business cares and is spending his declining 
years quietly in the citj' of Leavenworth. 

Mr. Faulker was born in Monongolia County, 
W. Va., October 10, 1826. His father, Alexan- 
der Faulkner, immigrated to America at an early 
age and settled in Virginia, where he engaged in 
the manufacture of nails and other articles. 
These he afterward shipped down the river and 
sold in Pittsburgh. Our subject's education was 
obtained in subscription schools. When eighteen 
he began to teach school, in which occupation he 
gradually worked his way west, teaching in Ohio 
and Missouri. Having clerked in a store for 
three years and thus gained valuable experience, 
he started in the mercantile business at Farley, 
Platte County, Mo., where he continued for fif- 
teen years. When the war broke out he settled 
his accounts in the best way possible, transferring 
notes into cattle, etc. , and sending them to his 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



779 



ranch in High Prairie Township. He then bought 
twenty heavy wagons and started for Denver in 
1 86 1 with a load of merchandise for Kiscaden & 
Co., of Leavenworth. While crossing the plains 
he had considerable trouble with the Indians, but 
finally reached his destination in safety. Later 
he made several trips with ox-teams from Leav- 
worth to Salt Lake City. The return trips were 
usually made by stage. On one of these trips he 
came up with a train that had been attacked by 
Indians, and as Governor Gilpin and his wife, of 
Colorado, were on the stage he pulled some ar- 
rows out of the cattle and gave them to Mrs. 
Gilpin for mementoes. 

In 1864 Mr. Faulkner went to Texas and 
started in the cattle business with one thousand 
head. He sold several hundred head to Chicago 
and St. Louis parties and drove others to his 
ranch in Leavenworth County, while some he 
shipped to Buffalo, N. Y. Afterward he engaged 
in cattle-raising on his ranch, which he trans- 
formed from bare prairie land to a fine farm. He 
also bought other lands until finally he owned 
one thousand acres. The corn and hay raised 
were used principally for feeding to his stock 
during the winter. There being no market in 
Kansas City then, he sold in St. Louis and Chi- 
cago. In the spring of 1895, owing to trouble 
with rheumatism, he gave up the control of his 
farm to his sons and went to Excelsior, Mo. 
There he bought the Saratoga house, which he 
rebuilt and furnished, and this he still owns. 
After two years he returned to Leavenworth and 
bought a home on the corner of Spring Garden 
and Vilas streets, where he has since resided. In 
the care of his garden and the oversight of his 
property he finds sufficient to engage his attention. 

While not a politician in the usual accept- 
ance of that term, Mr. Faulkner has always 
been interested in municipal and general affairs. 
For four terms he was a member of the state 
legislature, once by appointment and three times 
by election. Office has never had any attraction 
for him, and he has usually refused nominations. 
But the positions which he accepted and to which 
he was nominated without his knowledge, he 
consented to fill only after considerable urging 



and when he was told that his acceptance was 
necessary for his party's sake. He has always 
voted the Democratic ticket. He is interested in 
school work and for thirty years was treasurer of 
the Faulkner school district, which was named in 
his honor. He has assisted in erecting several 
school buildings. By his marriage, April 4, 
1858, to Margaret Stearnes, of Leavenworth 
County, he has five sons: William K., Charles, 
Reese, Clarence and James, all in Leavenworth 
County except Charles, who is in Oklahoma. To 
each of his sons he gave a farm excepting Charles, 
whom he assisted in other ways. 



EHARLES W. HIGGINS, manager of J. P. 
Usher's cattle ranch near Pomona, Frank- 
lin County, was born in Sedalia, Mo., in 
1866, a son of Abraham and Julia (Harvey) Hig- 
gins, and a nephew of Moses Harvey, of Leaven- 
worth County. He was one of three children, 
the others being James, of Brighton, Colo., and 
Elizabeth D., wife of J. P. Larkin. His father, 
who was a native of Missouri, devoted his entire 
active life to agricultural pursuits, and was con- 
sidered one of the most extensive and enterpris- 
ing farmers near Sedalia. In the latter city he 
died in 1871. 

When our subject was a boy of fourteen years 
his mother removed to Colorado and he grew to 
manhood near Denver, receiving his education in 
common schools. While still quite young he be- 
came interested in the stock business, and for 
years engaged in buying and selling cattle in the 
vicinity of Denver. Having followed the cattle 
business during so nuich of his life, and being a 
man of good judgment, he is well versed in all 
the details of this industry, and few are better 
judges of stock than he. In 1897 ^^ came to 
Kansas, where he has since had charge of the 
Usher cattle ranch of twenty-three hundred acres. 
The land is used principally for pasturage, al- 
though some four hundred acres are planted in 
corn, to be used as feed. In the winter of 189S- 
99 ten hundred and twenty-eight head of beef 
and stock cattle were fed on the ranch, in addi- 
tion to which a large number of Poland-China 



ySo 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



hogs are raised. The place is the largest stock 
ranch in Franklin County, and an immense 
amount of responsibility is involved in its man- 
agement, but the present manager has used dis- 
cretion and sagacity in all of the work, and as a 
consequence the results have been satisfactory to 
the owner. 

In politics Mr. Higgins is independent. While 
in Colorado he was actively connected with Fi- 
delity Lodge No. 20, I. O. O. F. He was mar- 
ried March 18, 1896, to Miss Mary Ficker, who 
was born in Germany, and by whom he has two 
children, James and Julia. 



IILLIAM MOYS, deceased, who was one of 
the pioneers of 1857 in Lawrence, was born 
in Kent, England, in 1839, and atsix j^ears 
of age was brought to America by his parents, 
John and Elizabeth Moys. His father, who was 
a brickmason and contractor, settled in Indiana, 
but in 1857 brought the family to Kansas, lo- 
cating on a farm near Americus, but later moved 
to Pullman, Wash., and at an advanced age dy- 
ing at Colfax, that state. His wife also passed 
away there. They were the parents of eight 
children, of whom John and William served in 
the same regiment during the Civil war. John 
was a corporal and was wounded in the .service. 
William, who was fourth among the children, 
learned the brickmason's trade under his father, 
and this occupation he followed until the opening 
of the war. June 3, 1861, he enlisted in Com- 
pany D, First Kan.sas Infantry. In the battle of 
Wilson's Creek, that year, he was severely 
wounded by a gunshot that passed through his 
left side. He was left on the battlefield for dead, 
in the hands of the Confederates, but was finally 
picked up by an ambulance and brought to a 
hospital. As soon as able he returned to his home 
for recuperation, and in time rejoined his regi- 
ment in Tennessee, but was physically too weak 
to endure the strain of army life. For this rea- 
son he was honorably discharged September 17, 
1862. The injury received in the war he con- 
tinued to suffer from, but, being ambitious b}' 
nature, he worked at his trade and engaged in 



contracting. Finall)-, however, he became too 
ill to work any longer, and on the 5th of Novem- 
ber, 1870, he died, a martyr to the cause of the 
Union. He was a man of energetic disposition, 
kind heart and great perseverance, and had he 
lived would undoubtedly have been very success- 
ful in his chosen occupation. In religion he was 
identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Near Lawrence, June 5, 1859, Mr. Moys mar- 
ried Miss Emily J. Tabor, who was born at Hol- 
land, Orleans County, Vt., a daughter of Cor- 
nelius D. and Sarah (Ferrin) Tabor, natives of 
Vermont. The former, who was the son of a 
Revolutionary soldier, settled in Kansas in 1857 
with his son, John, and afterward, when his sons, 
John and Horace A. W., moved to Denver, he 
joined them in that citj', where he died. His 
body was brought to Lawrence for burial. One 
of his sons, Lemuel, remains in Holland, Vt.; 
another, John F. , died in Denver, in November, 
1898; and the third, Horace A. W., whose name 
is known throughout the entire country, died in 
Denver, April 10, 1899, and his funeral, held a 
few days later, was the largest service of the 
kind ever held in Colorado. The history of this 
man is the record of a remarkable life. Born in 
Vermont in 1830, he came to Kansas in 1855, 
and soon gained prominence in the free-soil party. 
He was elected a member of the Topeka legis- 
lature in 1857, but that body was dispersed by 
Federal troops, acting on the orders of the war 
department. 

At the time of the discovery of gold in Colo- 
rado Mr. Tabor went to the mountains, where, 
until 1879, he met with only ordinary success. 
During that year two men working in his employ 
discovered the Little Pittsburgh mine, which was 
soon producing $8,000 a week. The Little Pitts- 
burgh Consolidated Company was organized with 
a capital of $20,000,000, and afterward Mr. Tabor 
sold his interest to his partners. Senator Chaffee 
and David MoiTat, for $1,000,000. He had also 
become the owner of other valuable interests. 
The Matchless alone yielded him an income of 
$2,000 a day. For a time he was the wealthiest 
man in the state; everything he touched .seemed 
to turn to gold. In 1878 he was elected lieuten- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



781 



ant-governor of Colorado. Later he filled an 
unexpired term as United States senator. He 
built the Tabor block in Denver and an opera 
house that was at the time unsurpassed by an}^ in 
the country. He did much to promote the wel- 
fare of his state, and, although during his later 
years unfortunate investments caused the loss of 
almost his entire property, he never lost the 
respect of the people to whom his genial, kindly 
ways had endeared him. 

Mrs. Moys was reared in Vermont and was a 
young lady of twenty when the family came west. 
Since her hu.sband's death she has spent con- 
siderable time in travel, visiting frequently^in 
Denver, but making her home in Lawrence, where 
she owns valuable property. She is a member 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church and connected 
with some of its societies. For several years she 
served as president of the Woman's Relief Corps, 
and was several times its representative in de- 
partment and national encampments. She is also 
connected with the Eastern Star. In her family 
there are four children. Her older son, William 
H., has for some years been the popular general 
delivery clerk at the Lawrence postoffice and is 
now at the head of the distributing department. 
The daughters are Mrs. Mary Simpson, of Gallup, 
N. M.; and Mrs. Blanche Wiley, of Lawrence. 
The younger son, Frederick C, is president and 
manager of the Moys Hardware Company, own- 
ers of a large hardware store at Cripple Creek, 
Colo. 



(Joseph Alexander cranston, city 

I marshal of Leavenworth, and a resident of 
(2) this city since June 3, 1874, was born in the 
city of Sandusky, Ohio, October 26, 1850, a son 
of Alexander and Edith (Johnson) Cranston, 
natives of the north of Ireland. The former, 
who was the son of a Scotchman, was a contract- 
ing mason, and followed that occupation in San- 
dusky. During the '70s he had a contract for 
building the Missouri Pacific Railroad between 
Kansas City and Leavenworth, and he also had 
other contracts for building railroads through the 
west. He died in Leavenworth and was buried 
in Mount Muncie cemetery. His wife, who was 



a sister of L. B. Johnson, owner of Johnson's 
Island, in Lake Erie, died at the home of her son, 
our subject, in 1896. Of her five children two 
are living, one son, William, being in Chicago. 

The education of our subject was obtained in 
the Sandusky schools. In 1880 he started in the 
hack and livery business, and has since built up 
a large trade in this line. He has his stables at 
Nos. 320-322 Cherokee street. In addition to 
the general management of this business he is 
serving his third term as city marshal, a position 
which, since the abolishment of the metropolitan 
police service, is one of great responsibility, it 
being a difficult task to adequately protect the 
city. He is stanch in his adherence to Demo- 
cratic principles and always gives his allegiance 
to the candidates of the regular party ticket. 
Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of 
Pythias. 

The marriage of Captain Cranston took place 
in Leavenworth and united him with Miss Sadie 
Hollowkamp, who was born in Pennsylvania and 
accompanied her parents to Kansas. She is an 
active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
The three children comprising the family of Cap- 
tain and Mrs. Cranston are William A., Edith 
and Joseph Albert. 



(Tames a. hill, in the character of its 
I farming population Fairmount Township 
C2/ ranks with the best townships in Leaven- 
worth County, and none of its farmers is more 
highly respected than Mr. Hill. He is a pioneer 
of '59 in this county, where for a few years he 
made his home upon a farm of one hundred acres 
in High Prairie Township, but in 1864 he pur- 
chased one hundred and sixty acres in Fairmount 
Township, which property has since been in- 
creased by purchase to two hundred acres. Dur- 
ing the years he has made his home here he has 
planted trees that greatly add to the desirability 
of the farm, and has also built a neat residence 
and other farm buildings. He is engaged in 
general farming and stock-raising and has met 
with success that is gratifying. 

Our subject's grandfather, James Hill, was 



782 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



born in Ireland and when a small bojcameto the 
United States with his parents, settling in Vir- 
ginia. At the opening of the Revolutionarj- war 
he enlisted under George Washington and took 
part in many battles, remaining in active service 
until the close of the war. Samuel, son of James 
Hill, was born in Virginia and from there moved 
to Tennessee, where he remained for a few years. 
During his residence there he started south with 
General Jackson, but, meeting with an accident, 
was obliged to return home. Shortly afterward 
lie moved to Garrett County, Ky., and from there 
moved to Casey County, the same state. His last 
years were spent in Lincoln County, Ky., where 
he owned a fine farm. He died in 1838, at fifty- 
six years of age. His wife, who bore the maiden 
name of Rebecca Bollin, was born in Virginia, 
where her ancestors had come from Ireland; her 
father was a soldier under Washington during 
the Revolutionary war. Mrs. Rebecca Hill died 
in Kentucky at ninety years of age. Of her ten 
children Mrs. Wood and James A. Hill are the 
only survivors. The latter was born in Casey 
County, Ky., August 5, 1825, and spent his boy- 
hood days in Lincoln County, where he received 
a common-school education. At the age of 
twenty he began to farm on the old homestead, 
but in 1857 removed to Buchanan County, Mo., 
where he remained for eighteen months. From 
there he came to Kansas, where he has since 
built up a reputation as one of Leavenworth 
County's mo.st energetic farmers. 

Politically Mr. Hill is a Democrat, interested 
in party succe.ss, but not partisan in his views. 
He has frequently been selected to serve as a 
member of the school board, in which capacity 
he has worked to promote the interests of the 
school in his district. During the Civil war his 
sympathies were with the Union. At the time of 
Price's raid he went out with the militia to fight 
the .southern raider and took part in the battle of 
Westport, where he was taken prisoner. During 
the eight days of his retention by the Confeder- 
ates he was forced to take part in a hurried march 
of two hundred miles toward the Arkansas River 
and was paroled in southern Missouri. 

February 10, 1848, Mr. Hill married Mary A. 



Vostick, who was born in Kentucky. Thej- be- 
came the parents of five children, namely: John 
T.; MoUie, who is the wife of Robert Sopher; 
George T., James P. and Andrew J. Mr. and 
Mrs. Hill are members of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church. During their married life of more 
than fifty years they have made many friends in 
the various localities where they have resided, 
and by their nobility of character have always 
been esteemed by their acquaintances. 



(TOHN B. HALLAUX, who is engaged in 
I gardening and fruit-raising in the suburbs 
(Z/ of Leavenworth, was born in 1831 on the 
line of Belgium and France, being a son of John 
B. and Catherine (Ferdinand; Hallaux, natives 
respectively of France and Belgium. He was 
one of three children, the second of whom, Jacob, 
is a gardener in Leavenworth, while the only 
daughter, Henrietta, is married and lives in Illi- 
nois. His education, owing to lack of opportu- 
nities, was very meagre, but he has traveled ex- 
tensively and by observation has gained a large 
fund of information of a varied nature. During 
boyhood he became familiar with the mason's 
trade under his father. He sejfved in the Crimean 
war as a corporal, and upon being honorably dis- 
charged from the army came to America, where 
for two years he was employed in Wisconsin and 
for one year in Illinois. 

A pioneer of 1857 in Leavenworth, Mr. Hal- 
laux, soon after his arrival, purchased the six- 
teen acres upon which he has since made his 
home. The land was then covered with brush 
and contained no improvements whatever. He 
has transformed it into a fine market garden and 
fruit farm and has engaged in raising blackberries 
and strawberries, as well as vegetables, for which 
he finds a sale in the city. The land lies partly 
in the city limits and partly in Delaware Tow)i- 
ship, and is improved with a two-story stone 
house built by Mr. Hallaux. When a company 
of militia was formed in Leavenworth he joined 
the same and was made a lieutenant. When the 
company was sent out to repulse General Price he 
was promoted to be captain. In politics he votes 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



783 



with the Republican party, both in national and 
local elections. His marriage took place in 1856 
and united him with Eugenia Bero, who at that 
time was living in Wisconsin. They are the 
parents of two children, Herman and Emil, both 
of whom reside in Leavenworth. 



3AC0B SCHWAGLER, a farmer of Delaware 
Township, Leavenworth County, was born 
in the kingdom of Wurtemberg, Germany, 
in 1827, being the son of George Schwagler, a 
wine-grower there. He was educated in Ger- 
many and at eighteen years of age came to 
America in the sailing-vessel "Elizabeth," 
which was eighty -five days in crossing the ocean. 
His first act on arriving in this country was to 
enlist on a United States man-of-war, but a man 
to whom his father had written regarding him 
secured his release from the service, as he was 
under age. He then hired out to a farmer at 
New Brunswick, N. J., receiving $5 a month. 
After a year he went on the canal to Pittsburgh, 
thence worked his way to St. Louis, and from 
there went up the river to Galena, 111., later to 
Fort Snelling. On the boat "Senator" he formed 
the acquaintance of Captain Schmidt, who in- 
duced him to learn the pilot's business and se- 
cured him work between Galena and Fort Snel- 
ling. For twelve years he was employed as a 
Mississippi River pilot. He piloted down the 
river a raft bearing from Houston County, Minn., 
the timber used in the construction of the first 
bridge across the river at Rock Island. On 
resigning as pilot he went to Europe, where he 
spent seven months. 

The year 1858 found Mr. Schwagler in Kansas. 
He had been at Fort Leavenworth in 1848, as 
an interpreter for the government in its communi- 
cations with the Winnebago Indians, and again, 
in 1854, he visited the state. On finally coming 
here as a permanent settler he squatted on land 
north of Leavenworth, but was driven ofi". In 
1862 he bought the place on section 10 where he 
now lives, and added to his property in 1866 by 
the purchase of forty-four and one- half acres 
adjoining, for which he paid $1.25 an acre. The 



land was covered with brush and he made all of 
the improvements. For some time he had a 
tavern, but it burned down in 1898 and he then 
erected his present residence. In 1859 he crossed 
the plains on the old Smoky Hill route with ox- 
teams and mined at Central City and Russell 
Gulch, Colo., returning home in the fall. Again, 
in the spring of i860, he crossed the plains with 
team and mined at California Gulch, where he 
was successful. 

In politics Mr. Schwagler is a Democrat. He 
served as road overseer for twenty-eight years. 
At Brownsville, Minn., he married Hannah Cox, 
who was born in Harrison County, Va. They 
became the parents of eleven children, but only 
three are li'ving. The oldest, MoUie, who was a 
high school teacher, married a gentleman who is 
now in the government employ in Cuba. The 
second daughter, Jennie, resides with her sister 
in Arizona. The son, Scott, assists his father 
in the cultivation of the home farm. 



~ DWIN L. CARNEY. The Carney family 
^ was founded in America by four brothers 
__ from Ireland, who first settled in New York 
and afterwards two went to Pennsylvania and two 
to Ohio. From the Ohio branch descended James 
Carney, a farmer, and a lifelong resident of the 
Buckeye state. His oldest son, Dr. Theodore 
Carney, died at Boonville, Mo. The second and 
third sons, LeRoy and Thomas, came to Kansas 
and embarked in business at Leavenworth, where 
the former died in i860, and the latter afterward 
became governor of the state. The remaining 
son, Craton, first settled in northwestern Mis- 
souri, but about the opening of the Civil war he 
removed to Leavenworth, and his death occurred 
in High Prairie Township in 1886. 

The birth of the subject of this sketch occurred 
in Kenton, Ohio, August 16, 1852, his parents 
being Hon. Thomas and Rebecca Ann (Canaday) 
Carney. His education was begun in Ohio, but 
was obtained principally in the schools of Leaven- 
worth, where the family established their perma- 
nent home in i860. He was the first graduate 
of the Leavenworth high school. Afterward he 



784 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



entered the literary department of Harvard Col- 
lege, from which he graduated, after a four j-ears' 
course, in 1875, with the degree of A. B. Return- 
ing to Leavenworth, he at once began the study 
of law, and in 1877 was admitted to practice at 
the bar of Kansas. Since then he has given his 
attention closely to professional work and has 
built up a large and important practice, especially 
in civil law. For two years (1879-81) beheld 
the office of city attorney, and during the latter 
part of his term took a very active part in the re- 
vision of the city charter. 

The interest which Mr. Carney maintains in 
public affairs is that of a loyal, progressive citizen, 
who desires to see his home town advance in ma- 
terial prosperity, and who also has at heart the 
welfare of his state. In politics he is a Repub- 
lican. He has never deviated from his allegiance 
to his party and his support of its men and meas- 
ures. He is a prominent Mason, having attained 
the degree of Knight Templar. His marriage in 
Leavenworth united him with Marj-, daughter 
of F. P. FitzWilliam, one of the pioneers of 
this citj'. 

(Tames H. BEDDOW, range rider and in- 
I spector of the military reservation at Fort 
(2/ Leavenworth, is probably the oldest surviv- 
ing .settler of this part of Kansas, having come 
hereabout 1848. His has been a very eventful 
life, filled with adventure, hardships and frontier 
experiences, and now, in his declining years, he 
enjoys the respect and good will of all with whom 
he has been associated. He was born at Har- 
rodsburg, Mercer County, Ky., January 4, 1826, 
a .son of James H. and Elizabeth (Cruse) Beddow, 
natives of Lynchburg, Va. His paternal ances- 
tors came from France and were earlj' settlers of 
Virginia. His father, who fought during the 
war of 18 12 as midshipman in the navy, .served as 
county clerk and probate judge of Mercer Coun- 
ty, Ky. He and his wife died in Mercer County 
and were buried at the old homestead there. Of 
their four children the subject of this sketch is 
the only one known to be living. He was reared 
on the liome farm, and learned the tailor's trade 
in youth, but followed it for a short time only. 



At the breaking out of the Mexican war Mr. 
Beddow enli.sted in the First Dragoons, U. S. A., 
Troop K, and was sent to the practicing school 
at Carlisle Barracks. During the four years that 
he remained in the regular army he had consid- 
erable hard .service on the plains in Kansas, Colo- 
rado, Dakota and New Mexico. He came with 
his company to Kansas about 1848. On being 
discharged from the army, Augu.st 24, 1850, he 
became connected with the quartermaster's de- 
partment at Fort Leavenworth, where he was 
under civilian law, and held all the positions to 
which a civilian was eligible. In 1877 he was 
appointed to his present position, that of range 
rider for the quartermaster's department, having 
charge of all the government lands under orders 
from the commanding officer of the post. His 
entire time is spent in inspecting the range, which 
consists of fifty-eight hundred acres in Kansas 
and nine hundred and ninety-nine acres across 
the river in Missouri. He is in point of years of 
service the oldest employe of the government at 
Fort Leavenworth, and is probably the oldest 
surviving resident of eastern Kansas, where he 
first arrived on Christmas eve of 1848. 

During the Kansas war of 1856 Mr. Beddow was 
messenger for Major Sedgwick and Col. E. V. 
Sumner: also for Colonel Johnson, and carried 
all dispatches from the fort to the commanding 
officers in the field. From the United States 
marshal he received appointment as deputy mar- 
shal at the fort, which position he held for twelve 
years. During the opening months of the Civil 
war he went to Nebraska to look after a large 
tract of land he owned there. While there he 
was attacked by highwaymen , who supposed he 
had with him money to pay off his men. He 
was so brutally attacked by them that he lost his 
right eye and lay uncon-scious for eleven days, 
after which for ninety days he hovered between 
life and death. It was months before he regained 
his strength and was able to resume work. He 
had given considerable attention to his property 
in Nebraska, where he had extensively engaged 
in raising stock and in general farming, but after 
this he disposed of the land. In politics he has 
always been a Democrat, but by military regula- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



785 



tions is not allowed to vote; however, he served 
as judge of elections for Kickapoo Township 
several times during the Civil war. He is a mem- 
ber of the Army and Navy Union at Fort I<eav- 
vvorth. 

In 1865 Mr. Beddow married Mary Ruder, sis- 
ter of Frederick Ruder, of L,eavenwortli. They 
have four children: James H., Jr., of Kansas 
City; William A., who went to Santiago with the 
Twentieth Regulars and served as teamster until 
the troops were returned to the United States, 
since which time he has been employed at the 
fort;- Robert J. and May, both of whom are in 
Kansas City. Mr. and Mrs. Beddow reside at 
the fort, but expect on his retirement from work 
to settle upon their farm in Wyandotte County, 
which they now rent to tenants. 

July 21, 1899, Mr. Beddow celebrated the fifty - 
third anniversary of his connection with the gov- 
ernment service. During this long time, all of 
which has been spent in the west, he has wit- 
nessed the settlement and progress of this section 
of country and has labored to promote its inter- 
ests. Many a time in earlj' days he took part 
in fights with the Pawnee and Cheyenne In- 
dians. The life was one of exposure and hard- 
ship. Many a night he slept on the ground 
wrapped in a blanket. However, his robust con- 
stitution was not injured, and through all of his 
long and active life he has had excellent health. 



/^EORGE W. MAFFET, proprietor of the 
l_ Elkhorn fruitery at Lawrence, was born in 
\^ Wilkesbarre, Luzerne County, Pa., June 10, 
1856, aud is a descendant of ancestors who bore 
a patriotic part in the early history of America. 
The first of the Maffet family in this country was 
John Maffet, a native of Duncannon, County 
Tyrone, north of Ireland, who came to America 
in 1774 and settled in Lycoming County, Pa. 
His son, Samuel, who was born in Linden, that 
county, served from 18 15 to 1821 as register and 
recorder of Luzerne County, Pa., to which he 
was appointed by Governors Snyder and Findlay. 
February 8, 1821, he became prothonotary, which 
position, together with those of clerk of the court 



of quarter sessions, oyer aud terminer, and clerk 
of the orphans' court, he held until 1828. He 
started the Susquehanna Democrat, which was 
the first Democratic paper established in his 
town. Active in military affairs he was commis- 
sioned ensign August I, 18 14, aud captain May 
22, 1818, of the Eighth Company, Second Penn- 
sylvania Militia, each commission running for 
seven years. 

William Ross Maffet, son of Samuel Maffet, 
was born in Wilkesbarre, Pa., March 29, 18 17, 
and became a civil and mining engineer and coal 
operator, developing and operating two mines at 
Wilkesbarre, and owning one hundred and sixty 
acres of land containing large beds of anthracite 
coal. For some time he engaged in railroad en- 
gineering, but finally his coal operations con- 
sumed his entire time. He was the first super- 
intendent of the Pennsylvania canal, and planned 
and built a switchback at Summit, Pa. Among 
the citizens of his town he held a high position. 
From Governor Hartranft, who had been a pupil 
under him in boyhood, he received a commission 
to revise the ordinances of the various cities of 
the state and to prepare a universal code for the 
same. Fraternally, like his father, he was prom- 
inent in Masonry. His death occurred June 14, 
1890. 

The mother of William R. Maffet was Caroline 
Ann, daughter of Gen. William Ross. The lat- 
ter was born in New London, Conn., March 
29, 1761, migrated to the Wyoming Valley in 
1775, arriving there the day before the massacre 
by the Indians. Enlisting at the opening of the 
Revolutionary war, he rose from major to brigad- 
ier-inspector and then general of militia, and in 
recognition of his bravery was presented by the 
state with a sword and a brace of pistols, July 4, 
1788, the letter of presentation containing these 
words: ' ' The supreme executive council present 
this mark of their approbation acquired by your 
firmness in support of the laws of the common- 
wealth." His well-known fitness for public 
office led to his election as state senator, in which 
position he greatly advanced the welfare of his 
constituents. He married Elizabeth, daughter 
of Samuel aud Elizabeth (Perkins) Sterling. 



786 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



One of their sons, Gen. William Sterling Ross, 
served as judge for many years, held a prom- 
inent place in the citizenship of his state, and 
died respected and honored by all who knew 
him. The death of General Ross occurred Au- 
gust 9, 1842, when he was eighty-two years of 
age. He had two brothers, Lieut. Perrin Ross 
and Jeremiah Ross, who were slain in the Wy- 
oming massacre. They were sons of Jeremiah 
Ross, Sr. , sons of James and Sarah (Utley) Ross. 

The wife of William Ross Maffet was Martha 
Washington Adelia We.st, who was born at the 
family home on Christian street, Philadelphia, 
Pa., September 7, 1825, and died at Summit Hill, 
Pa., August 29, 1864. She was the daughter of 
G. G. and Martha (Kessler) West, a grand- 
daughter of John and Martha (Berrill) Kessler, 
and a great-granddaughter of Leonard and Mary 
(Ritchover) Kessler. Mr. West was a success- 
ful business man and banker in Philadelphia. 
John Kessler was an officer on the ship that car- 
ried La Fayette back to France, and spent his en- 
tire life upon the high seas, where he was more 
than once shipwrecked and also suffered injury 
during various battles in which the navy en- 
gaged. 

In the family of William Ross and M. W. 
Adelia (West) Maffet there were eight children, 
namely: Ann Kliza, wife of Capt. T. Connell, of 
San Diego, Cal.; Rosalie West, wife of Lathan 
W. Jones, residing near Denver, Colo. ; Martha 
Adelia, who lives in Wilkesbarre, Pa.; Ruth 
Ross, wife of Horace See, a prominent naval 
designer expert; George W.; Adelaide W., wife 
of George Romage, who is connected with the 
Rand-McNally Company of Chicago; Sarah C, 
wife of Capt. Charles Stevens, U. S. A., who 
participated in the Spanish-American war; and 
William Ross, Jr., who is engaged in the lumber 
business at Rooster Rock, Ore. Through the 
mother the genealogy of the family is traced back 
to Lord Baltimore, Cecil Calvert. 

The education of our subject was acquired in 
public schools and Wyoming Seminary. His 
health being poor, he decided to come west for a 
change of climate. The year 1876 found him in 
Wichita, Kans. Two years later he went to a 



" boom" town on the prairies of Harper County. 
Of this town, Anthony, he was the first post- 
master, and he took an active part in all local 
affairs, including the county-seat struggle. In 
1880 he established the Anthony Republican, 
which under his able editorship gained weight in 
the seventh congressional district, and, indeed, 
in the entire state. However, his close attention 
to business seriously impaired his health and it 
became necessary for him to seek an occupation 
that would give him outdoor exercise. For this 
reason he sold the paper in 1893. During 1881, 
leaving the paper in care of a partner, he went 
into Indian Territory, and bought the Cheyenne 
Transporter at Darlington, which he conducted 
in the interests of the Indians and range cattle- 
men. He remained among the Indians until De- 
cember, 1885, when he returned to Anthony. In 
the spring of 1S90 he became the president and 
secretary for the Anthony Salt Companj' and re- 
mained at the head of this business until he re- 
moved from the town. At one time he was 
elected register of deeds in Harper County, but 
did not qualify. 

In 1894 ^^''- Maffet came to Lawrence and 
bought thirty-two acres, which he planted to 
fruits of various kinds, and this place he has 
since conducted. While he entered horticulture 
more from a desire to regain his health than from 
choice, he has found the occupation congenial 
and has proved himself well adapted to it. He 
has made a .specialty of strawberries, apples and 
cherries for commercial purposes. Upon his 
place is an experimental .strawberry bed contain- 
ing .sixty-five varieties from nearlj' every state in 
the Union, which he is giving an actual test to 
learn exactly what they will do upon his soil. 
He is also breeding twenty-three female varieties 
of strawberries with one male variety, hoping to 
originate something superior. Five acres are 
planted to strawberries, and the products are 
shipped to various points in Nebraska and Colo- 
rado. The fruitery is an attractive homestead 
and bears evidence of close oversight and super- 
vision. Over the gate a visitor will notice a 
large pair of elk horns, illustrating the name 
given to the place. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



7S7 



111 addition to horticulture Mr. Maffet is inter- 
ested in stock. He has on his place registered 
Jersej's, registered Poland-China hogs and stan- 
dard-bred registered trotting horses, including a 
fine pair of mares, one a sister to Joe Patchin, 
and the registered Kentucky trotting stallion, 
Appamantus, 22,308, bred by the great veterin- 
arian, Dr. L. Herr, of Lexington, Ky. (owner of 
Mambrino Patchen 58). This fine stallion is fif- 
teen and one-half hands high, a handsome chest- 
nut, gentle enough for a lady to drive, yet has 
been driven a mile in 2:23 by his trainer. His 
pedigree can be traced back five generations. 
His sire, Allandorf 7462, was sold in the France 
sale in 1893 for $10,000, and at thesanie time his 
dam, Frankie Lyon, was sold for $610. In the 
pedigree are many horses that have been promi- 
nent on the track of recent years. His paternal 
grandmother, Alma Mater, sold in her prime for 
$15,000, and her twelve foals brought their breed- 
ers $79,075. Others in the pedigree have also 
commanded prices equally high. On his place 
Mr. Maffet also has a flock of fine white Plym- 
outh Rock chickens. He is a member of the 
Douglas County Horticultural Society, the Law- 
rence Fruit Growers Union, and the Kansas State 
Horticultural Society. 

The political views of Mr. Maffet have always 
been those of the Republican party. In 1885 he 
held appointment as United States commissioner 
for the district of Kansas in the Indian Territor)^ 
but resigned upon leaving Darlington. He is con- 
nected with Lawrence Chapter, Sons of the Revo- 
lution ; the lodge and encampment of Odd Fellows; 
and the Degree of Honor, A. O. U. W. During his 
residence in Darlington, I. T., June 26, 1884, he 
married Miss Lizzie Kable, who was born in Ce- 
lina, Ohio, and received a thorough education, 
after which she engaged in teaching. For five 
j'ears she held the principalship of the Cheyenne 
Indian schools at Darlington, and it was while fill- 
ing this position that she made the acquaintance 
of Mr. Maffet. Their union has been blessed by 
two children, Maud A. and Samuel Ross. Mrs. 
Maffet is identified with the Methodist Episcopal 
Church and is a prominent member of the Ladies 
Literary League; also, with her husband, holds 



membership in the lodge of the Rebekahs and the 
Degree of Honor. She was one of five children, 
and has two sisters now living, viz. : Mrs. Hulda 
Wells, of Ohio; and Mrs. Amelia Collins, of 
Rapid City, S. Dak. Her father, Daniel Kable, 
was born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, and set- 
tled in Ohio, where he followed merchant tailor- 
ing. He died in 1896. Her mother bore the 
maiden name of Margaret Deitz, and was born in 
Carlisle, Pa. Left an orphan in early childhood, 
she was reared in Indiana, but passed her life 
mainly in Celina, Ohio, where she still resides. 



pCJlLLIAM KENNEDY FAULKNER, who 
\ A / is engaged in farming and stock-raising in 
VV High Prairie Township, Leavenworth 
County, his home being on section 5, was born in 
Platte County, Mo., January 23, 1859. When he 
was two years of age he was brought to Kansas 
by his parents. He grew to manhood in the 
home of his father, John K. Faulkner. During 
the years of boyhood he spent the winter months 
in school and the summers in working upon the 
home farm, where, being the eldest of the family, 
his services were early called into requisition. 
At the age of twenty-four he started out for him- 
self, and has since cultivated the same farm, 
comprising one hundred and sixty acres, on which 
are raised wheat, corn and hay. 

In conjunction with farming Mr. Faulkner has 
become interested in the stock business. On his 
place are about one hundred head of hogs and 
fifty head of cattle. The products of the farm 
are used mostly for feed for his stock in winter. 
In his work he has been successful. He is ener- 
getic and judicious, and knows how to manage a 
farm so as to secure the best results. When he 
bought the land, in 1881, it was raw and unim- 
proved, but under his energetic efforts the place 
has been improved and brought to a high state of 
cultivation. During the first year of his occu- 
pancy he raised enough on the place to pay for 
the land. In the spring of 1883 he erected a neat 
hou.se, which he has since occupied. At other 
times, as needed, he has built barns and other 
buildings for the shelter of stock or storage of 
grain. 



788 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



As a Democrat Mr. Faulkner has taken an ac- 
tive part in local politics, and has attended county 
and state conventions. He is a member of the 
school board, of which he has served as treasurer 
for some years. In the Christian Church he of- 
ficiates as an elder. Local projects receive his 
support and assistance, prominent among these 
being the building of the schoolhouse in 1886, a 
work in which he took a warm interest. In 1882 
he married Margaret Sanders, of this county. Of 
the four children born of their union, three are 
living, Edward, Ralph and Arthur. 



Gl RTHUR C. PONTIUS, who is a leading and 
Ll progressive farmer of Douglas County, has 
/ I made agriculture his life work. After his 
marriage he rented a farm in Kanwaka Town- 
ship for two years and then purchased a portion 
of his present place, situated five miles due west 
of Lawrence. Here he has since engaged in gen- 
eral farming and stock-raising. He has added 
to his property, which now comprises one hun- 
dred and forty acres of land as valuable as any in 
Kanwaka Township. Although he is still a 
young man, he is regarded as one of the most 
prosperous farmers of his locality. 

Mr. Pontius was born in Ross County, Ohio, 
on the 4th of July, 1863, and is the son of Fred- 
erick B. Pontious, to whose sketch the reader is 
referred for the family history. He obtained his 
education in the common schools and Lawrence 
Business College. May 10, 1887, he married 
Miss Mabel E. Richardson, who was born in 
Wisconsin. She is a daughter of Asa Richard- 
son, who was for some years a member of a prom- 
inent firm of bridge builders, but for some years 
prior to his demise was living retired upon a 
farm in Kanwaka Township, where he died in 
1888. He was the owner of valuable mining in- 
terests in Old Mexico, and at one time was presi- 
dent of a bank in Monroe, Wis. 

After his marriage Mr. Pontius settled upon a 
farm in Kanwaka Township, and he has since 
devoted himself to stock-raising and general 
farming, in both of which he has met with suc- 
cess. He has been fortunate in his undertakings 



and has shown good judgment in all of his deal- 
ings. In his character he combines those quali- 
ties of mind and heart that render him deservedly 
poptdar. He is a stanch advocate of the Demo- 
cratic party and always votes for its men and 
measures. Fraternally he is connected with the 
Knights of Pythias in Lawrence. He and his 
wife |are the parents of five children, nariiely: 
011a R., born April 30, 1888; Clayton R., Janu- 
ary 4, 1890; Mabel lua, October 28, 1891; Alma 
C, January 16, 1896; and Carroll H., January 
24, 1898. The family are connected with the 
Congregational Church, and Mr. Pontius was 
one of the liberal contributors toward the build- 
ing of the house of worship occupied by this de- 
nomination, as well as the United Brethren 
Church recently constructed. As a member of 
the school board of this district Mrs. Pontius has 
rendered excellent service in the interests of this 
neis^hborhood. 



J T. CARR, who was one of the earliest set- 
^ tiers of Leavenworth, is descended from 
^ , Scotch ancestors who early settled in the 
north of Ireland and from there the family was 
transplanted to Rhode Island nianj' j'ears before 
the Revolutionary war. His father, Almond 
Carr, was born in 1800 and was a cousin of Hon. 
Rufus King, the distinguished New York states- 
man. He was a skilled mechanic and builder 
and an industrious workman. When advanced in 
years he settled on a farm in Onondaga County, 
N. Y., where he died in 1880. He had married 
Arethusa Maria Moore, who was born in 1803, 
of Scotch and English descent; she was a woman 
of excellent education and gentleness of charac- 
ter, and in religion was a member of the Baptist 
Church. Her home is still on the old farm where 
for so many years she has resided. 

Of twelve children who attained mature years 
(and of whom nine are living) the subject of 
this sketch was the oldest. He was born in 
Greenfield, Saratoga County, N. Y., October 28, 
1825. A diligent student, and a close observer 
of men and things, the education which he ac- 
quired was thorough and broad. The early dis- 
play of mechanical skill caused him to turn his 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



789 



attention to architecture, which he studied, from 
the best text-books, while he was learning the 
trades of bricklaj-er and stone-mason under his 
father. He also became familiar with the car- 
penter's trade, so that, in his work as an archi- 
tect, he has had the advantage of a thorough 
knowledge of the many minor details that often 
demand consideration. 

In the spring of 1855 Mr. Carr went to St. 
Paul, Minn. In September of the same year he 
arrived in Fort Leavenworth, where he was em- 
ployed in the erection of barracks and stables. 
At that time the fort had only a few buildings, 
and these were of wood. He began the con- 
struction of buildings that were substantial, ap- 
propriate and sightly. Maj. E. S. Sibley was 
quartermaster and showed the greatest apprecia- 
tion of Mr. Carr's services. In December, 1856, 
Mr. Carr returned to New York to settle up some 
business there. In the spring of 1857 he returned 
to Leavenworth, where he engaged in building 
with W. H. Russell and others. In the third 
year he opened an oiSce as builder and gradually 
his attention was given to the drawing up of 
plans. In the fall of i860 he began the erection 
of the arsenal and ordnance depot for the govern- 
ment, and this work engaged his attention until 
the outbreak of the war. 

When the commander of the fort was ordered 
to St. Louis for duty he asked Mr. Carr, who 
was a member of the local military company, to 
protect the post. The latter consenting, the fort 
was turned over to him and he and his comrades 
fortified it and did guard duty. Although very 
anxious to go to the front in the war. General 
Reno needed his services and persuaded him to 
remain. As superintendent of the ordnance de- 
partment at the fort he had charge of its entire 
work, and continued in the position until 1871. 
Meantime he planned the Morris school, Leav- 
enworth courthouse, and many of the other sub- 
stantial buildings of the city; also the State Nor- 
mal at Emporia, asylum for the blind at Wyan- 
dotte, Agricultural college at Manhattan, and 
many courthouses in Kansas. He drew the plans 
for the Kansas state penitentiary. Soldiers' Home, 
Leavenworth high school, and Kansas asyluqi fpj: 

38 



insane at Topeka. In addition to his private en- 
terprises he was interested in public affairs, and 
for one term was a member of the citj- council, 
also served on the school board for many years. 
From 1 89 1 to 1893 he engaged in the profession 
of architect in Denver, after which he removed 
to Miles City, Mont., where, besides his work at 
his chosen occupation, he engaged in the hard- 
ware business with his son-in-law, Mr. Ryan. 
Recently he returned to Leavenworth, where he 
expects to reside permanently. He was married 
in this city, December 8, 1859, to Miss Margaret 
Redferu Cabbin, who was born in England, and 
in childhood accompanied her parents to Cincin- 
nati, Ohio, thence to northwestern Missouri, and 
finally to Leavenworth. Mr. and Mrs. Carr have 
one daughter, Addie Belle, wife of Jepp Ryan. 

July 2, 1856, in Leavenworth, Mr. Carr was 
made a Mason. He became connected with the 
Royal Arch chapter in Syracuse, N. Y., and af- 
terward organized a chapter in Miles City, Mont., 
of which he was grand high priest. He is also 
a member of Commandery No. i , K.T. For many 
years he was secretary of the grand chapter and 
recorder of the grand commandery ; also for ten 
years grand secretary of the order. He was the 
first to institute the Scottish Rite in Kansas and 
was actively interested in the development of 
this order in the state. 



(TONATHAN FLANDERS MORGAN, de- 
I ceased, who was one of the very earliest 
(2/ settlers in Lawrence (being a member of 
the Branscombe party), was born in New Lon- 
don, N. H., April 3, 1818, a son of Henry and 
Dolly (Harvey) Morgan, being next to the 
j'oungest of their nine children. His mother was 
born October 11, 1781, married September 22, 
1800, and died June 24, 1865. His father, a na- 
tive of the same town as himself, born August 
24, 1774, followed farm pursuits, and was ac- 
cidentally killed, April 3, 1820, by a log rolling 
on him while he was engaged in logging. Reared 
in New Hampshire, our subject was a j'oung 
man when he removed to Massachusetts, where 
he engaged in the manufacttire of shoes in Hollis. 



790 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



ton. In July, 1854, he left the east with a party 
from Boston. He and a Mr. Mallory were ahead 
of the others and arrived in Lawrence a day be- 
fore them. He was one of those who laid out 
the town of Lawrence. He entered one hundred 
and sixty acres of land, the north line of which 
runs through the center of the main building of 
the Univ-ersity of Kansas. During the winter of 
1854-55 he was proprietor of the old Gillis house, 
Kansas City, Mo. On selling his claim he bought 
in Grant Township a tract adjoining Governor 
Robinson's farm and there he engaged in the 
stock business. After a time he became inter- 
ested in contracting, and his death occurred 
while he was filling a railroad contract in Texas, 
October 19, 1873. 

In HoUiston, Mass., May 6, 1840, Mr. Morgan 
married Miss Asenath P. Howe, who was born 
in Framingham, Mass., February 17, 181S. Her 
ancestors came from England and settled in Sud- 
bury, Mass., later removing to Framingham. 
Perley Howe, a farmer, took part in the battles 
of Lexington, Concord and other memorable en- 
gagements of the Revolution. His son, Elias, 
was born in Framingham August 16, 1780, and 
was a shoe manufacturer. He married Hannah 
Perry, who was born August 15, 1791, a daugh- 
ter of Abel Perry, who, with his father, Abel, 
Sr., took part in the first war with England. 
The Perrys were Puritans and early settlers of 
Massachusetts. Elias Howe and Hannah Perry 
were married March 27, 181 1; he died September 
3, 1844, but she survived until February 6, 1870. 
The)' were the parents of eight sons and four 
daughters, but of this family only three are liv- 
ing. One of the three survivors is Mrs. Asenath 
P. Morgan. She was reared in Framingham and 
remained in Massachusetts until the fall of 1854, 
when she brought her children to Kansas. The 
first winter was spent in Kansas City, and in the 
spring she joined her hu.sband in Lawrence. 
During the summer they erected the stone house, 
which remained their home until destroyed by 
Quantrell's men. 

At the time of the raid Mr. Morgan was at 
Fort Scott on a government contract, hence he 
escaped with his life. At home, however, Mrs. 



Morgan and the children fared badly. A party 
of raiders came to their house and said if she 
would give them all the money she had they 
would not burn the house. She did so, and they 
went on. Unfortunately, a second party came 
and demanded money. She had none left, at 
which they became so indignant that they pro- 
ceeded to abuse her son, Gilbert, the oldest of 
the family at home, and a boy of eleven years. 
They choked and dragged him, held a revolver 
to his temple, and left him exhausted and almost 
lifeless. They then set fire to the house and it 
burned down. Deprived of even the necessities 
of life, the family found .shelter in a small frame 
house that had been occupied by a colored family. 
Soon afterward, however, they sold the property 
and moved across the river. Mrs. Morgan is now 
living at No. 1121 Pennsylvania street, Law- 
rence. She is the mother of three .sons and one 
daughter now living. Edward \V., of Kansas 
Citj-, was a soldier in Company M, Eleventh 
Kansas Cavalry, during the Civil war; Gilbert 
H., the second son, is represented on another 
page; John F. is a farmer in Grant Township; 
and Mrs. Anna Ward resides in Lawrence. 



pGJiLLIAM I. R. BLACKMAN, deceased, 
\ A / one of the prominent men of Douglas 
Y V County during the early days of Kansas, 
was born in Miami County, Ohio, December 12, 
1824, a son of Hurlbert and Sarah (Rollins) 
Blackman. He was the second of nine children, 
all of whom have passed from earth. He grew 
to manhood in his native county, and obtained 
his education in the common schools and in an 
academy at Troy, Ohio. When only seventeen 
years of age he secured a position as teacher in 
the public schools at Troy. After he had taught 
for two years the Mexican war broke out and he 
decided to enlist in the service. He and his par- 
ents were strong anti-slavery sympathizers, but, 
notwithstanding the opposition of many Aboli- 
tionists to the Mexican war, his patriotism, per- 
haps not unmingled with a love of adventure and 
military enthusiasm, prompted him to enlist. 
Indeed he came of old fightingstock. His grand- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



791 



father, Elisha Blackmail, Jr., when a youth of 
eighteen years, was a lieutenant in the Revolu- 
tionary war, and his great-grandfather, Elisha 
Blackman, Sr. , was second in command in a 
company called "The Refounadoes," which 
defended the fort at Wilkesbarre during the 
Wyoming massacre. Elisha Blackman, Jr., was 
the last survivor of this terrible slaughter. He 
died December 5, 1845, aged eighty-six. These 
men were the descendants of an old Connecticut 
family, whose first representative in America, 
Rev. Adam Blackman, a Puritan clergyman, 
came to this country in 1638. 

Although Mr. Blackman was a mere youth at 
the time of the Mexican war he did not dishonor 
his ancestry, but distinguished himself by his 
courage in battle and won the love of his com- 
rades by his generous, genial nature. He par- 
ticipated in the battle of Buena Vista, as well as 
in the battles around the city of Mexico, and was 
finally one of the body of troops that entered the 
city after its conquest. 

Returning home at the close of the war, Mr. 
Blackman assisted his father in the furniture 
business. Here he became a member of the anti- 
slavery party, and the first vote he ever cast was 
for its candidate. In 1854 became to Lawrence, 
where he established the first furniture business 
in this city. He resided here during all the early 
traubles of Kansas. He raised the first company 
of Sharp's Rifles in Lawrence, which during the 
fall and next summer gave the pro-slavery party 
so much trouble; and used every effort in his 
power to prevent the establishment of slavery and 
to make Kansas a free state. In 1856 he went to 
Ohio on a visit and after the presidential election 
attempted to return to his home, but he found 
the Missouri River guarded by the border ruf- 
fians, and was obliged to go around through 
Iowa. He had his revenge, however. On the 
15th of November he left Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, 
and traveled the entire distance to Lawrence, four 
hundred miles, on foot, establishing at conven- 
ient intervals depots for the Western Under- 
ground Railroad; and keeping his headquarters 
at Lawrence he forwarded by this route hundreds 
of runaway slaves to Canada and freedom. Many 



times his home was surrounded by negro hunters 
and more than once searched by United States 
troops, but no slave once in his possession was 
ever recovered. At the time of the Quantrell 
raid he was visiting in Ohio, but his store build- 
ing and nearly all of his stock of furniture were 
destroyed. 

An active, public-spirited man he did much 
toward the upbuilding of Lawrence in its earlj' 
days. Two years before his marriage he bought 
railroad land in Grant Township, four and one- 
half miles north of Lawrence, and settled down 
to farming. Upon this place he continued to re- 
side until his death, which occurred March 2, 
1882. 

The lady who for years was the helpmate and 
devoted companion of Mr. Blackman, and who 
has made her home in Lawrence since 1884, bore 
the maiden name of Thomas Anna Amoss, and 
was born in Baltimore, Md., September 11, 1846, 
a daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Maulsby) 
Amoss, being the only survivor of two children. 
Her father, who was born near Fallston, Md., 
engaged in farming there for some years, but 
later removed to Baltimore and engaged in the 
dry-goods business, continuing in that occupa- 
tion until his death, in 1844. His wife was born 
in 1816 near Fallston, a daughter of Capt. Morris 
Maulsby, who won his title in the Revolutionary 
war. He was an active business man, and con- 
ducted a cooperage establishment, a blacksmith's 
shop and a pottery on his farm near Fallston. 
The other grandfather of Mrs. Blackman was 
William Amoss, a Quaker preacher and a member 
of an old family of New England. 

After the death of Thomas Amoss his widow 
was again married, becoming the wife of Jeffer- 
son B. Conway, a carpenter of Baltimore, and 
one of the earliest settlers of Lawrence, Kans. , 
having come to this state in 1854, although his 
family remained in the east until 1858. He was 
an active participant in the border warfare trou- 
bles and was captain of a company of volunteers 
called the "Stubbs," that enlisted in the free- 
state cause. His brother, M. F. Conway, was 
the first representative from Kansas Territory, 
and at different times in early days held high of- 



792 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



fices. lie was the only free-state man elected to 
the council of the First Territorial Legislature, 
was chief justice of the state and was president of 
Leavenworth Cons. Convention, besides holding 
many other honorary offices. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Conway were born three children, namely: Mari- 
ness W., an attorney of Cincinnati, Ohio; Oscar 
C, a farmer of Oklahoma; and Inez, deceased. 
Mrs. Conway died in Kansas in 1896. 

Miss Anioss was educated in common schools 
and the Lawrence high school. In Lawrence, 
June II, 1864, she became the wife of William 
I. R. Blackmail, and seven children were born to 
them, five of whom are living. Miriam A. mar- 
ried Valorous Brown, a farmer of Thorn pson- 
ville, Kans. , since deceased; Rollin E., a Presbj-- 
terian minister, has a pastorate at Orleans, Neb. 
Cora H. is the wife of George Eddy, a fruit 
grower at Escondido, Cal. Mary I., a successful 
educator, has been connected with Arkansas Col- 
lege in Little Rock. Maulsby W. is a student in 
the University of Kansas. The family is ident- 
ified with the Presbyterian Church, to which Mr. 
Blackmau was a liberal contributor, and in which 
he maintained a warm interest. 



rDGjlLLIAM EDWIN THOMAS, of Leaven- 

\ A / worth, is president of the Southwestern 
VV Fuel Company, with headquarters in To- 
peka, Kans.; the Kansas City Coal and Coke 
Company, of Kansas City, Mo.; and the Kansas 
and Nebraska Coal Company, of Omaha, Neb. 
The family of which Mr. Thomas is a member 
originated in England, but has been represented 
in America since 1700, when Lewis Walker 
Thomas, an officer in the army of William of 
Nas.sau, Prince of Orange, settled about twenty 
miles from Philadelphia. The genealogy of the 
family is presented in the sketch of M. Shaw 
Thomas, M. D., deceased, which appears else- 
where in this volume. 

The father of our subject, Daniel Walker 
Thomas, M. D., was born near Baltimore, Md., 
and in youth studied medicine, graduating from 
the medical department of the Maryland Uni- 
versity. For a short time he practiced at Mar- 



tinsburg, Va. During the Civil war he was a 
surgeon in the Confederate army stationed at 
Richmond. In 1866 he came to Leavenworth, 
Kans., and here he built up a valuable practice, 
remaining in this city until his death. May 11, 
1896, at seventy-one years of age. During the 
j'ears of his residence in Leavenworth he proved 
himself a progressive citizen, and aided enter- 
prises for the benefit of the people. In politics 
he was a Democrat. He was interested in edu- 
cational matters, and for several years served as 
a member of the school board. In religion he 
was of the Roman Catholic faith. He and his 
brother, M. Shaw Thomas, M. D., were among 
the most prominent professional men of eastern 
Kansas. 

The marriage of Dr. Daniel W. Thomas united 
him with Miss Meredith M. Piet, who was born 
in Virginia in 1S30, and is .still living, making 
her home in Kansas City, Mo., and in New 
Mexico. Eight children were born of their union, 
of whom the oldest son died in infancy, and W. 
Edwin is the oldest now living. Mary Ellis mar- 
ried Harry W. Kelly, of Las Vegas, N. M.; Clara 
Virginia is the wife of M. D. Kittell, of Pennsylva- 
nia; Anna Louisa (twin of Clara Virginia) is the 
wife of J. T. Broughal, of Kansas City, Mo.; 
Frank J. is interested with our subject as secre- 
tary of the various fuel companies, and is also 
president of the Thomas Fuel and Ice Company, 
of Atchison, Kans.; Susan C. is in a convent at 
Wilmington, Del.; and Bernard is associated with 
our subject in business at Omaha. 

Born in Richmond, Va., November 3, 1857, 
W. Edwin Thomas was nine years of age when 
his parents brought him to Leavenworth, and his 
education was for some years carried on in the 
schools of this city. Later he was a student in 
St. Mary's (Kans.) College. For four years he 
was employed as clerk in the passenger and 
freight offices of the Burlington road in Leaven- 
worth, and afterward he held a clerical position 
with the Kansas Central Railroad. He was act- 
ing in the capacity of auditor of the latter road 
when it was absorbed by the Union Pacific sys- 
tem. He then turned his attention to the coal 
business and handled the product of the state 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



793 



mine at Lansing, Kans. In 1892 he bought out 
the Southwestern Fuel Companj' at Topeka, and 
a short time afterward established the other com- 
panies of which he is president. He is a man of 
genuine business ability and has been notably 
successful in his undertakings. He is not active 
in politics, but always votes and works with the 
Democratic party (gold wing) in national affairs, 
while in local matters he is liberal. In religion 
he is identified with the Roman Catholic Church. 
He married Miss Kate Shire, one of the popular 
young ladies of Leavenworth, whose father, the 
late Daniel Shire, was once prominent in this 
city. They have two daughters, S. Ellis and C. 
Meredith. 



Gl DAM L. WILKE, principal member of the 
M firm of A. L. Wilke & Co., is identified 
I I with one of the important industries of 
Leavenworth. When he came to this city in 
1895 he embarked in the packing-house busi- 
ness, as a member of the firm of Wilke, Bosch 
& Co. After a time he bought the interests of 
the other members of the firm, and took Herman 
Koch into partnership, establishing the house of 
Wilke & Co. The first location was on Seventh 
and Kiowa streets, but the building there burned 
down, and afterward he built at No. 15 17 South 
Second street, where he has a two-story build- 
ing, 125x125. Under his management, as super- 
intendent, a large business has been established, 
particularly in the packing and shipping of pork, 
and the reputation of the house has been built up 
in the south and west. He makes a specialty of 
the Morning Glory and Kansas King sugar-cured 
bacon, both of which varieties have gained a 
wide reputation for excellence. 

Mr. Wilke was born in Berlin, Germany, Sep- 
tember 19, 1853. His father. Dr. Adolph L. 
Wilke, a native of Ireland, was for years engaged 
in the practice of medicine in Berlin, where he 
died at sixty-four years of age. His wife also 
died in that city. Their five children are still 
living, our subject being next to the oldest and 
the only one in Leavenworth. The first eighteen 
years of his life he spent in Berlin, where he at- 
tended common schools and a gymnasium. When 



fourteen he was apprenticed to the butcher's 
trade in Berlin. In 1873 he came to the United 
States, and for a time worked at his trade in 
Philadelphia and New York. In 1878 he came 
west as far as Chicago, where he was employed 
by the Armour packing house, and was also with 
Fowler, Booth, Underwood and Wilson. He 
became interested in a packing house in Fort 
Wayne, Ind., and Sioux City, Iowa. In 1885 he 
became foreman for the Dold Packing Company 
in Kansas City, later was superintendent of the 
Charles Wolfe Packing Company in Topeka, 
Kans., and superintendent of the Burlington & 
Missouri Packing Company in Denver, Colo. 
Since 1895 he has been actively engaged in busi- 
ness in Leavenworth. 

In spite of engrossing business cares, Mr. 
Wilke has several times returned to Germany to 
visit his old home and the friends of his youth. 
He has crossed the ocean seven times, each trip 
being a pleasant and profitable excursion and af- 
fording him an enjoyed vacation from business 
duties. He has traveled in England and France, 
and has gained a broad knowledge of peoples 
and business methods in other countries. He 
was married in Berlin to Miss Ida Kreider, who 
was born near that city, and by whom he has 
three children, Robert, Ida and Theodore. The 
family reside on Grand avenue. The only fra- 
ternal association with which he is identified is 
the Order of Sons of Herman. His attention is 
given quite closely to his business interests. 
There is no detail of the pork-packing business 
with which he is unfamiliar. With acute dis- 
crimination and quick comprehension, he grasps 
every department of the work. Coming to the 
United States wholly without means he deserves 
credit for the business he has established and the 
success he has gained. 



HERMAN KOCH is the junior member of 
the firm of Wilke & Co., pork-packers of 
Leavenworth, and is one of the successful 
young business men of the city. Born in Min- 
den, Germany, September 23, 1865, he received 
his education in the schools of that city, and 



794 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



early in life began to be self-supporting, secur- 
ing employment wherever possible. When he 
came to Kansas in 1881 he was given work in a 
sugar factory and afterward, for five years, he 
was interested in the milling business. He then 
bought out a grocery, which he conducted for a 
time alone and later with another gentleman 
under the title of Koch & Co.; afterward his 
brother-in-law became associated with him in the 
business, which is now operated under the firm 
name of Knollman & Co. In 1896 a butcher 
shop was opened by the firm, and soon a large 
trade was established in this line. From a small 
business, where a single horse and wagon about 
twice a week served for all the needs of the 
trade, there has grown up a valuable business in 
which four teams are given constant use. 

In i8y5 Mr. Koch started in the packing busi- 
ness with Mr. Wilke, their location being on 
North Seventh street. In the spring of the fol- 
lowing year their building was burned and they 
removed to their present location, on South Sec- 
ond street, where they have all conveniences for 
the proper management of their business. They 
kill on an average thirty hogs a day, selling 
in Leavenworth, Atchison (where they have a 
branch house) and Kansas City. His business 
has taken his entire time and thought and hence 
he has never mingled in public affairs, nor has 
he allied himself with any political party, but has 
been independent in his vote. Fraternally he is 
connected with the Turn Verein in Leavenworth. 
He is not connected with any denomination, but 
was reared in the Lutheran faith and inclines 
toward that church. 



IILLIAM D. HARDING came to Kansas 
in the fall of 1867 and settled in Douglas 
County, purchasing one hundred and twen- 
ty acres at Twin Mound, Marion Township. 
Upon this place he has since resided, having in- 
creased its size by purchase, until he now owns 
two hundred and ninety-three and one-third 
acres. Mr. Harding is of Virginian descent. He 
was born in Shelby County, Ky., March 22, 
1824, a son of Mason and Margaret (Shelton) 



Harding, the latter a daughter of a Revolutionary 
soldier. When a young man, Mason Harding 
moved from Virginia to Kentucky, where he 
made his home for several years. About 1836 he 
settled upon raw land in Parke County, Ind., 
where he engaged in farming and teaming. He 
died there at sixty-eight years. He was a soldier in 
the war of 18 12 and ever displaj^ed the spirit of a 
true patriot. His wife came to Kansas after his 
death and died in our subject's home, at the age 
of eighty-seven. Three of the family are now 
living, namely: Mason, a farmer in Iowa; Will- 
iam D.; and Pearlina, widow of Clinton Searing. 
When twelve years of age our subject accom- 
panied his parents to Indiana, where he assisted 
in clearing and cultivating a farm. His older 
brother leaving home he became the main sup- 
port of his mother and sister, for whom he affec- 
tionately provided until the necessity for so doing 
no longer existed. In the fall of 1867 he brought 
them to Kansas and at the same time was accom- 
panied to this state by his wife and children. 
While in Indiana, in 1850, he married Mary C. 
Searing. Of the children born to their union we 
note the following: James C. resides in Topeka, 
Kans. ; Thomas P. is a lumberman in Oklahoma; 
Mason T. cultivates a farm in Douglas County; 
Elba F. is the wife of Benjamin F. Metsker; 
Mary married John L. Metsker and lives in 
Washington state; William Scott is in Texas and 
Edward S. in Washington state; Mattie married 
James Williams, of Oklahoma; Elmer is a farmer 
in Marion Township: Charles P. and Fern are at 
home. All of the children were given excellent 
educations and the married daughters have taught 
school and are also natural mu.sicians. 

In 1863 Mr. Harding enlisted in the Forty- 
second Indiana Infantry and served for nine 
months without losing a day from active service. 
During most of this time he was on garrison duty, 
under General Sherman, in the western division 
of the army. In politics he is a Republican and 
has held office on the school board. While in 
Indiana he was identified with the Baptist 
Church. He assisted in organizing Clinton Lodge 
A. F. & A. M., in which he is an ofiicer, and he 
is also connected with Richland Post No. 170, 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



795 



G. A. R. A hard-working man, he richly de- 
serves his present prosperity. Not only had he 
no means to aid in starting in life, but he was 
handicapped in many ways and was obliged not 
only to care for his own large family, but also for 
many relatives. However, the ' 'bread cast upon 
the waters' ' returned to bless the liberal giver, 
and now, in the twilight of his life, he can enjoy 
the fruits of former j^ears of labor, ministered to 
by his children, of whom he is justly proud. 



y yi ANFORD H. CARR. A list of the busi- 
y ness enterprises which are contributing to 
is the growth of Leavenworth should include 
the name of the Leavenworth Paving Brick Com- 
pany, the members of which are the firm of Nesch 
& Carr. When Mr. Carr came to this city in 
1895 he associated himself with Robert Nesch in 
the establishment of the company, which has 
since engaged in the manufacture of all varieties 
of paving and building brick. During the sum- 
mer of 1895 the firm bought the government 
brick plant at the Soldiers' Home, and there 
they continued for two years, when they removed 
to their present location, Marion and Second 
streets, within and near the city limits. They 
own four blocks of clay land for brick manufac- 
turing and are equipped with every facility for 
the successful prosecution ofthe business. 

Mr. Carr was born in Fayette County, Ohio, 
in 1855. His grandfather, Michael Carr, mi- 
grated from Virginia to Ohio, accompanied by his 
brother, about 18 15, and settled upon land which 
he had been given by the government in return 
for his services in the war of 18 12. He was one of 
the earliest settlers of Fayette County, where he 
became a large farmer and where the family name 
is still known. The youngest of his thirteen 
children was Evan H. Carr, who for years was 
one of the leading farmers in Fayette County, but 
suffered severely in finances during the Civil war. 
Of the large family to which he belonged only 
one is living, William, of Yellow Springs, Ohio, 
formerly the proprietor of a large mill. The 
mother of our subject bore the maiden name of 
Sarah Haymaker, and was a member of a family 



that removed from Virginia to Ohio. She is now 
living with her second son, William, who is a 
member of the large vi^holesale grocery firm of 
Green, Carr & Co., in Dayton, Ohio. Her only 
daughter. Amy, is the wife of James Littleton, of 
Casey, 111., while the youngest son, Harry, lives 
in Bellefontaine, Ohio. 

When eighteen years of age our subject en- 
tered Antioch College at Yellow Springs, Ohio, 
where he carried on his studies for a time. Upon 
leaving college he went to Cincinnati and studied 
law. In 188 1, upon examination before the su- 
preme court, he was admitted to the bar of Ohio, 
and afterward he practiced law in that state for 
two and one-half years. In October, 1883, he 
came to Kansas, accepting the position of state 
agent for the.Penn Mutual Life Insurance Com- 
pany, of Philadelphia. With Atchison as his 
headquarters, he began active work in connection 
with his position. At the same time he built up 
a large local fire insurance business. For five 
years he was adjuster of fire insurance losses for 
the Fireman's Fund Insurance Company, of San 
Francisco, Cal., meantime traveling over the 
middle west. He still owns property in Atchi- 
son, but since 1895 has made his home in Leav- 
enworth, where he devotes his attention to the 
manufacture of brick and to the supervision of 
Captain Insley's property. He has not been ac- 
tive in politics, taking no part aside from voting 
the Republican ticket. While in Atchison he be- 
came identified with the blue lodge, chapter and 
comraandery ofthe Masonic fraternity, and he is 
now connected with Abdallah Temple, N. M. S., 
of Leavenworth. December 21, 1893, he mar- 
ried Lillian, daughter of Capt. M. H. Insley, and 
they have one child, Merritt Virginia. The fam- 
ily attend the Methodist Church. 



SILBERT H. MORGAN was born in South 
Framington, Mass., February 27, 1852. In 
August, 1854, he accompanied his father, 
Jonathan Flanders Morgan, as far as Kansas City, 
where he and the other members of the family 
spent the winter, his father meantime proceeding 
to Lawrence and taking up a claim there. In 



796 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



February they joined him and settled upon a 
farm, continuing to reside there until 1864, when 
removal was made to Grant Township. He at- 
tended local schools and also the preparatory de- 
partment of the Uni%'ersity of Kansas. After- 
ward he assisted his father in railroad contracting 
for two years, and later gave his attention to 
farm pursuits. The death of his father thrust the 
responsibilities of life upon him before he was 
tvveuty years of age. He bought a farm of one 
hundred and fifty-five acres lying immediate]}' 
east of Governor Robinson's place, and there he 
engaged extensively in general farming and stock- 
raising. He made a specialty of feeding stock, 
and was so successful in it that he has continued 
it to the present. He ships stock of all kinds to 
various markets, and has built up a large and im- 
portant business, aggregating a large amount in 
cash values annuallj'. In addition to the land 
that he owns he leases large tracts, farming eight 
hundred acres altogether. His specialty in stock 
has been Shorthorn cattle, and he has met with 
noteworthy success in this strand. During 1893 
he removed from the farm into Lawrence, and 
now makes his home at No. 516 Ohio street. 
However, his removal to town has not in the least 
affected his business, which is continued on a 
large scale, demanding his entire time and over- 
sight. 

In Lawrence, in March, 1876, Mr. Morgan 
married Rachael, daughter of John and Olivia 
(Hill) Simmons, and a native of Randolph 
County, Ind. Her father, who was born in Ohio, 
spent some years in Indiana, but in 1868 came to 
Kansas and settled on a farm in Sarcoxie Town- 
ship, Jefferson County. The Simmons family is 
of Swiss descent, the first of the name in this 
country having settled in Pennsylvania. Her 
mother was born in Fletcher, Miami County, 
Ohio, and was a descendant of a New England 
family. Mrs. Simmons died in Indiana and Mr. 
Simmons is now making his home in Douglas 
County. He had four children by his first mar- 
riage, and two of these are living. Mrs. Mor- 
gan, who was the j-oungest of the family, was 
educated mainly in Kansas. By her marriage 
she is the mother of three children: Milo E-, a 



graduate of the University of Kansas in 1899, 
with the degree of LL. B. ; Gladys F. , a graduate 
of the Lawrence high school and now a student 
in the university ; and Matie B., a member of 
the high school class of 1901. 

In national politics Mr. Morgan is a Democrat. 
While living in the country he took an active 
part in township affairs and served as justice of 
the peace for several years. Fraternally he is 
connected with the Modern Woodmen and in re- 
ligion is a Universalist. 



(Jordan NEAL, one of the earliest settlers 
I of Kansas, is engaged in stock-raising and 
G/ general farming in Wakarusa Township, 
Douglas County, where he has made his home 
since 1854. He was born in Franklin County, 
111., July 18, 1824, a son of Jeremiah and Eliza- 
beth Neal. His father, a native of North Caro- 
lina, was married in Kentuckj' and afterward 
settled on a farm in Illinois. In politics a Demo- 
crat, he was elected sheriff on that ticket and 
also for ten years served as county commissioner. 
Of his twelve children the third, Jordan, was 
reared in Franklin County amid pioneer sur- 
roundings. Schools were few and poor, and the 
nearest to his home was three miles distant. He 
engaged in farming in his home countj- until his 
removal to Kansas in 1854, when he took up one 
hundred and sixty acres on sections 5 and 8, 
Wakarusa Township, Douglas County. Begin- 
ning with this tract of raw land he made the 
necessary improvements, broke the ground, 
placed the soil under cultivation, erected build- 
ings and built fences. Within eight years after 
his .settlement on the land he had it under culti- 
vation, but he now has the greater part of the 
property in pasturage, as he has of recent years 
given special attention to the raising of stock. 
On his farm he has about one hundred and fifty 
head of Poland-China hogs and a herd of Jersey 
cattle. For twenty j'ears or more he has given 
the manual work into the hands of others, while 
he superintends the shipment of stock and pro- 
duce. 

During the border troubles of 1S55-56 Mr. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



797 



Neal endured all the hardships and anxieties 
incident to life in this locality. When Quantrell 
made his famous raid, in 1863, he escaped un- 
harmed; however, he had been less fortunate in 
previous 5'ears, for, during a raid by a party of 
Missouri pro-slavery men, in 1856, all of his 
stock, consisting of twenty head of horses and 
ninety head of cattle, were stolen, only about 
ten calves escaping. However, a number of the 
horses were lost by the thieves and afterward re- 
turned to the rightful owner. In i860 Mr. Neal 
drove a herd of cattle from Texas to Nebraska 
City. From 1861 to 1865 he was engaged in 
trading with the Osage Indians, and was quite 
successful in this work. Until recent years he 
took a very active part in Democratic politics, 
but his work was not for himself, but for the 
benefit of his county or his friends. Among the 
men of his party he is known as the ' 'old wheel- 
horse of the Democracy in Wakarusa." 

While living in Illinois, and just before he 
was twenty-three years of age, Mr. Neal married 
Miss Emeline Taylor, by whom he had two chil- 
dren. The only son, John Calvin DeKalb, died 
at four years of age. The daughter, Louisa, is 
the wife of Charles C. Curtis, who is now con- 
ducting Mr. Neal's farm. 



HENRY SHELTON BURR. The entire life 
of Mr. Burr, from the age of seventeen 
years, was spent in Leavenworth, among 
whose citizens he had a high standing and in 
whose business circles he held a position of 
prominence. He was a member of an eastern 
family whose first representative in this country 
emigrated from England in 1630, and, as a mem- 
ber of the Connecticut colony, settled in the 
vicinity of Bridgeport. In the colonial history 
of Connecticut John Burr figured prominently, 
and in the colonial army he was commissioned 
an ofiicer in 1776. His son, John Burr, who was 
our subject's father, was born in Bridgeport, 
Conn., November 27, 1800, and for some years 
followed the mercantile business in New York 
City, but in 1S34 removed to Columbus, Ohio. 
In that city, in addition to his mercantile in- 



terests, he devoted much of his time to horticul- 
ture. He introduced Burr's seedling and Burr's 
new pine strawberries, and was well known 
throughout his entire section of country as a suc- 
cessful horticulturist. Coming ,to Leavenworth 
in 1858, he here continued the business he has so 
successfully established in the east. Among 
other varieties of grapes he introduced the Earl)' 
Victor and Standard, which have since been 
quite popular. In politics he always gave his 
influence to the Republican party. He was a 
member of the Episcopal Church, in which he 
served for some time as a warden. He died in 
Leavenworth, December 13, 1892. 

The children of John Burr were John H., 
deceased; Edmund, of Leavenworth; Henry S., 
deceased; Elizabeth and Sarah, also deceased. 
His wife was Eliza Whitman Hooker, a cousin of 
General Hooker. She died December 30, 1891, 
at the age of eight3'-one years. The family of 
which .she was a member was noted for longevity. 
She was a direct descendant of Thomas Hooker, 
known far and wide as the great preacher of 
Connecticut during the days of witchcraft. Her 
mother was descended from Peter Vanderwater 
Muellen, who emigrated from Rotterdam, Hol- 
land, to Windsor, Conn., about 1640. Afterward 
the name was changed to Mills and the famil)' 
took a part in the early history of Connecticut. 

Born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1839, Henry 
Shelton Burr received his early business training 
in that city. At the age of seventeen he came to 
Leavenworth, and from that time until the Civil 
war he acted as chief clerk in the surveyor's 
office under Webster Wieder. About 1865 he 
became a member of the firm of H. W. Gillett 
& Co., wholesale liquor dealers, in the manage- 
ment of whose affairs he bore an active part until 
1876. He then sold out and turned his attention 
to the manufacture of men's shoes. Under the 
firm name of H. S. Burr & Co. he carried on a 
large business, and was the sole representative in 
Leavenworth of his line of manufacturing. He 
continued actively engaged in business until his 
death, which occurred in October, 1897. He 
was considered one of the best business men of 
the city and his judgment was often sought by 



798 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



less experienced men. Quiet and reserved, he 
cared nothing for pubHc life, but preferred to 
spend his leisure hours in his home. Political!}' 
he supported the Republican party, but never 
consented to hold any political ofiBce. The onlj- 
public position he held was that of school director, 
in which capacity he served for fifteen years. 
He made friends easily and was respected by all 
with whom he had business or social relations. 
In 1 87 1 Mr. Burr married Eleanor Hart Couch, 
daughter of Capt. Simon Andrews Couch, who 
was a first lieutenant in the Thirteenth Wisconsin 
Infantry during the Civil war and served on de- 
tached duty under General Hooker. After the 
war ended he was commissioned a captain in the 
regular arm}'. He spent his last days in Leaven- 
worth, where he died in 1896. Mr. Burr is sur- 
vived by his widow and two sons, Shelton C. 
and Eugene H., who have succeeded their father 
as the heads of the firm of H. S. Burr & Co. 



(ILLIAM MORGAN ORvSBOURN, who 
owns a farm of two hundred and fifty acres 
on the MaraisdesCygnes, in Peoria Town- 
ship, Franklin County, was born April 11, 1866, 
in a house that stood about two hundred yards 
from the site of his present home. His father, 
Madison, was born in Henry County, Ky., Au- 
gust 13, 1827, and received a common-school ed- 
ucation. Learning the saddler's trade he followed 
it in Kentucky until 1849, when he settled in 
western Missouri. After two years there he 
went to another part of the state. In 1855 he 
came to Kansas and took up a claim in Brown 
County, but owing to poor health he sold it in 
1 857. The nextyear he came to Franklin Countj'. 
At the land sale in Paoli in 1858 he bought four 
hundred acres situated in Peoria Township. Of 
this, one hundred and sixty acres were in timber 
land on the Marais des Cygnes. He put two 
hundred and forty acres under fence and later 
planted a hedge. Fifteen acres he set out in an 
orchard, which became the finest orchard in the 
county, and on the place may be .seen now some 
pear trees that were brought from Kansas City 
(then known as Westport Lauding) and planted 



here forty years ago. As he met with success 
he added to his holdings until he had at one time 
six hundred acres. For a time he made a specialty 
of breeding Durham stock. Later he became in- 
terested in Shorthorn cattle, Poland-China hogs, 
and Clydesdale and Norman horses. Our .subject 
now has on his farm a horse that descends from 
an Indian pony bred to Norman .stock, and that 
weighs fifteen hundred and twentj' pounds. It 
was his pride to improve everything he handled, 
whether potatoes or Norman horses. All of the 
shade trees on the homestead were set out by him. 
During the war Madison Orsbourn was a .stanch 
Union man and a war Democrat. While his large 
business interests prevented him from enli.sting 
in the arm}-, he became a member of the .state 
militia and a.ssisted in driving Price out of Kan- 
sas. In the latter part of the war he began to 
erect the present residence, but was not able to 
complete it until 1867. At the time of Ouan- 
trell's raid the Confederate raiders passed over 
the ridge immediately south of the farm house. 
In common with all .settlers, Mr. Orsbourn suf- 
fered from the heavy drought of i860 61, when 
for eighteen months no rain fell. His crop of corn 
in 1859 furnished him seed for i860, but that 
season the corn only grew knee-high, and the 
1859 crop also furnished the seed for 1861. 
Grasshoppers came in swarms and even ate the 
leaves oflf the trees in the orchards, the years 1869 
and 1874 being the worst years of that plague. 
The present barn was built in 1873. In 1881 he 
had an attack of pneumonia, which, combined 
with neuralgia, left him incapacitated for work. 
In the fall of 1884 he went to California for his 
health and spent the winter there, returning to 
Kansas much improved by the trip. He had been 
a very energetic man prior to his illness, with 
ambition much beyond his physical powers, but 
although he regained his health to some extent, 
he was never afterward able to engage in active 
business. In 1896 he went to Colorado, where 
he remained from June to September, and, re- 
turning home ill with mountain fever, he died on 
the 1 6th of the latter month. He was an upright, 
moral man, and his death was a loss to the 
community. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



799 



In Doniphan, Brown County, Kans., in 1856, 
Mr. Orsbourn married Elizabeth Harden, by 
whom he had two sons and five daughters, and 
who died March 8, 1886. Their children are as 
follows: Mary L., who is with our subject; Nancy 
Rebecca, who has been twice married, and now 
the wife of W. M. Langdon; John S., a farmer 
and stockman in Atchison County, Kans. ; Lizzie 
and Sarah (twins), the former deceased in 1882 
and the latter in 1898; William Morgan; and 
Effie A., who died in 1883. Our subject was 
educated in common schools and Baker Universitj^ 
at Baldwin. He taught school for a j'ear, then 
worked for a year in the asylum at Topeka, spent 
a similar period in the Little Rock asylum, and 
later was employed in St. Joseph, Mo. April 2, 
1891, he married Nona Gwyn, of that city, after 
which he engaged in farming and stock-raising 
in Atchison County, Kans., for five years. Upon 
the death of his father, in 1896, he was appointed 
administrator, and returned to Franklin County 
to superintend the home place. He was successful 
in collecting all amounts due the estate, which 
consisted of $13,000 in personal property, besides 
the estate of six hundred acres. Final settlement 
was made in August, 1899. He is a man of ex- 
cellent business ability and is superintending his 
part of the estate successfully. Though urged 
by his Democratic friends to accept ofiice he has 
always refused to become a candidate, preferring 
to give his time to private aSairs. He and his 
wife have three children: Ethel Gertrude, Laura 
Myrl and Eveline Gladys. 



3W. WARRING, M. D. During the long 
period of his connection with the medical 
profession in Leavenworth County, Dr. 
Warring has gained a reputation for professional 
skill and information. His home, in the early 
years of his residence in this county, was upon a 
farm on the Delaware trust land, twelve miles north 
of Linwood, where he combined the supervision 
of his property with the practice of medicine. 
Finding, however, that his increasing practice de- 
manded his entire time, in 1884 he sold the farm 
and took up his residence in Linwood, where he 



now lives. Besides his private practice, he is 
assistant surgeon for the Union Pacific Railroad 
at Linwood and examining physician for the 
New York Life Insurance Company. 

The Warring family came from Scotland to 
Delaware in an early day, and from that state the 
doctor's father migrated to Kentucky, settling in 
Scott County, of which he was later the judge. 
Dr. W. C. Warring, a son of Judge Warring, 
was for many years a practicing physician in 
Owen County, Ky. , and there he died, in 1852, 
at the age of thirt3'-four. He married Martha, 
daughter of Lewis and Mary F. (Gano) Bryan, 
the former of whom was a captain in the war of 
181 2. Mrs. Bryan was a daughter of a captain 
in the Revolutionary war and a niece of "fight- 
ing" Chaplain Gano, who also won prominence 
during the struggle for independence. She is 
living and is now ninety-eight years of age; her 
home is near Kokomo, Ind. She is one of six 
' 'daughters' ' of the Revolution now living. Her 
husband was twice married and by his first 
union had a son, George Bryan, who was the 
grandfather of William Jennings Bryan. The 
mother of Dr. Warring died in Kentucky while 
still a young woman. She left three children, of 
whom Mary F. became the wife of Alfred A. 
Cobb; and Louis died while serving in the Con- 
federate army. 

Dr. Warring was born in Scott County, Ky., 
in 1847. He was educated in public schools and 
the Louisville University. Taking up the study 
of medicine, he graduated from the College of 
Physicians and vSurgeons in Kansas City in 1873. 
Prior to this he had located on land twelve miles 
north of Linwood, Kans., and there he made his 
home for about fourteen years, but in 1884 set- 
tled in town, where he has since engaged in 
practice. In municipal affairs he has been quite 
active. He was a member of the first council of 
Linwood, served for one term as township trus- 
tee, and for several years was a member of the 
school board of the fifty -eighth district. He still 
holds membership in the Alumni Association of 
the medical college from which he graduated. 
Fraternally he is a charter member of Linwood 
Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of which he is past- 



8oo 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



master, and which he has frequently represented 
in the state grand lodge. He is a member of the 
Fraternal Aid Association, in which he is medi- 
cal examiner, and is also past chancellor of Lin- 
wood Lodge, K. P. He is married and has five 
children. 

r^OBERT W. GORRILL, who is a prosperous 
U^ and prominent citizen of Lecompton Town- 
r\ -ship, Douglas County, and the owner of a 
valuable farm comprising about three hundred 
acres, was born in Wood County, Ohio, January 
24, 1842, a son of Thomas and Eliza (Barr) 
Gorrill. He was one of eight children, of whom 
three survive, viz.: Martha, wifeofW. S.Thurs- 
ton, of Toledo, Ohio; Robert W. ; and Marshall, 
a farmer and oil producer residing in Dowling, 
Ohio. His father, a native of Yorkshire, Eng- 
land, born in 1803, came to America at the age of 
about twenty years, and for two years was em- 
ployed by a mercantile firm in Boston. He then 
went to Wood County, Ohio, where he bought gov- 
ernment land and settled down to a farmer's life. 
Notwithstanding his lack of education (for he 
never attended .school after he was ten years old) , 
he acquired a large fund of general information. 
His ability caused him to rank high among the 
people of Wood County. For seventeen years he 
served as a justice of the peace and for four suc- 
cessive terms held office as county commissioner. 
While he never connected himself with any de- 
nomination, he was for years superintendent of a 
Sunday-school and contributed liberally to all 
church work. His death occurred in Wood 
County December 23, 1874. His wife, who was 
born in Woo.ster, Ohio, in 181 1, died in Wood 
County August 5, 1879. She was an active mem- 
ber of the Methodist Church and a woman of ex- 
emplary character. 

The education of our subject was obtained in 
the Wood County schools. November 23, 1865, 
he was united in marriage with Miss Helen Bald- 
win, who was born in Sandusky County, Ohio, a 
daughter of William and Caroline (Kelsey) Bald- 
win, natives of New York state. Shortly after 
his marriage he began to cultivate a rented farm. 
In 1867 became to Kansas on an investigating 



tour and was so pleased with prospects here that 
he decided to locate in this state. In the spring 
of 1868 he removed with his wife to Douglas 
County, buj'ing eighty acres ofland in Kanwaka 
Township, ten miles west and .south of Law- 
rence. At once he began the improvement of 
his property. After four years he sold the place 
and purchased his present home in Lecompton 
Township, where he removed with his family and 
has since resided. His farm is one of the best in 
the county and he is numbered among the most 
progressive and successful farmers of his town- 
ship. In addition to farming he has given .some 
attention to railroad contracting, in which he has 
met with success. Politically he votes with the 
Republicans, adhering to the principles of this 
party. He is a member of Lawrence Lodge No. 
4, I. O. O. F. All measures for the benefit of 
his township and county receive his co-operation. 
He and his family are people of culture and re- 
finement, whom it is a pleasure to meet and asso- 
ciate with. Of the seven children born to his 
marriage, Thomas E , Libbie B. and Libbie M. 
are deceased. Those now living are Marshall A., 
Robert W., Maud M. and Barr S. 



y/lARION A. WOHLFROM. Few among 
y the business men of Leavenworth are better 
(^ known than Mr. Wohlfrom, who enjoys 
the distinction of being, in point of years of busi- 
ness activity, the oldest merchant in the cit}-. 
He came here in September, 1858, having made 
the voyage from St. Louis, on the steamer 
" Skylark," in sixteen days. With his cousin, 
Anton Wohlfrom, he at once began in the gro- 
cery business on Fifth street, and continued with 
him until 1861, when he sold out to his cousin. 
He then bought the property at Nos. 404-406 
Shawnee street, and in the frame building that 
stood on the ground he opened a grocery. In 
1867 that building burned down and he immedi- 
ately rebuilt on the same site, erecting a two- 
story and basement building, 48x125. During 
the thirty-two years that have since elapsed he 
has continued business at the same stand, and 
has built up a large retail business in groceries 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



8oi 



and fish. The success he has gained may be at- 
tributed to his energy, perseverance and economy. 
Besides the prosperous management of his busi- 
ness he has made several fortunate investments 
in real estate and has built a number of residences 
in his home town. 

The birth of Mr. Wohlfrom took place in Al- 
sace, formerly a French province, but now a part 
of Germany. His father, John Pierre Wohl- 
from, was a soldier .in the French army and 
served in Spain under Sully. After his retire- 
ment from the service he retured to Al.sace, where 
he engaged in the bakery business. He died 
there at eighty-four years of age. In 1877 he 
celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his marriage 
to Mary Cline, member of an old Alsacian family, 
and who died at eighty-one years of age. His 
paternal ancestors were from Sweden, and came 
to France at the time the Swedes invaded Alsace; 
remaining there, they have become identified 
with French interests. 

The family of which our subject is a member 
consists of five sons and two daughters now liv- 
ing. The eldest son, who died in Alsace, was 
for seven years (1848-55) in the French army 
under Napoleon. When a boy our subject 
served an apprenticeship to the carriage-maker's 
trade in Erkersheim. In 1853 became to Amer- 
ica, taking passage on a sailing vessel that made 
the voyage from Havre to New Orleans in sixty- 
four days. From New Orleans he proceeded up 
the Mississippi on the steamer which after a week 
on the river arrived in St. Louis. There he 
joined his brother, Joseph, who had settled in 
that city in 1852. He secured work at his trade, 
which he followed in the same place until 1854. 
He then went to Hickman, Ky. , where he was 
similarly engaged for three years. On his return 
to St. Louis he remained there for a year, and 
then came to Leavenworth, of which he was a 
pioneer. 

Mr. Wohlfrom was one of the charter members 
of St. Joseph's Catholic Church, and assisted in 
building the frame structure in which the congre- 
gation first worshipped. Later he assisted in 
erecting the splendid buildings now owned by 
the church. He is a worker in various organiza- 



tions connected with the church. Through his 
efforts was organized the St. Joseph's Benevolent 
Society, which was started in 1868 and was the 
first organized in Kansas. For twelve years he 
served as the president of that association. He 
is now connected with the Catholic Mutual Be- 
nevolent Association. In politics he is a Dem- 
ocrat. 

In Leavenworth, February 11, 1866, occurred 
the marriage of Mr. Wohlfrom to Miss Josephine 
Kroll, who was born in Prussia, and came to 
Leavenworth at nineteen years of age. She was 
a daughter of Andrew and Elizabeth Kroll, and 
came to America in 1861, spending a year in 
Baltimore, and from there removing to Leaven- 
worth. The five children of Mr. and Mrs. Wohl- 
from, all of whom are at home, are named as 
follows: Annie, Alphonse J. and Joseph F. , who 
assist their father in business; Eugene P., who is 
connected with a drug business in Leavenworth; 
and Mary. 

30HN M. CORY. The stock business, when 
under the supervision of a capable man, has 
proved one of the most profitable industries 
in Kansas; and, as Mr. Cory has displayed both 
energy and sound judgment in the management 
of his stock interests, he has found the business 
a profitable one. He is the owner of three hun- 
dred and twenty acres of fine grass land in Easton 
Township, Leavenworth County, and here he is 
interested in the cattle business, buying, feeding 
and selling cattle, which are shipped to the east- 
ern markets. Usually he has from two to three 
hundred head on his place, and so large a num- 
ber necessarily consume much of his time in giv- 
ing them the attention they need. Farming has 
been a secondary occupation with him, his land 
being mostly used for pasturage or for the raising 
of corn for feed. 

The Cory family came from Scotland to Mary- 
land, thence removed to Virginia, and were rep- 
resented in both wars with England. Jonathan 
D. Cory was born and reared in Virginia. He 
married Clara E. Fisher, a native of Ohio, and 
their oldest son, John M., was born in Hancock 
County, W. Va., in 1861. Their other children 



8o2 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



are: Lydia, wife of C. P. Rutherford; William A., 
of Leavenworth; and Bessie C, deceased, for- 
merly the wife of W. vS. Weir. In 1867 the 
family left their eastern home and settled in Kan- 
sas, buying a farm in Easton Township. Here 
the father died in 1872, when forty-seven years 
of age, and his wife, in 1884, when the same age. 
He was a man of upright character, a hard 
worker, and painstaking farmer. During the 
Civil war he had served in the Union army for a 
year. 

As soon as old enough to do so, our subject 
took charge of the farm which his father had 
owned. Here he has since remained, but, in- 
stead of giving his attention to farming, as his 
father did, he has turned his attention to stock- 
raising, and is also interested in real estate. 
As a Republican he is active in local politics. 
Twice he was his party's candidate for the legis- 
lature and once for the county commissioners' 
board. For a number of years he has been a 
member of the county central committee and he 
has also acted as delegate to several state con- 
ventions of his party. He has been an advocate 
of measures for the benefit of his county. Espe- 
cially has he been active in endeavoring to secure 
good country roads in his town.ship, for he real- 
izes that these are indispensable to local pros- 
perity. Fraternally he is senior warden of Ea.ston 
Lodge No. 45, A. F. & A. M., and a member of 
Topeka Valley of Orient Temple, and has at- 
tained the thirty-second degree. He is also con- 
nected with the Modern Woodmen of America. 
In religion he is of the Presbyterian faith. In 
1S90 he married Nannie E., daughter of Asa E. 
Cleavinger, and they have two children. Homer 
D. and Luella E. 



y yilLTON R. WINTER, who is a leading 
y farmer and stockman of Lecompton Town- 
er .ship, Douglas County, was born in this 
county November 17, i860, a son of Mathias S. 
and Mary E. (Brooke) Winter, and one of six 
survivors in a family often children. His brothers 
and sisters are as follows: George S., a farmer 
and .stockman of Wabaun.see County, Kans. ; 
LeoraL., wife of W. D. Pontius, a farmer and 



stock-raiser of Douglas County; Thomas K., a 
stock-dealer of Oklahoma; William H., who is 
engaged in the practice of law in New Mexico; 
and Lizzie B., wife of W. V. Ingham, of Platte 
County, Mo. His father, who was a native of 
Harri.son County, W. Va., born in 1833, grew 
to manhood upon a farm there. In the winter 
of 1854-55 he came to Kansas and settled in 
Douglas County, buying land in Lecompton 
Township, and engaging in its improvement and 
cultivation. In time he became one of the most 
successful men of his township, and at his death 
he left to his family a finelj' improved farm of 
eight hundred acres. Twice he was elected com- 
mis.sioner of Douglas Countj^ and his death oc- 
curred in 1896, while he was serving his second 
term. Fraternally he was a Mason and an Odd- 
fellow. He was a faithful member of the United 
Brethren Church, and in his life exemplified the 
doctrines which he professed. He was one of 
the highly esteemed men of his township. His 
father, Joseph Winter, was of Pennsylvania-Dutch 
stock, and prior to the Civil war was a slaveholder 
in West Virginia. 

In the acquirement of an education our subject 
was limited to the advantages offered by common 
schools. On reaching his majority he rented one 
of the farms belonging to his father. When a 
mere boy he had become interested in the cattle 
business and had acquired a thorough knowledge 
of stock-raising, which he has made his specialtj^ 
since starting out for himself. His success has 
been pronounced, and he is to-day quoted as the 
leading authority in the cattle business in this 
section. In 1897 he took charge of the home 
farm of eight hundred acres, of which he has 
since had the management. He is the owner of 
five hundred and eighty-seven acres of valuable 
land in Kauwaka Township, which he rents to 
a tenant. He is recognized as one of the sub- 
stantial farmers of Lecompton Township. He is 
interested in educational matters and has devoted 
considerable time to the same since his election 
to the school board. 

In 1 88 1 Mr. Winter married Miss Hattie Lee 
Prim, who wan born in West Virginia and died 
in Arkansas March 15, 1892. Four children were 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



803 



born of this union: Bertie, Cleveland (deceased), 
Hazel and Robert (deceased). In 1S94 Mr. 
Winter was united in marriage with Miss Louise 
Heise, daughter of John Heise, who was a pioneer 
of 1854 i" Kansas, and resided in Lecompton 
Township until his death. Three daughters were 
born of this union, Mary (deceased), Eugenia 
and Leora. In politics Mr. Winter is a stanch 
Democrat. He is a member of Lecompton Lodge 
No. 413, I. O. O. F., and Lecompton Council, 
Fraternal Aid Association. As a citizen he stands 
high and deservedl}' enjoys the esteem of those 
with whom he has been associated in his town- 
ship and county. 

(TOEL GUSTAFSON, one of the most success- 
I ful stone contractors of Lawrence, has had 
G/ the contracts for many of the best buildings 
in eastern Kansas. July 11, 1884, he began work 
on Snow Hall, University of Kansas, which was 
the first building he ever figured on and the first 
contract he ever filled. On the erection of the Sol- 
diers' Home buildings, Leavenworth, he was the 
first stone cutter on the ground. He has had the 
contracts for the stone-cutting on the Watkins 
building. Merchants Bank, opera house, high 
school building, Teasdale building, and the Fow- 
ler shops at the University of Kansas; built the 
General Roberts building and the Donnelly liv- 
ery stable, which is the finest in the state; has 
superintended the stone work on the best resi- 
dences of Lawrence; had the contract for the first 
paving and most of the curbing in this city; built 
a bank at Hiawatha and the high school build- 
ing at Tonganoxie, a bank at Eudora and other 
public or business blocks. In his stone yard at 
the foot of Walnut street, on the Santa Fe tracks 
may be found all kinds of stone and building and 
paving brick. 

Our subject was born in Sweden, on the 19th 
of May, 1856, a son of Gustav Magnuson. His 
paternal grandfather, who died at ninety-seven 
years, was the owner of an estate, "Linneryd," 
to which his son Gustav succeeded. The latter 
was a farmer and died in 1883, at sixty-five years 
of age. His wife, who was a member of a wealthy 
family, resides at the old homestead and is now 



seventy-nine "years of age. In religion she has 
always been a Lutheran and reared her eight 
children in that faith. 

When sixteen our subject entered the employ 
of a railroad contractor and assisted in building 
the railroad running from Sweden into Norway. 
From twenty -one to twenty-three years he served 
in the army. In 1879 he crossed the ocean via 
Hull and Glasgow to New York, making the 
voyage on a steamer that went down on its next 
trip to America. He had learned stone-cutting 
in Sweden, and on his arrival at Lawrence he at 
once secured employment at that trade, which he 
has since successfully followed. He has been 
prospered and is now the owner of five resi- 
dences in Lawrence. He was married in Ottawa 
to Miss Mathilda Anderson, daughter of Gustav 
Andenson, who was formerly a railroad contrac- 
tor, but now a farmer in Sweden. She came to 
America in 1879 and has since lived in Kansas. 
The children born of her marriage are; Broer, 
Edna, Luther and Albert. The family are con- 
nected with the English Lutheran Church. 

Fraternally Mr. Gustafson is a member of the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen, the lodge and 
encampment of Odd Fellows, the Fraternal Aid 
Association, and is also an active worker in the 
Commercial Club and the Merchants' Athletic 
Club. Besides his private business affairs he 
has been selected to act as administrator in nu- 
merous estates and as guardian for orphans, and no 
one has a more honorable record in the probate 
judge's office than he. 



Q URDINE EATON, who has engaged in farm- 
IC\ ing in Leavenworth County since the fall of 
d/ 1867, was born in Estill County, Ky., in 
1840. His father, Albert Eaton, anativeofthesame 
county , removed from Kentucky tolowa in 1 844 and 
settled in Davis County, where he was a pioneer 
farmer. In 1857 he removed to Taylor County, 
Iowa, and five years later established his home in 
Cass County, Neb., where he did a great deal of 
pioneer work as a farmer. He was a man of up- 
right character and many striking intellectual 
gifts. Fond of pioueer life, its hardships did 



8o4 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



not daunt, nor its privations discourage him. He 
was a member of the first colony that settled in 
Iowa, where he became the owner of five hundred 
and twenty acres and carried on farm pursuits 
successfully. When that region became settled, 
he once more sought the frontier, and became a 
pioneer of Nebraska. In both states, in addition 
to his agricultural operations, he was a worker 
in the Baptist Church and organized many con- 
gregations of that denomination. For years he 
officiated as a preacher, serving gratuitously con- 
gregations that were unable to employ a pastor. 
He died at his home in Nebraska in 1873, at the 
age of seventy-three years. 

The grandfather of our subject, Samuel Eaton, 
was born in Charleston, S. C, and went to Ken- 
tucky in company with Daniel Boone, settling at 
the old fort of Boouesboro, where he died at 
forty-seven years of age. He was a son of Daniel 
Eaton, who emigrated from Ireland to America 
in early manhood and settled upon a farm on the 
island in Charleston Harbor, S. C, where he 
owned two hundred acres. He also owned prop- 
erty where the city of Charleston now stands. 
Our subject's mother was Sarah Barnett, a native 
of Kentucky. Of her nine children, six are now 
living, namely: John, who lives in Nebraska; 
Burdine; Eli, a resident of Nebraska; Sallie Ann, 
wife of James Edraisten; George Washington, of 
Nebraska; and William Henry H. 

At the time the family settled in the then 
frontier of Iowa the subject of this sketch 
was four years of age. He was reared on a 
farm, in a section of country where school 
privileges and other advantages were meager. 
However, he availed himself of such opportu- 
nities as the common schools afforded. At nine- 
teen years of age he began to farm for himself 
and has since followed agricultural pursuits. In 
1862 he went to Nebraska, and for some years, 
while superintending a farm, also engaged in 
freighting between Nebraska City and Colorado. 
In the fall of 1867 became to Kansas and settled 
in Lenape, Leavenworth County, where he re- 
mained for two years. Afterward he engaged in 
cultivating rented land. In 1S74 he bought his 
first farm, comprising forty acres, in Sherman 



Township. Since then he has added to his prop- 
erty- until he owns one hundred and twenty acres. 
He is engaged in raising cereals and .stock, and 
has met with a success that is especially com- 
mendable when it is remembered that he started 
without capital. 

Politically Mr. Eaton has for some years voted 
with the Populists. He is active in supporting 
enterprises for the benefit of the people and the 
county. For two years he held the office of 
township treasurer. Fraternally he is connected 
with Linwood Lodge, K. of P. He has been 
twice married; first, in 1S67, to Alcinda J. Booz, 
who died in 1873, leaving three children: Sarah, 
Melger S. and Albert. His second marriage 
took place in 1873 and united him with Miss Mary 
Hickman, by whom he has four children. Lulu 
O., Elizabeth M., Charles and Edward. 



pCJlLLIAM C. WILSON, who has been a 

\ A / resident of Leavenworth County for a 
V V quarter of a century, is engaged in general 
agricultural pursuits in Fairmount Township, 
where he and his wife own three hundred acres 
of fine farming land. In addition to this prop- 
erty they also own one half section of land in 
Oklahoma. Mr. Wilson was born in Berkeley 
County, W. Va., July 14, 1844, and is a son of 
James and Rose Ann (Snyder) Wilson, natives 
of the same county as himself. His grandfather, 
James Wilson, who was born in the Old Domin- 
ion, engaged in farming and died when eighty- 
six years of age. He was the son of an Irish- 
man, who emigrated to this country and took 
part in the Revolutionary war. James Wilson, 
Jr., who has spent his entire life in the same lo- 
cality, is still active, at eighty-two years. In 
politics he affiliated with the Democrats until the 
Civil war, since which time he has been a Repub- 
lican. His wife, who was a faithful member of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, died at sixty- 
five years. They were the parents of five chil- 
dren: William C; Eliza; Idella and Isaiah, de- 
ceased; and Annie. 

When ahoy upon his father's farm our subject 
became familiar with agricultural pursuits. Liv- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



805 



ing in the south and surrounded by southern 
S5'mpathizers, he nevertheless sided with the 
Union at the time of the Civil war. Against his 
wishes he was pressed into the Confederate army, 
but served only a short time. While in the 
guard house at Winchester, he and forty others 
escaped, and, after having been two days and 
nights without food, reached the Federal lines in 
Maryland. He went from there to Ohio and for 
three years worked by the month on a farm. 
After a short visit at his old home he came west 
as far as Des Moines County, Iowa, where for 
eight years he tilled the soil of a rented farm. In 
1874 he came to Kansas, and bought the farm 
where he has since made his home. 

By the first marriage of Mr. Wilson six chil- 
dren were born, viz.: James, William E., Frank- 
lin, Rose Ann and John, all of whom are in 
Oklahoma; and Maude, wife of Chet Dunbar. 
The present wife of our subject bore the maiden 
name of Alfrette Hoskins, and was born in Illi- 
nois. Both are members of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church and stand high socially. In poli- 
tics Mr. Wilson is a liberal Republican. He has 
been a member of the school board and is inter- 
ested in educational matters. 



Gl LFRED B. BARTHEL, for many years head 
U miller for the Rush Milling Company of 
I 1 Leavenworth, was born in the kingdom of 
Saxony, German}', in 1840, a son of George Bar- 
thel. He was one of a family of sixteen children, 
all of whom reside in this country. In 1851 the 
father, who was a merchant and manufacturer in 
Germany, brought his family to America and set- 
tled upon a farm near Fort Wayne, lud. There 
his wife died when forty-four years of age. He 
survived her for many years, dying when seventy- 
six. The subject of this sketch was reared on 
the home farm and educated in common schools. 
At the age of fifteen he began to learn the miller's 
trade in his home county, but afterward went to 
St. Louis, where he remained for two years. In 
1864 he took charge of the Standard flour mill in 
St. Louis, but the following year the mill was de- 
stroyed by fire, and he was then for a year in 

39 



charge of the mill in Illinois. In 1866 he bought 
a mill at Big Spring, Mo. , forty miles from St. 
Louis, and this he conducted for two years, but 
was obliged to sell out on account of poor health. 
After spending a short time in recuperating his 
health he went to Kirksville, Mo., in 1868, and 
started a mill in that town, where he continued 
until his removal to Kansas in 1870. 

Arriving in Leavenworth, Mr. Barthel became 
head miller for W. H. Plummer, and afterward 
was with H. D. Rush and the Rush Milling Com- 
pany, being with the last-named for twenty-six 
years. He has always been faithful at his post 
of duty, allowing nothing to interfere with busi- 
ness affairs. Having made a study of all branches 
of milling, including the roller system and other 
modern improvements, he is admirably qualified 
to carry on a mill, to the financial advantage of 
its owners. At the St. Louis exposition in 1872 
he was awarded a premium for the excellent qual- 
ity of flour exhibited. He takes a deep interest 
in his work and always aims to produce the best 
possible results from the mill. Besides his other 
interests he owns farming land in the western 
part of Kansas, has built a number of houses in 
Leavenworth and owns a substantial residence on 
Ninth avenue. 

During the Civil war Mr. Barthel was captain of 
Company A, Thirteenth Regiment of Missouri 
Infantry, and served until the expiration of his 
term, ninety days. His brother, Charles, was 
also a war officer, being captain of a company in 
the Seventh Ohio Cavalry; another brother was a 
surgeon in the Seventh Illinois Infantry. The 
three brothers had excellent war records, each 
being conspicuous for fidelity to duty and for effi- 
ciency. Another brother, Albert G. Barthel, 
has been a teacher in a Lutheran school in St. 
Louis since 1853. The family for several genera- 
tions have been connected with the Lutheran 
Church, which is the rehgious faith of the subject 
of this sketch. In politics he is a Republican. 
Fraternally he is connected with the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen 
of America. In 1866 he married Emelie Helm- 
irg, by whom he has six children, viz.: Alfred 
George, who is cultivating his father's farm in 



8o6 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD, 



western Kansas; Mrs. Emma Snj'der; Mildred, 
who married Harry Bell and lives in San Antonio, 
Tex.; Arthur, of Galveston, Tex.; May and 
Walter. 



["ERRIS K. TAYLOR, police judge of Leav- 
r^ enworth, was born in Goshen, Orange 
I County, N. Y., April 14, 1847, and was 
reared near Flint, Mich., attending the grammar 
and high schools of that city, and graduating 
from the latter. In January, 1862, he enlisted in 
Company L, Fourth Michigan Infantry, and, 
being a recruit, went to Nashville to join his 
regiment. Afterward he took part in a number 
of engagements from Resaca to Atlanta, and after 
the capture of Atlanta he served under Thomas 
in the battles of Nashville and Franklin, where 
Hood's army was utterly routed. Next he was 
ordered to Alabama. When Wilson organized 
the cavalry corps he was assigned to duty in it 
and assisted in the capture of Selma and Mont- 
gomery. In the spring of 1865 news was re- 
ceived that JefiFerson Davis was marching in that 
direction. The Fourth was instantly on the 
alert and he was with that regiment when it had 
the honor of capturing the famous Confederate 
leader. At the close of the war he was mustered 
out at Nashville, August 19, 1865, and immedi- 
ately returned to Flint. 

While Mr. Taylor was valiantly defending the 
old flag his father was, in another part of the 
country, also fighting for the stars and stripes. 
William Lansing Taylor was born in New York 
state and in his youth studied both law and 
medicine. He married Susan Elliott, who was 
born in Goshen, N. Y. She died in Flint in 
1889, leaving an only child, the subject of this 
sketch. Some time during the '50s William 
Lansing Taylor settled in Oskaloosa, Iowa, but 
later moved to Missouri, and was engaged in 
business in that state at the time of the opening 
of the war. At once he enlisted in the Seventh 
Missouri Infantrj'. Soon afterward he was taken 
prisoner, but later was placed on parole. He 
violated his parole and enlisted, as hospital 
steward, in the Seventh Kansas Cavalry, under 
the assumed name of James William Lansing, 



continuing in active service until the close of the 
Rebellion. Afterward he settled upon a farm 
near Lawrence, but later, for many years, he 
was hospital steward at the state penitentiary. 
Upon resigning that position he opened a general 
mercantile store in what is now the village of 
Lansing, Leavenworth County. He established 
the first postofEce there and the town was named 
in his honor, Lansing. He became owner of an 
interest in ninety acres, now platted in town lots. 
Politically he voted the Republican ticket, and 
fraternally was a member of Nine Mile Lodge, 
A. F. & A. M. When he died, March 21, 1886, 
he left all of his property to his only child. He 
had a brother, James M. Taylor, who served in 
an Illinois regiment in the Civil war and who 
afterward became a pioneer of Douglas County, 
establishing a dental oflBce in Lawrence and con- 
tinuing in practice until his death, in 18S7. 
While he was eccentric in manj' respects, William 
Lansing Taylor was nevertheless the soul of 
honor, and was respected by those who knew 
him. On account of his long service as hospital 
steward and the fact of his having a drug store 
in connection with his mercantile business, he 
was usually called doctor. 

During his residence in Michigan our subject 
was township superintendent of instruction for 
some years. In 1881 he went to northern Mich- 
igan and engaged in the manufacture of lumber, 
having a mill near Frederick, Crawford County, 
with which, as a member of the firm of Babcock 
& Taylor, he continued until 1886. Upon re- 
ceiving word that his father was dead he came 
immediately to Kansas and administered the 
estate at Lansing. It was his intention to return 
to Michigan, but becoming interested in Leaven- 
worth County, he has remained here since. He 
built the Taylor hotel at Lansing and a number 
of residences, besides which he owns fourteen 
acres there. For three years he served as justice 
of the peace in Lansing. He was a member of 
Grant Post, G. A. R., in that town, an organiza- 
tion since disbanded. In 1893 he established his 
home in Leavenworth, where he became con- 
nected with the police department. For eight 
months he was patrolman, for sixteen months a 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



807 



night sergeant, and in February, 1897, was ap- 
pointed judge of the police court of Leavenworth 
by Governor Leedy. When the metropolitan 
police law was affected by proclamation, he was 
reappointed by the mayor and city council, in 
July, 1898. This office he has filled faithfully 
and with efficiency. In national politics he is a 
Populist, and he has been chairman, and is now 
secretary, of the county central committee. Fra- 
ternally he is connected with the Modern Wood- 
men of America and the Knights of Pythias, and 
was formerly active in the blue lodge of Masonry, 
of which he was a member in Linden, Mich. 
During his residence in Michigan he married 
Miss Jennie Smith, who was born and reared in 
Fenton, that state, and is a member of the Con- 
gregational Church. Two children were born of 
their union: Homer W., who died in Leaven- 
worth at twenty-three years of age; and Clinton 
A., at home. 

REV. J. W. KIMMEL, pastor of the First 
English Lutheran Church of Leavenworth, 
was born near Magnolia, Carroll County, 
Ohio, a son of John Joseph and Sarah Ann 
(Alexander) Kimmel, natives respectively of 
Germany and Illinois. His paternal grandfather, 
Daniel Kimmel, brought the family to America in 
1806 and settled in Pennsylvania, but about 1824 
removed to Ohio, where he died. The maternal 
grandfather, John Alexander, was a farmer in 
Illinois and was of Scotch descent. John Joseph 
Kimmel grew to manhood in Pennsylvania, and 
after removing to Ohio he worked on the canal, 
later improved a farm from a tract of timber land. 
When a young man he made a trip to Illi- 
nois, but returned to Ohio, and there resided un- 
til his death, in 1867. His wife died in 1878. 
They were the parents of six sons and six daugh- 
ters who attained mature years, and of these 
three sons and three daughters are still living. 

The fourth of the family, Joseph W., was born 
June 26, 1S46. When a boy he attended school 
in a log building, with slab benches and punch- 
eon floor. When seventeen, in February, 1864, he 
volunteered in Company K, Fifty-first Ohio In- 
fantry, and was mustered in at Camp Chase, after 



which he was ordered to Chattanooga. He took 
part in the march through Georgia, and was 
present at the battles of Resaca, Dalton, Dallas, 
Kingston, Marietta, Peach Tree Creek, Chicka- 
mauga. Snake Creek Gap, Kenesaw Mountain, 
siege and battle of Atlanta, Jonesboro, Lovejoy 
Station, Franklin, Spring Hill, first and second 
battle of Nashville, after which he wintered at 
Decatur, Ala. In March, 1865, he took part in 
a wild march into Knoxville, Tenn., thence re- 
turned to Nashville and took part in Hood's re- 
view. In July, 1865, he was sent to Indianola, 
Tex., thence to Victoria, where he remained in 
camp until November 3, 1865, and then started 
for home. He was honorably discharged at Co- 
lumbus, Ohio, November 25 of that year. Dur- 
ing his term of service he was in a camp hospi- 
tal for four weeks, his illness being caused by two 
strokes of paralysis. When mustered out he 
was only nineteen years of age. Afterward he 
attended college and also taught school. After 
his marriage, in 1869, he farmed in Tuscarawas 
County. In 1874 he entered Wittenberg Theo- 
logical Seminary at Springfield, Ohio, from which 
he graduated in 1876. He was ordained to the 
ministry in Wooster in September of that year, 
after which, from 1876 to 1879, he officiated as 
pastor at Arcadia. 

Coming west in 1879, Mr. Kimmel took charge 
of a congregation of eleven members at Teka- 
mah, Burt County, Neb. , where he built a church. 
He also organized congregations and built houses 
of worship at Oakland and Grace. In 1884 he 
was called to take up missionary work in Nemaha 
County, which at that time did not have any 
Lutheran congregations. He organized St. Paul's 
Lutheran Church in Auburn and built a church; 
also Trinity Lutheran Church at Stella, Richard- 
son County, Neb. ; reorganized the congregation 
and built a church at Morrill, Brown County, 
Kans; and in 1886 was appointed missionary to 
the Republican Valley, with headquarters at 
McCook, Neb., and ministering to congregations 
over a tract of land three hundred miles long 
and two hundred and fifty miles wide. For four 
and one-third years he devoted himself to his 
work it; that large field, going meantime as far 



8o8 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD, 



west as Cheyenne, Wj-o., Akron, Colo., and 
Oberlin, Kans. He organized and built churches 
at McCook, Franklin and Bloomington, Neb.; 
Long Island, Norcatur and Oberlin, Kans.; 
Orleans and Stamford, Neb., and Akron, Colo.; 
besides which he preached occasionally at Has- 
tings, Red Cloud, Holdrege, Oxford, Curtis and 
Grant, Neb. This immense work was accom- 
plished in little more than four years. 

June I, 1890, Mr. Kimmel was recalled to his 
first field in Nebraska, where the church had 
gone down during his absence. He placed it up- 
on a substantial basis again, and when he left 
four years later it was in good condition. In 
May, 1894, hfe came to Leavenworth, and pub- 
lished the Luthcrati Era, which he had started 
during his residence in Nebraska. However, in 
December, 1896, he discontinued this paper, his 
other work having grown to such proportions as 
to necessitate his entire attention. It was the 
agreement, when he came to Leavenworth, that 
a church should be built the first year. The fir.st 
year the board of missions paid $500 on the pas- 
tor's salary and the congregation $200, but after- 
ward there was nothing to depend upon except 
the small contribution from the congregation. 
The church had no property except a lot on the 
corner of Spruce and Sixth streets, which was 
worth $500 and had an encumbrance of $1,500. 
In September work was begun. A subscription 
of $1,000 was secured. A church was erected at 
a cost of $8,500, but left an indebtedness, Janu- 
ary i, 1895, of $9,500. In March, 1895, there 
was a division in the congregation on the subject 
of the debt, some wishing to .sell the property 
and settle with the creditors pro rata, paying 
them about forty per cent. , and thus saving for the 
congregation about $6,000. This plan the pastor 
did not favor, it being his desire to pay the entire 
indebtedness, and enough were of his opinion 
to outvote the other faction. At the same time 
(March, 1895) the pastor began to sell matches 
at wholesale, buying in carload lots and selling 
through Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa. 
Meantime the creditors had agreed to extend the 
time of payment on a promise of receiving one 
hundred cents on the dollar. Since then he has 



engaged constantly in the match business, travel- 
ing from one place to another, while his wife had 
charge of the ofl5ce work. In this way, during 
the past four years, he has paid off $6,000, in- 
cluding the interest. Meantime the congregation 
has grown, the various societies have taken on 
new life, and every branch of the work is in a 
state of activity. This remarkable record speaks 
volumes for his energy and good judgment. No 
matter how busy his week may have been, he 
always returns to Leavenworth to preach on 
Suudaj', and keeps a constant oversight of the 
work, whose success is due to his self-sacrificing 
efforts. 

Politically Mr. Kimmel is a Republican, and 
has always voted that ticket since casting his first 
ballot for Abraham Lincoln. He is a member of 
Custer Post No. 6, G. A. R. His first marriage 
was solemnized in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, 
and united him with Miss Martha E. Bailey, who 
was born there and died in Arcadia, that state. 
The five children born of this union were named 
as follows: John, now living in Leavenworth; 
Alfred, who died in Ohio; Harry, in Oklahoma; 
Olive, who is in Leavenworth; and Elizabeth, 
deceased. The present wife of Mr. Kimmel, 
whom he married in 1878, was Miss Jennie 
Moser, of Altooua, Pa., and to this union five 
children were born, viz.: Katie, Joseph M., Mar- 
tin L-, Althea M. and Jennie Grace. 



30SEPH B. INSLEY, who resides in Leaven- 
worth and is exteusivelj' engaged in the 
stock business, was born in Tippecanoe Coun- 
ty, Ind., in 1842, a descendant of Scotch ances- 
tors, by whom the name was spelled Ainsley. 
At an early period in the history of Ohio they 
settled there and became interested in farming. 
He is a son of Andrew and Isabella (Johnson) 
Inslej', both of whom were natives of Ohio and in 
whose family were nine children, five now living. 
His father, who was born in 1805, engaged in 
farming and .stock-raising, and was one of the 
pro.sperous agriculturists of his neighborhood. 
From 1827 until his death, in 1863, he made his 
home in Indiana, where he was a leading citizen 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD, 



809 



of Tippecanoe County, and, during war times, a 
stanch Abolitionist. His wife died in Kansas 
when eighty-two years of age. 

The summer of 1863 our subject spent in Kan- 
sas, being with his brother, Capt. M. H. Insley, 
at Fort Scott. On his return to Indiana he em- 
barked in the stock business, in which he met 
with fair success. In 1873 he settled permanent- 
ly in Kansas, establishing his home in Leaven- 
worth, where, in 1876, he bought a residence in 
the suburbs of the city, but within the limits. 
Here, as in his former home, he engaged in the 
stock business. In the fall of 1876 he went to 
Oregon, where he devoted the winter to the pur- 
chase of cattle. In the spring he took two 
thousand head to Cheyenne, Wyo., where he sold 
them. In the fall of 1878 he made another trip 
to the coast, and from there shipped five hundred 
head of cattle to Kansas. During the last trip 
the Indians broke out against the white men. 
Sixty miles east of Boise City his party en- 
countered the savages and they captured an 
Indian spy, who was surveying the country. 
This spy they turned over to the cavalry troop 
from Fort Boise and the commander of the troops 
compelled him to guide them to the hiding place 
of the Indians. About that time the Indians 
captured the stage and cut the cable over the 
Smoke River. 

After an absence of seven months Mr. Insley 
returned to Kansas, where he followed the cattle 
business. In 1882 he went to Routt County, 
Colo., and homesteaded one-quarter section of 
land. The following year his family took up 
their residence on the ranch. In time he became 
one of the heaviest tax-payers of that county. He 
formed a stock company and acted as general 
manager of the Leavenworth Cattle Company, 
which owned from ten to twelve thousand head of 
cattle. In 1890 he returned to Kansas, but still 
retains his interests in Colorado, where he owns 
six hundred and forty acres of fine grazing land. 
His principal interests are in Colorado, but he also 
has property in Kansas and is extensively engaged 
in the buying and selling of stock, of which busi- 
ness he has made a life study. At one time he 
served as county commissioner of Routt County, 



Colo. Politically he votes the Republican ticket. 
He takes a warm interest and an active part in the 
work of the Methodist Episcopal denomination, 
to which he belongs. His marriage, in 1869, 
united him with Mary E. , daughter of Rev. 
Amasa Johnson, a minister of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church in Indiana. The two children 
of Mr. and Mrs. Insley are Anna, in Leaven- 
worth; and Edwin, who resides in Routt County, 
Colo. 



30HN GEARY CASEBIER, who is en- 
gaged in the manufacture of sorghum and in 
general farm pursuits in Tonganoxie Town- 
ship, Leavenworth County, was born near Clin- 
ton, Douglas County, Kans., November 14, 1856. 
He is a son of Samuel B. Casebier, to whose sketch 
the reader is referred for the family history. 
His education was obtained principally in Jeffer- 
son, Leavenworth County, concluding with one 
term in the state university at Lawrence. After 
having been with his father for two years, in 1879 
he started out for himself, beginning with eighty 
acres where he now resides. The land was 
fenced, but much of it had not been broken and 
no attempt had been made at cultivation or im- 
provement. Desiring that the place might be at- 
tractive as well as profitable, he set out the grove 
of maple trees that now add so much to the ap- 
pearance of the homestead. He also erected a 
comfortable residence in 1884. From time to 
time he added to the size of the farm, which now 
embraces one hundred and sixty acres. 

After having engaged in raising grain, Mr. 
Ca.sebier decided that the manufacture of sorghum 
would be more profitable. Accordingly he has 
since given his attention chiefly to the raising of 
cane and has made large shipments of sorghum 
to the various markets, finding this industry a 
profitable one. Besides raising cane he also 
manufactures sorghum on shares. He manufac- 
tures from one hundred and twent}' to one hun- 
dred and thirty-five barrels of sorghum per an- 
num, shipping mostly to Kansas City. By actual 
practical experiments he has found that cane can 
be raised here, even when a scarcity of rain ruins 
other crops, and there is also the additional ad- 



8io 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



vantage of less fluctuation in price. He owns a 
threshing machine and does most of the threshing 
in hislocahty; he also has a sorghum crusher run 
by steam power, with a capacity of thirty tons. 

Mr. Casebier has represented the Democratic 
party in local conventions and has worked on its 
committees. He is active in educational affairs 
and has been a member of the school board. He 
is connected with the Masonic blue lodge and the 
Fraternal Aid Association at McLouth. In 1880 
he married Oma French, daughter of a minister 
in Anderson County. They have had three 
children, two now living, viz.: Ernest, who as- 
sists his father; and Charles. 



PJiNCENT A. KELIvY, son of John V. and 
W Dora Kelly, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, 
V January 6, 1854. At the age of three years 
he moved with his parents to Leavenworth, 
Kans. , where he has since made his home. He 
received a common-school education, with the 
exception of two years .spent at St. Mary's Col- 
lege, St. Mary's, Kans. At the age of fourteen 
years he began to learn the carpenter's trade under 
his father, who was then employed by the gov- 
ernment at Fort Leavenworth. 

When eighteen years of age he made a trip to 
England and Ireland, where he visited his grand- 
parents and other relatives. On his return in 
1873 he enlisted in the regular army and for five 
years served in the Eighth United States Cavalry, 
being on duty principall}' in Texas near the line 
of Mexico, where he was engaged in patroling 
the border to prevent cattle thieves from driving 
stock over into Old Mexico. 

On his retirement from service he worked at 
his trade for several years, and then began con- 
tracting, in which business he is still engaged. 
His work as contractor and builder has not been 
confined to the immediate locality of his home. 
Most of his contracts have been for the govern- 
ment, not only at Fort Leavenworth, but also at 
Forts Reno, Riley and Supply. 

Among the most important buildings erected 
by Mr. Kelly at Fort Leavenworth are Drill 
Hall, built in 1889, Bachelor OflScers' Quarters 



in 1891, Cavalry stables in 1892, remodeling of 
General Merritt's residence in 18S7 and Cavalry 
School in 1895; ^t Fort Supply in 1892 a guard 
house; at Fort Reno in 1890-91 a hospital, cav- 
alry' stables, and remodeled the residence of 
Colonel Wade, the commanding officer of Fort 
Reno. At Fort Riley in 1896 and 1S97 he built 
stone buildings, two double sets Officers' Quar- 
ters, one Artillery Barracks and five stable guard 
buildings. 

Among the buildings erected by Mr. Kelly in 
the city are Cretor's mill, Kelly & Lysle's mill, 
German Catholic school, remodeled Morris 
school, McGlynn building, corner Fifth and 
Miami streets, Bradley's (Fourth and Olive), 
Larimer's (Fifth and Olive), and P. J. McDon- 
ald's (Second and Cherokee streets); St. Vin- 
cent's Orphan Asylum in 1888, priest's residence 
at Mt. St. Mary's Academy in 1898, and in 1899 
elevator and warehouse in Kansas City, Mo.; at 
the National Military Home in Leavenworth 
County a nurses' cottage, insane ward, and at 
this writing has contracts for the erection of a 
barrack, theatre and hotel building. 

Mr. Kelly is so interested in business matters 
that he has never identified himself with political 
affairs, having little taste for politics. In 1882 
he was married to Miss Martha D. Casserly, of 
Mineral Point, Wis. 



|ILLIAM MAYER, a pioneer of Leaven- 
worth, has made his home in this county 
since March 14, 1857, and has witnessed 
its steady growth in population and importance, 
to which he has personally contributed. He has 
been an industrious, per.severing man, and 
through his energy has accumulated a compe- 
tency. A native of Germany, born in Baden 
May 5, 1836, he was eleven years of age when, 
in the spring of 1847, he came to America with 
his parents, Dominick and Regina (Sadler) 
Mayer, natives of Baden. The family settled on 
a farm near Burlington, Iowa, being pioneers of 
that section of country, where the father cleared 
and placed under cultivation a tract of raw land. 
After some years he retired and settled in Bur- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



8ii 



lington, where he died at the age of seventy -two 
years. His wife was forty-seven at the time of 
her death. They were the parents of four chil- 
dren, Barbara, William, Nicholas and Joseph. 

When seventeen years of age our subject began 
to learn the blacksmith's trade in Burlington. 
He had served about eighteen months when his 
employer failed. He then went to Quincy, 111., 
where he finished learning the trade and later 
worked there about two years. From there he 
returned home and soon afterward came to Leav- 
enworth. His first work in Kansas was in Kicka- 
poo, where he ran a shop for three years. In 1861 
he opened a shop in Leavenworth and here for some 
years he carried on general blacksmithing, but 
since 1879 he has limited himself to horseshoeing. 
He had been fairly successful and could, if he de- 
sired, retire entirely from business, but being of 
an industrious temperament, he is happiest when 
employed. He is an expert at his trade, which 
he understands thoroughly and in which he has 
no superiors in the city. 

Politically Mr. Mayer is a Democrat, and fra- 
ternally a member of the Knights of Pythias and 
Ancient Order of United Workmen. He mar- 
ried Miss Mary Hoch, of Burlington, Iowa. 
They are the parents of two children, their son 
being William F., who is with his father in the 
shop. 

nOHN P. BELL, a successful farmer of Pal- 
I myra Township, Douglas County, was born 
C2/ in Indiana County, Pa. , in 1842. His father, 
John, who was born in Ohio, of Scotch descent, 
removed to Pennsylvania with his parents in 
childhood and there learned the millwright's 
trade. He was an expert machinist and also 
worked at bridge-building for some years. In 
politics he was a Republican, and in religion a 
Presbyterian. In disposition quiet and retiring, 
he never cared to identify himself with public 
affairs. He reared a large family to fill positions 
of honor and usefulness, and was successful in 
gaining the esteem of associates, but never accu- 
mulated much property. 

May 30, 1 86 1, our subject enlisted in the Penn- 
sylvania Reserves, but was soon transferred to 



Company E, Eleventh Pennsylvania Regiment, 
in which he served as a private until May 30, 
1864. During the seven days' fight in front of 
Richmond his entire regiment was captured by 
the Confederates and he was wounded by a gun- 
shot, which he still carries in his left leg. For 
forty days he was confined in Libby prison, after 
which he was paroled and taken to Harrison 
Landing, thence to Newport News, and six 
weeks later was exchanged and returned to his 
regiment. At Fredericksburg his company went 
in with thirty men and came out with only nine, 
and at that battle he himself narrowly escaped 
death. Later he was assigned to recruiting near 
Washington, D. C. , where he also did guard duty 
on a railroad. He took part in the battle of 
Gettysburg, after which he pursued the Con- 
federates into Virginia and engaged in the battle 
of the Wilderness. 

After his discharge from the army Mr. Bell re- 
turned home and secured work in the building of 
a telegraph line from Pittsburgh to Altoona, Pa. 
In September, 1865, he started for Kansas and 
"squatted" on the farm he now owns. With him 
he brought $260, which enabled him to get a 
start in his new home. He bought his land from 
the government, paying $2.50 an acre. It was 
wholly destitute of improvements, and one of his 
first tasks was the building of a frame house. 
From time to time he made other improvements 
that added to the value of the place. He now 
owns five hundred and twenty acres in his home 
farm, which he operates personally. In addition 
to this he has given one hundred and sixty acres 
to his older son and eighty acres to each of his 
daughters, thus enabling them to get a good 
start in life. For years he has been interested in 
feeding cattle, a branch of agriculture in which 
he has been quite successful. 

April 13, 1865, Mr. Bell married Miss Millie J. 
Waterman, of Westmoreland County, Pa. They 
are the parents of four children, namely: Frank, 
who is engaged in farming near the old home- 
stead; Jennie R., wife of William Fuhs; Eva D., 
who married Charles Skinner; and John, at home. 
The family are identified with the Presbyterian 
Church, to the maintenance of which Mr. Bell 



8l2 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



has been a regular contributor. While he has 
always refused political office he has been active 
in the interests of such of his friends as are can- 
didates, and has always been a stanch Repub- 
lican. 



NGN. JOHN CRIMP WATTS, who has 
made his home in Kansas since the fall of 
1856, was born near Plymouth, Devonshire, 
England, September 3, 1835, a son of John and 
Elizabeth (Crimp) Watts, natives of the same 
shire. His father, who was the son of a stone 
mason, learned that trade at an early age and 
after a time began to take contracts. While en- 
gaged in filling a contract he accidentally fell from 
the belfry of a church and was so injured that he 
died six months later. Besides his wife (who 
came to Kansas and died here at the age of fifty- 
six years) he left four children, of whom John 
Crimp is the oldest and the only survivor. Isaac, 
the second son, was a soldier in the British 
army and served in India, but resigned, came to 
America and settled in Kansas, where he died. 
Thomas, who was also a soldier in India, came 
to Kansas in the early days and remained here 
until 1879, when he went east, and since then all 
trace of him has been lost. Mary, the only daugh- 
ter, married A. Woods, and died in Lawrence. 

After his father's death our subject was ap- 
prenticed to his partner, with whom he remained 
until he was eighteen. In 1853 he came to 
America on the sailer "Rose," and landed in 
Quebec after a voyage of eight weeks. Going to 
Cleveland, Ohio, he worked as a stone mason 
and bricklayer. In 1854 he went to Chicago and 
Waukegan, 111., in both of which places he found 
employment and began contracting. In the fall 
of 1856 he came to Kan.sas. He was then a j^oung 
man of twenty-one years. With all the enthusi- 
asm of youth he began life in a new countrj- 
amid hardships and difficulties. Going to Potta- 
watomie County he took up the first claim near 
Louisville, and there he built a house and made 
improvements, retaining the place for four years. 
As he passed through Lawrence he had noticed 
some stone buildings, and thinking it might be 
possible for him to secure work, he returned to 



this city in February, 1857, and began contract- 
ing and building. In order to hold his claim on 
Rock Creek, every six months for two years he 
made a trip to it, starting from Lawrence on foot 
at noon and walking twenty-five miles that daj% 
and twenty-nine the next, reaching the land after 
dark. Four j'ears after he had settled in Law- 
rence a man offered him $1 ,000 for it. He accepted 
the ofier, deposited the money in a bank which 
failed three days later, entailing a total loss to 
hira. Undiscouraged, however, he continued his 
work as contractor, and in time became success- 
ful, he and his uncle, Abraham Watts, being 
partners. He built the Miller block, G. A. R. 
building, Poehler block, the grocery building 
owned by John Jones, and many residences in 
this city. About 1890 he practically retired from 
business, although since then he has consented 
to take a few important contracts, among them 
that of the library building in the University of 
Kansas (1894), and the Fowler shops at the uni- 
versity (1898). He is the owner of considerable 
valuable property in Lawrence, and has dealt ex- 
tensively in real estate. During the antebellum 
days he experienced all the terrors of border war- 
fare, and remembers well the perils of the Quan- 
trell raid that brought death and disaster to the 
people of Lawrence. At the time of the Price 
raid he was mustered into Company A, Third 
Kansas Militia, under Captain Wheeler as cor- 
poral, and went with his regiment down to the 
Blue. 

In Lawrence Mr. Watts married Fannie, 
daughter of Thomas Collier, who came from 
Pennsylvania to Lawrence in 1857. They be- 
came the parents of six children, of whom Mary 
died at fourteen years, and the others are at 
home. Mr. Watts voted the Republican ticket 
until the Tilden campaign, since which time he 
has been a Democrat. He is serving his third 
term as chairman of the Democratic county com- 
mittee. For three terms he represented the third 
and fourth wards in the city council, where he 
was chairman of the committee on streets, alleys 
and bridges. For two years he held the oSice of 
street commissioner. On the Republican ticket, 
in 1874, he was elected to the legislature, receiv- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD, 



813 



ing a majority of six hundred over Alexander 
Banks. In the session of 1875 he secured the 
passage of a bill assessing propertj' and stock at 
the place of their location. Not wishing to be 
the recipient of anj^ favors from the railroads, he 
sent back all passes presented to him. For two 
years he was a director of the state penitentiary 
under Governor Glick. After becoming a Demo- 
crat he was a candidate for sheriff and treasurer 
of Douglas County, but his party being in the 
minority he failed of election. However, he over- 
came a majority of one thousand and was defeat- 
ed by only one hundred votes. He is a demitted 
member of the Odd Fellows, and belongs to the 
Fraternal Aid Association, the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen and Washington Post No. 12, 
G. A. R. 



(TOHN B. LAMBER was one of those early 
I settlers who, through self-sacrifice, toil and 
Q) hardship, have made possible the degree 
of culture and prosperity the present generation 
enjoys. Coming to Leavenworth in 1857, he 
identified himself with the history of the then 
little town and assisted in developing its re- 
sources, rendering possible its high standing 
among the cities of the west. Indirectly, too, 
he aided in the development of the region then 
known as "bleeding" Kansas, which is now one 
of the most prosperous states in the Union. 
While he was quiet, unpretentious and unassum- 
ing, he was nevertheless alive to every need of 
his home town, and was a loyal, public-spirited 
citizen. When, after the toil and battle of life, 
he passed away, August 2, 1895, he was followed 
to the grave by the affectionate remembrances of 
the pioneers who survived him, and by the grati- 
tude of the younger generation that had grown 
up around him. 

Both the paternal and maternal ancestors of 
Mr. Lamber were of English lineage. His 
mother, Elizabeth, was a daughter of Sir John 
Missing, of England. He was born in New 
York City July 24, 1828, and was two years of 
age when his father died. He passed his boy- 
hood years in his native city. His first position 
was that of a messenger on the New York & 



Erie Railroad. In 1850 the Adams Express 
Company sent him to Australia, appointing him 
their agent at Melbourne. The trip both ways 
was made on sailing vessels and, going out, he 
spent one hundred and seventy-five days on the 
ocean. In 1855 he returned via Europe to the 
United States. The experiences that he had 
abroad were most helpful to him and gave him a 
profitable cosmopolitan knowledge of men and 
countries. After two more years in New York 
City, in 1857 he came to Leavenworth, where he 
remained for two years at that time, and then 
went further west. 

About 1863 Mr. Lamber returned to Leaven- 
worth and in 1866 he bought an interest in the 
Planter's hotel, which was carried on under the 
firm name of Rice, Lamber & Pleas. In 1875 
Mr. Pleas retired from the firm and the following 
year Mr. Rice sold his interest to Mr. Lamber, 
who continued to be the sole proprietor of the 
hotel until 1888. He then retired from business. 
During the remaining years of his life he lived 
quietly at his home. No. 311 North Broadway, 
where, in the enjoyment of every comfort, he 
could fully enter into domestic and social pleas- 
ures. He was never active in politics, although 
a stanch Republican, always voting that ticket. 

In Bethany, N. Y., January 10, 1866, Mr. 
Lamber married Mary J., daughter of Thomas G. 
Smith, and a sister of Leonard T. Smith and Mrs. 
Jasper S. Rice, of Leavenworth. The ancestry 
of the family appears in the sketch of Leonard 
T. Smith. The only son of Mr. and Mrs. Lam- 
ber is John B. Lamber, Jr. , of San Francisco, Cal. 



r\ATRICK McKEEVER, who is engaged in 
L/ farming at the head of Salt Creek Valley in 
JD Leavenworth County, has resided on his 
homestead since 1861. During that year he 
bought a squatters' claim to one hundred and 
sixty acres, on which he began the work of im- 
provement and cultivation. He built what was 
known as the "Big" house, a building 16x16, 
which was large for those days, and was the first 
frame house erected in the district. While he 
has always given attention to the general lines of 



8i4 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



farming, at one time he made a specialty of stock- 
raising, and had on his place about one hundred 
head of cattle. In 1897 he erected a residence 
which is considered one of the finest in the val- 
ley, and here he has a pleasant and comfortable 
home. 

Born in Ireland in 1833, Mr. McKeever ran 
away from home when fifteen years of age and 
came to the United States, lauding in New York 
and thence proceeding to Philadelphia. For two 
years he made his home with Dr. Walker, a 
Quaker physician, and while working there he 
also attended school. In 1848 he began to work 
for the Pennsylvania Central Railroad Company. 
Two years later he went to Richmond, Va., and 
from there proceeded to Baltimore, Md., where 
he bound himself to the machinist's trade, but 
after twenty-one months the shop closed down. 
He then secured work on the Baltimore & Ohio 
Railroad. In 1852 he began farming in Perry 
County, Ohio, and at the same time he resumed 
his studies, attending St. Joseph's College in 
Somerset, where he received a good academic 
education. 

In 1855 Mr. McKeever came to Leavenworth, 
Kans., and secured employment in the quarter- 
master's department at the fort. In 1859 he went 
to California Gulch, Colo., where he spent the 
summer, returning to Leavenworth in the fall, 
and resuming work at the fort. During the bor- 
der ruflSan wars he conducted an express service 
between different forts and experienced all the 
dangers of those days. Since then he has de- 
voted himself entirely to agricultural pursuits. 
In 1863 he was united in marriage with Sarah 
Ann Walls, who died in 1867, leaving three chil- 
dren, viz.: Harry, who is employed on a railroad 
in Mexico; Robert?., who is a graduate of St. 
Benedict's College in Atchison, and is a musician 
of some note, being the author of the song, "A 
Broken Promise," and other selections; and 
Mary, who has charge of the home. ■ 

Actively interested in the welfare of his com- 
munity, Mr. McKeever supports the Populi.st 
party and has attended its conventions. He has 
held office as treasurer of Kickapoo Township. 
He is loyal to the institutions of his adopted coun- 



try, and is proud of its army and navy, and in 
the splendid record it has made in the recent war 
with Spain. He is a man of quiet disposition, 
kind-hearted and generous, and is respected by 
all who know him. 



WlAJ. W. B. CARPENTER, M. D., for 
y years one of Leavenworth's most prominent 
(9 citizens, but now deceased, was born in 
Delaware, Ohio, and descended in direct line 
from William Carpenter, of Rehobeth, Mass., a 
native of Herfordshire, England, and a cousin of 
William Carpenter, who was an associate of 
Roger Williams. He came to America in the 
sailing vessel "Bevis," in 1638, and assisted in 
the founding of Providence, in Rhode Island. 
Ira Carpenter, who was the son of a Revolution- 
ary soldier, was born in New York state and in 
early days acted as a surveyor. He became a 
pioneer of Delaware, Ohio, which town he assist- 
ed in laying out. He met with an accident that 
caused him to abandon civil engineering. He 
then turned his attention to the study of medi- 
cine and subsequently engaged in the practice 
of that profession, dying at the age of eight}'- 
three. 

Major Carpenter, who was a son of Dr. Ira 
Carpenter, studied medicine under Dr. Scott, 
also in the Columbus Medical College and the 
Cleveland Medical College, graduating as an 
M. D., in 1853. Afterward he started for Cali- 
fornia, but, changing his plans, spent one winter 
in Iowa, and in the summer of 1857 settled in 
Linn County, Kans., where he located a claim; 
built a house, improved the land and al.so carried 
on a general practice. At the opening of the 
Civil war he volunteered as a private in the Sixth 
Kansas Infantry, but was soon transferred to the 
Fifth Kansas Regiment, of which he was com- 
missioned assi.stant .surgeon. Later he was made 
surgeon with the rank of major, and as such 
served until the close of the war. On being mus- 
tered out he settled in Leavenworth, where he 
engaged in a general practice until 1876. After- 
ward, for six years, he was attending physician 
to the Kansas state penitentiary, of which he was 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



815 



later the first resident physician for eight years. 
His death occurred in I<eavenworth in December, 
1893, at the age of sixty-five years. Fraternally 
he was identified with the Masons. 

The marriage of Major Carpenter united him 
with Miss Harriet E. Woodward, who was born 
near Delaware, Ohio, and is now living in Leav- 
enworth. Her father, Joel Woodward, was born 
in Maryland, and removed from there to Ohio, 
settling in Cleveland, where he engaged in the 
manufacture of paper. The family of Major and 
Mrs. Carpenter consisted of four children, two of 
whom are living. 

EHARLES R. CARPENTER, M. D. Among 
the physicians of Leavenworth a prominent 
place is held by the subject of this article, 
who is one of the popular professional men of the 
city, and has attained recognition through his 
skill in the treatment of intricate forms of dis- 
ease. He is a member of the Leavenworth City 
and County Medical Society ; the Kansas Eastern 
District Medical Society, of which he served as 
secretary for several years; the Missouri Valley, 
Kansas State and American Medical Associa- 
tions, and through his connection with these so- 
cieties keeps in touch with the progress made in 
the science of medicine. He has contributed 
articles to medical journals bearing upon subjects 
that pertain to the profession, and these articles 
have received favorable mention on the part of 
his professional contemporaries. 

Dr. Carpenter was born in Hardin, Iowa, Feb- 
ruary ID, 1857, a son of Maj. William B. Car- 
penter, M. D., deceased, late of Leavenworth. 
He was an infant when his parents settled in 
Linn County, Kans., where he remained until 
the war, and was then sent to school at Cleve- 
land, Ohio. In 1863 the family joined his father 
at Helena, Ark., and afterward followed the army 
in its movements in that region. In 1865 he 
came with his parents to Leavenworth, where he 
was educated in the public and high schools. In 
1876 he entered Cornell University, from which 
he graduated in 1880. The study of medicine he 
began under his father and afterward carried on 
in Rush Medical College, Chicago, from which 



he graduated in 1882, with the degree of M. D. 
Returning to Leavenworth, he began the practice 
which he has since conducted, his location being 
in the Manufacturers' Bank building. For seven 
years he was secretary of the board of health of 
this city. He assisted in organizing the Leaven- 
worth Hospital Association, which is one of the 
finest in the state. He has since been secretary 
of the association and a member of the hospital 
staff. Fraternally he is connected with Leaven- 
worth Lodge No. 2, A. F. & A. M., at Leaven- 
worth, and is also connected with the Sons of 
Veterans. In politics he affiliates with the Re- 
publican party. He is an elder in the First 
Presbyterian Church of Leavenworth. His 
marriage took place in Princeton, Ky., and 
united him with Miss Nina Garrett, who was 
born in Kentucky. They have one child now 
living, Anna Louise. 



yyilCHAEL KIRMEYER, who was one of 
Y the early settlers of Leavenworth, and is 
(9 still living in this city, was born in Munich, 
Bavaria, February 23, 1826. He spent his bo}'- 
hood years upon a farm owned by his father, who 
was an extensive farmer and stockman, and made 
a specialty of raising race horses. When thirteen 
years of age he began to learn the butcher's 
trade, at which he served an apprenticeship of 
two years, and later followed the business until, 
in accordance with the laws of his country, he 
entered the army. His entire period of service 
in the army covered six years. 

In 1857 ^^- Kirmeyer came over to our coun- 
try on the "Little Conquerer" with his brother 
Joseph, and the two proceeded at once to Leav- 
enworth, where they opened a butcher shop. 
After a year our subject purchased his brother's 
interest, and for two years continued alone, after 
which he engaged in the manufacture of soda 
and ginger ale for eighteen months alone and 
later with John Brandon as a partner. From that 
business he gradually drifted into the brewer's 
trade, and continued in the latter until 1888, 
when the prohibition laws caused him to close 
out and retire to private life. He is a member of 



8i6 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



the Turner societj- and a charter member of the 
Leavenworth Lodge, I. O. O. F. During war 
times he voted with the Republicans, being in 
sympathy with their policy as to the abolition of 
slavery; but of more recent years he has affiliated 
with the Democrats. 

November 24, 1858, he married Miss Nieder- 
weiser, who was born in Ausburg, Germany, in 
1834. They became the parents often children, 
but four died at an early age. The others are 
named as follows: Agnes, who is married and 
lives in I^eavenworth; Michael, Jr., a traveling 
salesman; John H., deputy district clerk, resid- 
ing in this city; Joseph, who is a photographer 
by occupation and is now in Memphis, Tenn.; 
Dolly A. and Bertha M., who are with their 
parents. 

pCJiLLIAM G. FULLER, who is engaged in 
\ A / contracting and building in Leavenworth, 
V V was born in Taylor County, Iowa, in 1858, 
a son of Oak P. and Elizabeth (Hicks) Fuller. 
His father was a member of a pioneer family of 
Ohio and was born in that state, where his father, 
Gabriel Fuller, was killed when he was a lad of 
ten years. When a young man, in 1856, he 
removed to Iowa and there became interested in 
farming, while at the same time he also did con- 
siderable business as a carpenter and builder. 
For seven years he made his home in Bedford 
and from there removed to Mahaska. In 18S1 
he established his home in Ottawa County, Kans. , 
where he has since resided upon a farm. He is 
a Democrat in politics and actively interested in 
public affairs. To his marriage thirteen children 
were born, nine of whom are living. 

In his youth the subject of this sketch learned 
the trade of miller and millwright, which he 
followed for a short time, and afterward, for sev- 
eral years, engaged in railroad work in Missouri. 
In 1880 he went to western Kansas and took up 
a claim to government land in Pratt County, 
where he began farming. After two years he 
•vcame to Leavenworth, where he began carpen- 
tering and aLso engaged in railroad work. While 
employed on railroads, he was in Missouri, 
Texas, Indian Territorj- and Kansas. He 



assisted in erecting a large depot for the Missouri, 
Kansas & Texas Railroad in Dallas, Tex. In 
other places he also built depots for the same 
road, and in 1893 built the Missouri Pacific depot 
in Leavenworth. 

Besides his railroad contracts, Mr. Fuller has 
erected buildings for the government at Fort 
Leavenworth. He has also had contracts for 
some of the finest business blocks, churches and 
private residences in the city. The nature of his 
work is such that it invariably proves satisfactory. 
People competent to judge in the matter believe 
him to be one of the most expert contractors in 
the city. His work keeps him so engrossed that 
he has no leisure for public affairs or official 
positions, and, aside from voting the Democratic 
ticket he takes no part in politics. He is inter- 
ested in mining in Arizona and is a stockholder 
in the Arizona Gold Mining and Milling Com- 
pany. He and his family are active members of 
the Baptist Church and he is one of the deacons 
of the congregation. His marriage, which took 
place in 1881, united him with Christina, 
daughter of James W. Bedwell, who came from 
Missouri to Kansas in 1866 and is still living in 
Leavenworth, where he has followed the black- 
smith's trade for years. Mr. and Mrs. Fuller are 
the parents of six children. 



GlUGUST SCHANZE, who is one of the suc- 
Ll cessful business men of Leavenworth, was 
/ I born in Schwartzenberg kies Meltzing, fif- 
teen miles from Cassel, Kur-Hessen, Germany, 
July 30, 1840, a son of John and Elizabeth (Bach- 
man) Schanze, natives of the same place as him- 
self. He was the j-oungest of four children, of 
whom his sister died in Michigan; one brother, 
John, lives in Kansas City; and the other, Mar- 
tin, is in Texas. When fourteen years of age he 
was apprenticed to the wagon-maker's trade in 
his native village, and for two and one-half years 
served as an apprentice. In 1856 he left Bremen 
on a sailing-vessel that reached New York after 
a voyage of thirty-seven days, and from New- 
York he went to Chicago, where he secured work 
at his trade. In the spring of 1858 he came to 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



817 



Kansas, joining his brother, John, who had set- 
tled at Sumner the preceding year and had been 
engaged in making wagons for Russell, the 
freighter. In the fall of 1858 he voted for the 
admission of Kansas into the Union as a free 
state. He experienced many of the perils and 
hardships of border warfare, when the whole 
country was in a state of excitement and none 
knew what a day might bring forth. He was a 
member of the Turn Verein, a society of forty 
members, organized into a company, for whom 
the blowing of a horn was a signal to assemble. 

From 1859 to 1861 Mr. Schanze carried on a 
shop in Winthrop, Mo. At the opening of the 
war he came to Leavenworth and enlisted in the 
service of the government. He was assigned to 
the army of the Potomac and was sent to Hagers- 
town, Md., thence to Frederick, the same state, 
from there to Washington, D. C, and Virginia, 
where he was assigned to work in the army shop. 
He was connected with the repair department of 
the army and was present at the battle of Bull 
Run (2d) and other important engagements. 
Still in the government employ he returned to 
Leavenworth in 1863, and was later ordered to 
Helena, Ark., as a mechanic. On account of 
illness he did not remain long in Helena. In 
1865 he was sent to Denver, where he was em- 
ployed in the government shop for fourteen 
months. 

On his return to Leavenworth Mr. Schanze 
started a shop on the corner of Fourth and Cher- 
okee streets, where he engaged in the manufac- 
ture and repair of wagons and carriages. From 
1873 to 1883 he was in the government employ 
at Fort Leavenworth, but during the latter year 
he resumed business for himself at No. 608 Cher- 
okee street, where he has a three-story and base- 
ment building, 48x125 feet in dimensions, built 
of brick, and stocked with a full line of hard- 
ware, agricultural implements, wind mills, pumps, 
seeds, etc. He is still engaged in the manu- 
facture of wagons and buggies, with which work 
his long years of successful experience have made 
him thoroughly familiar. Since 1889 he has 
handled farm and garden seeds of all kinds, and 
has also made a specialty of builders' hardware. 



Besides his business block he is the owner of four 
residences which he erected, and has other valua- 
ble property in the city. 

In Leavenworth, in 1867, occurred the mar- 
riage of Mr. Schanze to Miss Kate Schaffer, who 
was born in Prussia, and at one year of age was 
brought to America by her parents, who settled 
in Kansas in 1854. She is a sister of Jacob 
Schaffer, the champion billiard player of the 
world. The two sons of Mr. and Mrs. Schanze 
are Jacob, a graduate of the commercial college, 
and now bookkeeper for his father, and John, who 
also assists in the store. Mr. Schanze is a mem- 
ber of the Turn Verein, and is past officer of the 
Odd Fellows' lodge, which he has represented in 
the grand lodge, also is past officer in the en- 
campment. In politics he is a Republican. 



KOBERT ARMSTRONG. There are no citi- 
zens of Leavenworth who have taken a 
deeper interest in the development of its 
resources and the extension of its influence in 
commerce and agriculture than have the pioneers 
of the city. Coming here in the early days, they 
have been potent factors in all worthy enterprises. 
Not only have they striven for personal success, 
but, with admirable public spirit, they have en- 
deavored to promote all beneficial causes. Among 
these early settlers is Mr. Armstrong, who came 
to Kansas during 1857, and, identifying himself 
with the free-state movement, gave that cause his 
ardent support during the trying days previous 
to and during the Civil war. From the time of 
his settlement to the present he has supported 
measures for the benefit of the people. During 
the first years of his residence here he assisted 
on government surveys, in which way he gained 
a practical knowledge of the state, the condition 
of its lands and their prospective value to the 
settlers. 

The family of which Mr. Armstrong is a mem- 
ber has been identified with Scotch history as far 
back as the genealogy can be traced. He was 
born in Scotland, October 23, 1832, and grew to 
manhood upon the farm owned by his father, 
Robert Armstrong, Sr. With a desire to avail 



8i8 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



himself of the advantages offered by the new 
world, he determined to cross the ocean to Amer- 
ica. It was in 1853 that he emigrated from his 
native land and cast his fortunes in with the peo- 
ple of the United States. Landing in New York, 
he proceeded to Illinois, and for four years he en- 
gaged in tilling the soil there, meantime saving 
his earnings in order that he might invest in farm 
property for himself. From Illinois he came to 
Kansas at the time the tide of emigration was 
turning toward Kansas, and on arriving here he 
entered claims in Marshall and Nemaha Counties. 
From that time to this he has made agriculture 
his occupation, and has made a specialty of stock- 
raising. 

Realizing the advantages to be derived from a 
good education, Mr. Armstrong has always been 
a friend of the public school system and has done 
all within his power to promote the standard of 
scholarship. Other movements, too, that are for 
the public good and will conserve the prosperity 
and happiness of the people receive his co-opera- 
tion and support. He has been so fortunate in 
his undertakings that he has acquired large pos- 
sessions, including a stock farm of seven hundred 
and seventy acres in Marshall County, a large 
tract in Ottawa County, also his residence at No. 
1806 Shawnee .street, Leavenworth. He and his 
wife have four children: Agnes, Rose, Camelie 
and Leonie. 

REV. JAMES M. PAYNE, Protestant chap- 
lain at the National Military Home in Leav- 
enworth, was born in Parke County, Ind., 
April I, 1843, a son of Gustavus and Mary 
(Nevins) Payne. When he was four years of age 
his parents became pioneer settlers of Hancock 
County, 111., from which a short time before the 
Mormons had been driven out. In the common 
schools of those days and that localit}^ his educa- 
tion was obtained. When he was eighteen years 
of age the Civil war broke out, and, fired with a 
patriotic zeal, he at once enli,sted in the Union 
army, becoming a member of Company G, Second 
Illinois Cavalry, which was assigned to the Thir- 
teenth Army Corps under John A. McClellan. 
Among the battles in which he took part were 



those at Vicksburg, Jackson and Champion Hill, 
Miss. , as well as others that had a part in deciding 
the fate of the war. His entire period of service 
was four years, five months and twelve days, and 
during all that time he was not once wounded, 
but his brothers, William and Henry, are both 
buried in southern soil, having fallen as martyrs 
to the Union cause. 

At the close of the war Mr. Payne came to 
Kansas, where he engaged in farming in Miami 
County. Five years later he was converted and 
became a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. At once he became activel}^ interested 
in the work of the church and after four years he 
dedicated his life to the ministry. His first pas- 
torate was at Osawatomie, where he was pastor 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Later he 
had a charge at Galena, Kans. , for five years; and 
while serving his fifth year as pastor of the Grace 
Methodist Episcopal Church at Fort Scott, he was 
appointed, June 28, 1898, Protestant chaplain of 
the National Military Home, and he has since 
given his attention to the conscientious and effi- 
cient discharge of his duties. During the long 
period of his connection with the Methodist Epis- 
copal ministry in Kansas he has done much to 
promote the success of this denomination and has 
proven himself a faithful and capable worker in 
this part of the Lord's vineyard. Through his 
entire life his acts have been in harmony with his 
professions. In his long and honorable career, no 
word of reproach has ever been uttered against 
him. He has maintained the respect of his ac- 
quaintances and the warm regard of his as.sociates. 
By his marriage, in 1864, to Miss Mary A. Cant- 
well, of Illinois, he has one son, Dr. E. B. Payne, 
of Galena, Kans. 



(Tames H. WEIMER, a farmer and stock- 
I raiser of Marion Township, Douglas County, 
(2/ was born in Preble County, Ohio, in 1850. 
He is a descendant of Joseph Weimer, a native of 
Germany, who emigrated to Pennsylvania, set- 
tling near Harrisburg. He was one of the 
organizers of the Dunkard Church in that locality. 
At the great age of one hundred and eleven years 
he died in Darke County, Ohio. His sou Michael, 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



819 



who was born in Pennsylvania, took up land in 
Randolph County, Ind., where Union City now 
stands. Afterward he made his home in Preble 
County, Ohio, where he carried on a grist mill 
and engaged successfully in farming for many 
years. For some time he served as a deacon in 
the Dunkard Church, in which organization he 
was active. 

Daniel, son of Michael Weimer, and father of 
our subject, was born in Darke County, Ohio, 
and resided there until 1866, when he moved to 
Jackson County, Mo. In 1871 he came to Kan- 
sas, settling in Palmyra Township, Douglas Coun- 
tj^ where he spent the remainder of his life. A 
skilled mechanic, he followed the trades of car- 
penter and painter, which he had learned in Day- 
ton, Ohio, and in which he was considered an ex- 
pert, lyike his forefathers, he worshiped with the 
Dunkards and took an active part in their 
labors. He died in^iSyg, at'_fifty-six years of age. 
His wife, who bore the maiden name of Martha 
Alexander, was born in Ohio and died in Kansas 
in 1895, at sixty-three years of age. They were 
the parents of four children: James H.; Sarah E., 
who is the wife of E. B. Kincaid; Noah S. and 
Maggie A., both of whom live in Palmyra Town- 
ship. 

When our subject was a little less than sixteen 
years of age he went with his parents to Missouri , 
and in 187 1, when they came to Kansas, he 
settled in northern Missouri, on the border of 
Iowa. However, the following year he settled on 
a rented farm in Palmyra Township, Douglas 
County, and this place he operated until, by 
carefully saving his earnings, he was able to buy 
a home of his own. In 1884 he bought the 
place where he has since engaged in farming and 
dealing in stock, making a specialty of raising 
Hereford cattle. The success that he has at- 
tained proves him to be a man of energy and per- 
severance. Everything connected with agricul- 
ture is of interest to him and, at the organization 
of the Grange, he became identified with it. He 
is a stockholder in a grain business at Overbrook, 
Kans. 

In the local lodge of the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen Mr. Weimer has held the highest of- 



fices. The Democratic party always receives his 
support, for its principles represent his ideas as to 
national government. During his connection 
with the school board he served as its clerk. For 
six years he was a constable in Marion Township. 
November 20, 1879, he married Clemmie, daugh- 
ter of John and Barbara (Anderson) Bailey. 
They have six children: Guy, L,utie, Ethel, Jay, 
Earl and Mabel. 



~ N. O. CLOUGH. It is scarcely possible 
^ for the present generation to gain an ade- 
^ quate conception of the hardships endured 
by the pioneers of Kansas. Those who settled 
here in the early days were led to do so, less in 
hope of worldly advancement, than in defense of 
a principle. From the north and east men came 
to assist in the movement looking toward the ad- 
mission of Kansas into the Union as a free state. 
Among those who took an active part in the bor- 
der warfare and who assisted in the organization 
of the Union party was Mr. Clough, of Leaven- 
worth. So prominent was he in the anti-slavery 
movement that it is said of him that he was the 
most deeply loved, and the most deeply hated, 
man in the entire region. He was opposed to 
the extension of slavery, but did not favor inter- 
fering with it in states where it was already es- 
tablished; however, when the crisis came he 
stood stanchly on the side of President Lincoln, 
whom he knew personally and admired greatly, 
and favored the emancipation of the slaves. 

The great-grandfather of our subject, John 
Clough, was born in Massachusetts in 17 19, was 
twice married, reared a large family, and died in 
1798. His son, Ebenezer, was born in Boston, 
April 8, 1767, and in that city engaged in manu- 
facturing wall paper. At the time of his death 
he was eighty-one years of age. Of the thirteen 
children born to his marriage with Catherine 
Frothingham, the fourth child and third son was 
William, who was born in Boston, June 23, 1797. 
While a mere lad he served in the war of 181 2, 
leaving school to enter the army, and assisting in 
building the forts in Boston harbor. About i8i6 
he graduated from Harvard, after which he went 
to Virginia and taught school. On his return to 



820 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Boston he was principal of the Ma5hew public 
school, also a Latin school in the citj'. In 1833 
he settled in St. Charles Countj', Mo., where he 
improved and operated a farm. After the death 
of his wife he made his home with his two sons at 
Parkville, Platte County, Mo. and he died in 
Leavenworth, Kans., August 10, 1866. 

During his residence in Virginia, William 
Clough married Mary Ann Orrick, who was born 
in Berkeley County in 1797. She was a daugh- 
ter of Nicholas and Mary (Pendleton) Orrick, na- 
tives of Virginia, the former a planter, justice of 
the peace and sheriff of Berkeley County. The 
four children of William and Mary Ann Clough 
were E. N. O., William McNeil, Mary Catherine- 
and James S. Of these, William McNeil Clough, 
who was born in Boston, was married at Park- 
ville, Mo., May 31, 1855, to Mrs. Mary Ann 
(Scott) Embrey. He was admitted to the bar in 
Missouri and practiced law in Parkville with his 
older brother, whom, in 1862, he joined in Leav- 
enworth. His death occurred in this city Janu- 
ary 26, 1883. The only daughter was born in 
St. Charles County, Mo., in December, 1835, 
and died there in July, 1845. The youngest 
child, James S., was bom in St. Charles County, 
January 14, 1841, and died there in July, 1844. 

At Aldrich, near Berry ville, Va., the subject 
of this sketch was born on Saturday, May 28, 
1825. In July of the same year he was taken to 
Boston by his parents, and, while en-route, passed 
through New York City at the time of General La- 
fayette's memorial visit. The illustrious French- 
man took the infant in his lap at Bunker's hotel, 
but unfortunately the child slept through all the 
honors. After a short time in Boston, the family 
went back to Virginia, but in 1828 returned to 
Boston, and thence in 1833 went to St. Charles 
County, Mo., where the boy was educated in his 
father's boarding school at Avondale. From the 
age of seventeen he assisted his father in teach- 
ing, and at twenty he was employed as teacher in 
the fourth ward school in St. Louis, after which 
he taught in a private school in the same city. 
Meantime he studied law. He was admitted to 
the bar in Boonville, Mo., October 20, 1853; at 
Wyandotte, Kans., June 6, 1859; to the supreme 



court of Kan.sas, at Topeka, January 12, 1871; 
and to the supreme court of the United States, at 
Washington, D. C, January 21, 1874. 

During the Mexican war Mr. Clough enlisted 
May 24, 1847, in Company D, Second Missouri 
Volunteers, of which he served as orderly ser- 
geant, continuing until the close of the war. He 
was mustered out at Independence, Mo., Octo- 
ber 10, 1848. From 1853 to 1857 he practiced 
law in Columbia, Mo. Afterward he located at 
Parkville, Mo. From 1853 to 1861 he rode the 
circuit, practicing in Kansas, principally in Leav- 
enworth, Wyandotte and Topeka. During 1861 
he removed his oiBce to Leavenworth, where he 
continued the practice of law. While in Platte 
Countj' he was in a hotbed of secession and his 
sympathy with the Union made him unpopular, 
in fact, imperiled his life. He and his family 
were obliged to go armed. At a meeting in Park- 
ville he assisted in organizing the Union party 
for the enforcement of all laws. No one would 
consent to open the meeting for the purpose of 
organization; he was called on and at once bold- 
ly expressed his opinions, at the same time de- 
claring that he was armed and it would be best 
for those who wished to attack him to refrain 
from doing so, if they valued their lives. He was 
listened to quietly and afterward presented the 
resolutions framed by the Union party, which 
were later published throughout the entire coun- 
try. 

When Sumter was fired on Mr. Clough assisted 
in raising a large body of soldiers for the Union. 
These he enlisted on the regular enlistment pap- 
ers, but afterward received orders to send the 
men to Washington to be placed in the regular 
army, and this he did, but at the same time re- 
fused to enlist, as ordered, as an orderly under 
General Elliott. He found too much politics in 
the army and would not muster into the service, 
although he served in different capacities and 
was recognized by the rank of colonel. His serv- 
ice was principally in Missouri and the west. In 
St. Louis, Mo., November 9, 1848, Bishop Hawks 
performed the ceremony which united in mar- 
riage Mr. Clough and Rebecca M. Seltzer, who 
was born in Lebanon County, Pa., and was a 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD, 



821 



grand-daughter of General Wiser, who served in 
the Revolutionar}' war. Seven children were 
born to the union of Mr. and Mrs. Clough. The 
eldest, Mary Rebecca, is the wife of Martin L. 
Bulkley, who is engaged in the real-estate busi- 
ness in Leavenworth. Emma Frances is the 
wife of James E. Hall, of Leavenworth. Marga- 
ret Alice is the widow of M. Montville, Jr. , of 
Leavenworth. William, of Kansas City, is ser- 
geant-at-arms of the upper house of the city gov- 
ernment. Minnie Orrick and Ebenezer died in 
childhood. Charles Prescott Allen is manager 
of a coal and coke business in Kansas City. The 
golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Clough, No- 
vember 9, 1898, was appropriately celebrated, 
and brought to them the congratulations and 
best wishes of hosts of friends. 

In the organization of the Mexican War Vet- 
erans' Association Mr. Clough took an active 
part, and he has since been vice-president for 
Kansas. Politically he was an old-line Whig 
during the existence of that party and has since 
been a Republican. For thirty years he held 
the office of United States commissioner, and for 
several terms he served as justice of the peace. 
During the existence of the Union League he 
was its grand secretary. He and his family are 
members of the Episcopal Church. 



^AMUEL P. MOORE, treasurer of Douglas 
/JS County, has been connected with his present 
\yj office, either as treasurer, deputy or clerk, 
for twenty out of the past twenty-two years. In 
1878 he secured a clerkship in the office under 
Oliver Barber, and under Paul R. Brooks served 
as deputy. The next treasurer was Colonel 
Moore, who was opposed to Mr. Moore in politics; 
consequently the latter resigned, and, going to 
Kansas City, was for two years a clerk with the 
Lombard Investment Company, returning once to 
assist Colonel Moore during a pressure of busi- 
ness. When J. C. Walton succeeded Colonel 
Moore our subject was appointed deputy treas- 
urer in October, 1888, and served for four years 
under him, then for a similar period under A. L. 
Cox. In the fall of 1895 he was the Republican 
40 



nominee for the office, to which he was elected by 
a majority of almost one thousand. In 1897 he 
was re-elected by about twelve hundred majority, 
his term to expire in October, 1900. 

The father of our subject, Hugh Moore, was 
born in Belfast, Ireland, October 5, 1804, the 
youngest child and only son of William Moore 
the twelfth. He served an apprenticeship with 
Robert Burns in Newton Ords, under whom he 
gained a thorough knowledge of the hat business. 
At the conclusion of his time he went to Scot- 
land, secured employment and induced his mother 
and sisters to sell the property in Ireland and 
join him in Scotland. He was married at Pais- 
ley, seven tniles from Glasgow, January i, 1827, 
to Miss Catherine Moffet. April 9, 1832, he left 
Glasgow and crossed the ocean to Montreal, 
where he remained for three years. In February, 
1835, he moved to New York, via Lake Cham- 
plain and the Hudson, the journey being made in 
mid-winter in sleighs. He engaged in the hat 
business on Hudson street, New York City. His 
first wife died March 20, 1838, and the following 
year he married Eleanor Robinson, who was 
born in Switzerland, settled in New York state in 
girlhood, and is now, at eighty-six years, living 
in Los Angeles, Cal. 

In 1841 Hugh Moore settled in Cincinnati, 
where he was first foreman in a hat store, but in 
1843 built a factory on Pearl street and continued 
manufacturing there until July i, 1852. He then 
sold and began steamboating. In 1853 he built 
the steamer "Union," a side- wheeler, at a cost of 
54,000, and was employed by the government in 
carrying blankets, etc., to the Indians and sol- 
diers. After seven years he sold the vessel for 
$13,000. When the war broke out he was em- 
ployed by the government on the steamer "St. 
Charles' ' in carrying military stores to the fron- 
tier. At the close of the war he retired, and un- 
til 1870 made his home on Mount Adams, Cincin- 
nati, where he had built a fine residence and store 
in 1845. In 1870 he settled in Lawrence, where 
he died at the age of seventy-five years. Of his 
family, William Moore is a machinist in Cincin- 
nati; Robert R. is connected with the gas and 
electric light company in Los Angeles, Cal.; Al- 



822 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



bert died August 13, 1887, at the age of forty-one 
j'ears; Annie is the wife of S. G. McConnell, of 
L,os Angeles; and Arabella married John Barber, 
of Lawrence. Robert and Albert served in an 
Ohio regiment during the Civil war. 

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, January 13, 1858, 
the subject of this sketch was twelve years of age 
when the family settled in Lawrence, and three 
years later he began to work as a clerk in this 
city. Having spent so much of his life in Doug- 
las Countj', he is well known among the people, 
whose confidence he has won by his integrity, in- 
telligence and devotion to official duties. Active 
in the Republican party, he has been a delegate 
to various conventions and has served on the 
county committee. He belongs to Lawrence 
Lodge No. 6, A. F. & A. M.; Lawrence Chapter 
No. 4, R. A. M.; De Molay Commandery No. 4, 
K. T.; Modern Woodmen and Ancient Order of 
United Workmen. 

The marriage of Mr. Moore, in July, 1890, 
united him with Gula E., daughter of John Hen- 
ley, a member of the Society of Friends, who 
came from Indiana to Kansas and engaged in 
farming nearHesper, Douglas Countj, but finally 
returned to Westfield, Ind. , where he died. Mrs. 
Moore was born in Indianapolis, and received 
her education in the University of Kansas, re- 
maining in Douglas County until her marriage. 
Mr. and Mrs. Moore occupy the residence which 
he built at No. 1025 Kentucky street, Lawrence. 



REUBENS. EDMINSTER. Near the eastern 
boundary of vStranger Township, Leaven- 
worth County, lies the farm owned and oc- 
cupied by Mr. Edminster, who is one of the pros- 
perous farmers of his neighborhood. At one time 
he owned four hundred and forty acres in this 
county, but his gift of land to his sons diminished 
his personal holdings considerably, although he 
still retains enough land to engage his attention 
and remunerate his efforts. All that he ac- 
cumulated was by his unaided exertions. He 
started for himself without means and assisted 
in caring for his younger brothers and sisters 
until they were able to become self-supporting. 



He also gave his children good educational ad- 
vantages and fitted them for positions of u.seful- 
ness and honor. 

A son of Henrj' and Mary (Barnes) Edminster, 
our subject was born in Tompkins County, N.Y., 
July 8, 1822. The family dates back in this 
country to three brothers who emigrated from 
England. His grandfather, Henry Edminster, 
a native of Massachusetts, and a farmer by oc- 
cupation, died in New York state when eighty- 
two 3'ears of age. The father was seventeen years 
of age when the family removed from Massa- 
chusetts, and the active years of his life were 
spent in New York, where he died at fifty-seven 
years. In politics he was a Whig, but not active. 
His wife was about sixtj- at the time of her death. 
Of their eleven children seven are still living. 
Our subject was earlj' obliged to gain his own 
livelihood. His first employment was as a farm- 
hand. At thirtj'-three years he removed west 
to Bureau County, 111. , where he bought a farm 
and remained until 1873. He then sold his place 
and came to Kansas, buying three hundred acres 
of partly improved land, where he resided for 
years. Afterward he rented the farm and bought 
one hundred and twenty acres comprising his 
present homestead. 

July 6, 1844, Mr. Edminster married Miss 
Adelia M. McCuUough, who was born in Con- 
necticut. Of their nine children two died in in- 
fancj'. The following are living: Mary Jane, 
who married Owen L- Dunbar, a farmer in 
Stranger Township; Howard, a farmer in Illinois; 
Austin, a farmer in Stranger Township; Mrs. 
John Griswell, of Iowa; Mandana, who married 
Professor Ramsey, a teacher in a Massachusetts 
high school; Herbert, who cultivates a farm in 
Stranger Township; and Charles, who owns a 
part of his father's old homestead. 

In politics a stanch Republican, Mr. Edminster 
has been active in township and count}- affairs, and 
has held various local offices. For fifty-six years 
he has been an active member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, and during that time he has 
aided in building a number of churches and as- 
sisted in organizing the Glen wood congregation. 
The various church offices, such as class-leader. 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



823 



steward and trustee, he has filled with eflBciency, 
and he has also been active in Sunday-school 
work, and in early life served as superintendent. 



(Tames COURSEY, a retired farmer andbusi- 
I ness man residing in Eeavenworth, and one 
Q) of the pioneers of Kansas, was born in Ban- 
gor, Me., in 1828, a son of James and Hannah 
Coursey. When he was a child his parents 
moved to New Orleans, La., and he attended 
school in that city. After a short time the family 
went to Chicago, and there lived from 1838 to 
1 84 1. From there he went to Stephenson Coun- 
ty, and later to Jo Daviess County, 111. The 
mining excitement in California led him to go to 
the Pacific coast in 1850, and there he engaged in 
farming and mining, being successful in both. 
Seven years were spent in the far west. On 
his return to the east he took up land in John- 
sou County, Kans., and also purchased land 
in Leavenworth County. Since then he has 
added to his property until he now has two 
hundred and forty acres in one tract and one 
hundred and sixty in the other. Improving the 
property in Johnson County, he made his home 
on it for four years, and then sold and came to 
Leavenworth County. 

While he engaged in general farming, Mr. 
Coursey's specialty was fruit-growing and dairy- 
ing. He also carried on a live-stock business, 
having about one hundred and twenty-five head. 
The products of his dairy were sold mostlj' in 
Leavenworth, although frequently he made ship- 
ments to Kansas City. The business was con- 
ducted under his personal supervision and proved 
the source of a fine income. In October, 1897, 
he sold all of his stock and has since rented 
his farms. He started the Leavenworth Dairy 
and Creamery Company in Leavenworth, but has 
turned the business over to his sons, and is now 
living retired, enjoying, in the twilight of his life, 
the fruits of his early labors. 

Politically Mr. Coursey is a Democrat. He 
was a warm admirer of Horace Greeley, whom he 
supported for the presidency. In religion he is 
identified with the Roman Catholic Church, 



Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of 
Pythias. He erected a couple of residences in 
Leavenworth, but these he has since' sold. In 
1857 ^^ married Mary Murphy, of Illinois. They 
became the parents of six children , of whom five 
are living, viz. : Edward, a miner in Colorado; 
Mary, wife of Charles Barrett; James, who is en- 
gaged in the creamery business; Harry, who is 
assistant superintendent of the electric railroad; 
and Charles, who is interested in the creamery 
with his older brother. 



r" RANCIS M. KELLER, who is engaged in 
Yo general farm pursuits in Leavenworth 
I County, owns a farm of eighty acres in Ton- 
ganoxie Township and devotes himself to its cul- 
tivation. He is a native of Indiana, born near 
Brownstown, Jackson County, March 4, 1S33, a 
son of George and Sarah (Cox) Keller, natives 
respectively of Lancaster County, Pa., and Ken- 
tucky. His paternal grandfather was born in 
Germany and shortly after coming to this country 
served in the American armj' during the Revolu- 
tionary war. When George Keller was ten 
years of age he settled with his parents in 
the then wilderness of Indiana. He was reared 
on a farm in Harrison County. In young man- 
hood he removed to Jackson County, Ind., 
where he spent the remainder of his life upon a 
farm, dying at the age of sixty-six. He took an 
interest in politics and identified himself with the 
Democratic party. His wife was seventy-three 
years of age at the time of her death. She was a 
woman of sincere Christian belief, of noble char- 
acter, and a faithful member of the Baptist Church. 
Of seven sons, the subject of this sketch alone 
survives. His boyhood years were spent in Indi- 
ana, where he received a common school educa- 
tion. In October, 1870, he came to Leaven- 
worth County and bought the farm where he has 
since made his home. Starting out with nothing, 
he has always worked with energy and persever- 
ance, and has become the owner of a nicely im- 
proved farm. He is a friend of the public school 
system and takes a warm interest in the promo- 
tion of educational interests in his district. For 



824 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



several years he served as a member of the school 
board. While he has never sought office nor 
cared for political prominence, he has been active 
in the Democratic party and one of its local 
leaders. By his marriage to Arminda Berrj^ of 
Indiana, he has seven children: George A., John 
A., Sarah, Emma, Ida 1,., Esther and Elizabeth. 



3 AMES M. PHENICIE. A resident of Kan- 
sas since the close of the Civil war, Mr. 
Phenicie has been successfully engaged in 
agricultural pursuits, and through the energetic 
and business-like manner in which' he has con- 
ducted his affairs he has become the owner of 
nine hundred and sixty acres of fine land, de- 
voted to haying, general farming and stock- 
raising. Through industry and integrity he has 
gained a competence. He has not sought official 
positions, preferring the part of a private citizen, 
whose duties he has at all times striven to fill. 
However, he has been called to serve in local 
posts of trust and responsibility. For .several 
years he held office as township trustee and from 
1884 to 1899 he .served as county commissioner, 
during which time he was for a number of years 
chairman of the board. 

Mr. Phenicie was born in Muskingum County, 
Ohio, in 1840, a son of George W. and Mary N. 
(Houck) Phenicie, and a descendant of pioneers 
of Franklin County, Pa. His father, who was a 
native of Pennsylvania, engaged in farming in 
Indiana for years, but in 1885 came to Kansas, 
where he died at eighty years of age. Hiswifewas 
eighty-three at the time of her death. Of their 
twelve children all but two are living, and four of 
the family, James M., William C, George W. 
and Emma J., reside in Leavenworth Count}'. 
Our subject was reared on a farm in Indiana. At 
the breaking out of the Civil war he enlisted in 
Company A, Twenty-ninth Indiana Infantry, in 
which he served until the battle of Chickamauga. 
He and his brother, William C. , were captured 
by the Confederates there and were confined in 
prison at Danville and later as Andersonville. 
He was finally exchanged and rejoined his regi- 
ment. At the close of the war he returned to 



Indiana. In the fall of 1865 he removed to Kan- 
sas and settled in Leavenworth County. Two 
years later he formed a partnership with his 
brother, William C. , with whom he remained for 
five years, but since then has been alone. He is 
a stockholder and director in the Tonganoxie 
State Bank. As a Republican he is interested in 
local and general elections. Fraternally he is a 
member of Lodge No. 190, A. F. & A. M., and 
Tonganoxie Lodge, K. of P. 

In 1 87 1 Mr. Phenicie was united in marriage 
with Miss Georgia Eraser, who died in 1896. 
The children born of their union are as follows: 
Jessie, who is married; Mary K., who is a school- 
teacher in this township; Roscoe A., Ruth E. and 
Grace H. 



EAPT. JAMES W. GILGES, who is one of 
the honored veterans of the Civil war, was 
born in Rome, Adams County, Ohio, No- 
vember 8, 1842, a son of William and Ellen 
(Woodworth) Gilges; and a grandson, on his fa- 
ther's side, of John Gilges, a resident of Ohio 
and later of Lexington, Ky.; also a grandson of 
Richard Woodworth, a native of Maryland, a 
soldier in the war of 18 12 and for years a farmer 
in Ohio. William Gilges was born in Brown 
County, Ohio, but was reared in Lexington, Ky. 
In early manhood he .settled in Adams County, 
Ohio, and in 1847 established his home in Cedar- 
ville, Stephenson County, 111., where he re- 
mained eleven years. In 1858 he came to Kan- 
sas and settled near Lawrence, in Douglas Coun- 
ty', where he bought and improved a fine farm of 
two hundred and forty acres. For years a Whig, 
on the organization of the Republican party he 
entered its ranks in Illinois and always afterward 
identified himself with its principles. In religion 
he was connected with the Methodist Episcopal 
Church. His death occurred in 1893, when he 
was eighty-three years of age, and two months 
afterward his wife, who was eightj'-two, also 
passed away. They were the parents of ten 
children, of whom seven are living, James W. 
being the fourth in order of birth. Several of the 
sons participated in the Civil war. Wheeler, 
who now lives in Agricola, Kans., was a member 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



825 



of the Second Wisconsin Cavalry. John, who 
served throughout the entire war in Company E, 
Twelfth Kansas Infantry, afterward enlisted in 
the Eighteenth Kansas to fight the Indians on 
the frontier, and, while thus serving, died of 
cholera in 1867. L,aban, now a large stock- 
raiser and land-owner in Osage County, Kans., 
was a member of Company B, Twelfth Kansas 
Infantry. 

While a member of the sophomore class of 
Baldwin University, in 1862, the subject of this 
sketch enlisted in Company E, Twelfth Kansas 
Infantry, and was mustered into service at Fort 
lyincoln. He was assigned to the Seventh army 
corps and ordered to the front in Missouri, 
Arkansas and on the Red River. In February, 

1864, he was commissioned by President Ivincoln, 
at Fort Smith, Ark., first lieutenant of Company 
E, Eleventh United States Volunteers. April 8, 

1865, he was promoted to be captain, upon the 
consolidation of the Eleventh, One Hundred and 
Twelfth and One Hundred and Thirteenth regi- 
ments into one regiment, under the name of the 
One Hundred and Thirteenth Veterans. After a 
competitive examination he was commissioned 

^captain of Company G by President Lincoln. He 
took part in the engagements at Prairie de Anne 
and Saline River, Ark., and a desperate en- 
counter with the enemy ten miles west of Fort 
Smith, where, out of two hundred and fifty men, 
thirty privates and two officers were lost. There 
was another hard fight at Dardanelle, Ark. Dur- 
ing the last six months of his service he was 
judge-advocate on General Shaler's staff at 
Duval's BlufF, Ark. At that place he was mus- 
tered out April 9, 1866. 

After his retirement from the army Captain 
Gilges gave his attention to railroad contracting. 
While connected with that business he came to 
Leavenworth in 1871. Five years later he en- 
tered the railway mail service as mail clerk be- 
tween Kansas City and Denver, Colo. After 
seven years in that position he became mailing 
clerk in the postofiBce at Leavenworth, and this 
position, together with that of superintendent of 
carriers, he has since held. October 15, 1898, 
D. R. Anthony, Jr., appointed him assistant 



postmaster, a position for which his long connec- 
tion and thorough familiarity with the ofiice ad- 
mirably qualifies him. 

While serving in the ami}', in 1865, Captain 
Gilges married Miss Leonora Rhyne, who was 
born at Fort Smith, Ark., a daughter of Miles 
Rhyne, one of the pioneers of Arkansas. The 
four children born of the union are as follows: 
Carrie E., wife of George E. De Wolf, of Kansas 
City, Kans.; James W., Jr., a graduate of the 
Leavenworth high school, and now postal clerk 
on the Kansas and Wellington route; Robert, who 
is with the Leavenworth Street Railway Com- 
pany; and Roscoe C. , a student in the high school 
here. In politics Captain Gilges is a stanch Re- 
publican. Interested in all that pertains to the 
old days of army service he holds membership 
in Custer Post and in the Kansas Commandery of 
the Loyal Legion; was also one of the organizers 
of the Twelfth Kansas Veterans' Association, of 
which he has been president since 1895. 



yyiAJ. THOMAS B. ELDRIDGE. During 
y the days of border warfare in Kansas Ma- 
SS jor Eldridge was one of the conspicuous 
figures in the free-state party. He was born in 
Southampton, Mass., August 7, 1826, the fifth 
among the eight children of Lyman and Phoebe 
(Winchell) Eldridge, members of old families of 
Massachusetts. When sixteen years of age our 
subject started in business for himself at Chico- 
pee, Mass., and later carried on a boot and shoe 
business at Greenfield, then at Waterbury, Mass. 
At the time of the Kansas free-state excitement 
he and two of his brothers were among the first 
to respond to the call for emigrants. Coming to 
Lawrence they kept the Free State hotel, owned 
by the Emigrant Aid Society. The first dinner 
in the hotel was ordered by Jones and his gang, 
who, when through eating, bombarded the 
house, and where the cannon failed in its effect, 
they kindled flames, inflicting a total loss. On 
rebuilding the new hotel was called the Eld- 
ridge house, and this was burned down b}' 
Quantrell August 21, 1863. At that time Mr. 
Eldridge had gone east for goods, purchasing his 



826 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



fall stock of general merchandise and clothing. 
The gang, entering the store, exchanged their 
old garments for new suits and killed his nephew, 
James Eldridge, and a clerk, after having prom- 
ised them freedom and life. When thej' left they 
fired the building, but citizens saved the place 
from destruction; the barn, however, was burned 
and the hor.ses stolen. 

After the raid Major Eldridge built a store on 
the corner of Massachusetts and Henrj' streets, 
the building now owned by Dick Brothers. He 
also erected at No. 1683 Tennessee' street a resi- 
dence known as the Thatcher home, which was 
then the finest mansion in the city, and is still 
beautiful and worthy of admiration. During the 
war he engaged in staff duty for a time with the 
rank of major, and raised two companies for serv- 
ice. Illness caused him to be honorably dis- 
charged from the .service. For the same reason, 
in 1865, he .sold out his business and gave his at- 
tention to the recuperation of his health. He 
then built the Broadwa}' hotel in Kansas City, 
which he couducted for three years, and after- 
ward sold to Mr. Coates, by whom its name was 
changed. Going to Cofifeyville, Kans., he en- 
gaged in the banking business from 1871 to 1877, 
and also, with his brother, built the Eldridge 
house there, but after a time retired from busi- 
ness and settled upon a farm near CofTeyville. 
His next po.sition was that of claim agent and tax 
commissioner for the old Leavenworth, Lawrence 
& Galveston, and Fort Scott & Gulf (now Santa 
Fe) roads, in which capacity he was engaged at 
the time of his death, December 3, 1882. He 
died at his home in Lawrence, having returned 
to this city in 1881. While in Cofifeyville he 
served as maj'or for one term. In 1873 he was 
elected to the legislature, where he rendered able 
service, and in 1878 he was a candidate for lieu- 
tenant-governor of Kansas. He was made a Ma- 
son at Cofifeyville. In religion an Episcopalian, 
he was for years vestryman of his church and as- 
sisted in building houses of worship in Lawrence 
and Cofifeyville. 

At Mount Pleasant, Iowa, January 27, 1857, 
Major Eldridge married Miss Lida Wharton Tif- 
fany, who was born in Fredericksburg, Va., a 



daughter of Joseph and Amy (Berrj') Wharton, 
natives of Virginia. Her father, who was a 
planter and slave owner, was a strong Confeder- 
ate and in thorough sympathy with the south 
during the war. He moved west to Iowa, from 
there to Missouri, and became one of the largest 
and wealthiest farmers of Platte County. Finally 
he moved to Kansas, and died in Burlington, this 
state, in 1880. His wife died when Mrs. Eldridge 
was le.ss than one year of age, and she was then 
taken into the home of Palmer C. Tiffany, who 
was a member of a New England family from 
Southbridge, Mass., of early Puritan stock. Mr. 
Tififany was an early settler of Iowa, settling in 
Mount Pleasant in 1839 and engaging as a hotel- 
keeper there. He is still living, in the enjoyment 
of excellent health for one of ninety j-ears. His 
wife died in 1896. They having no children of 
their own, cared with the deepest tenderness for 
their adopted daughter, whom they would not 
consent to give up, nor would she consent to 
leave them. She was educated in Howe's Semi- 
nary at Mount Pleasant aud is a refined and cul- 
tured lady, whose friends are as numerous as her 
acquaintances. Since her husband's death she 
has continued to reside in Lawrence, and gives 
her attention to the management of her property 
in this city. In her family there were four daugh- 
ters, but one of them, Delia Morse, died in Law- 
rence in 1893. Jennie B. graduated from Beth- 
any College at Topeka, Kans., and is the wife of 
Thomas Scurr, of Cofifeyville; Hattie G. married 
William T. Sinclair, of Lawrence; and Victoria 
A., who is a graduate of the high .school, is the 
wife of Logan Dick, of Douglas County. 



(TAMES KILGORE, who resided in Leaven- 
I worth from boyhood until his death and who 
(2/ was for years an active business man of this 
city, was born in Portland, Me., April 8, 1846, a 
son of Alpheus and Lucia W. (Swain) Kilgore, 
and a grandson of Capt. John Swain, an ofiScer 
in the war of 18 12. His father, who was born 
in Saco, Me., March 9, 1819, learned the cooper's 
trade in youth, and this occupation he followed 
in his eastern home. From there he removed to 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



827 



Wisconsin, but a few years later, in 1857, he set- 
tled in the then new town of Leavenworth, where 
he engaged in contracting and the house-moving 
business. His wife, who was born in Saco, June 
27, 1821, is now living in Kansas City. They 
were the parents of three sons and two daugh- 
ters, of whom James was third in order of birth. 

At an early age the subject of this sketch en- 
gaged in teaming and the transfer business in 
Leavenworth. He did all the teaming and haul- 
ing for the Great Western Stove Company and 
the Great Western Manufacturing Company, and 
this business has, since his death, been continued 
by his widow, who employs a foreman and five 
teams to do the transferring. He rebuilt the 
house at No. 419 Linn street, where his family 
still live, and he also erected four houses across 
the street. Twice he crossed the plains to Den- 
ver, being employed in freighting. He was a 
splendid manager, with executive ability and 
great energy, and laid the foundations of a large 
and prosperous business. Had his life been 
spared, he would undoubtedly have become 
wealthy; as it was, when he died, December 9, 
1889, he left his affairs in good shape, so that his 
widow could continue them successfully. He 
was a generous and liberal man, honest and kind, 
and had many friends in his home town. 

On New Year's day of 1876, in Leavenworth, 
occurred the marriage of Mr. Kilgore to Miss 
Laura A. Prather,who was born in Davis County, 
Iowa, a daughter of James H. and Louisa (Don- 
ovan) Prather, natives respectively of Kentucky 
and Tennessee. Her father, whose parents re- 
moved from Virginia to Kentucky in an early 
day, was reared in Kentucky and from there mi- 
grated to Davis County, Iowa, where he improved 
farm land. About 1858 he settled in Leaven- 
worth, where he took contracts for house-moving; 
he also engaged in freighting to different forts. 
He is now retired from active business cares, and 
still resides in Leavenworth. Of his nine chil- 
dren now living, Laura A. was one of the young- 
est; the oldest was John A. Prather, a soldier in 
a Kentucky regiment during the Civil war. Mrs. 
Kilgore received a good education and was care- 
fully trained for the responsibilities of life. In 



religion she is connected with the Christian 
Church, whose doctrines she supports and to 
whose maintenance she is a liberal contributor. 
Possessing superior business ability, she has con- 
tinued the management of the business left by 
her husband, and besides the transfer business, 
also carries on a store at No. 710 South Fifth 
street, where she keeps a stock of books, station- 
ery, toys, dishes, etc. The property left by her 
husband has been improved under her oversight; 
she rebuilt the residence she occupies, as well as 
two others. While necessarily giving considera- 
ble attention to ^business matters, she has never 
neglected her home, but has given to her familj'' 
loving care and the most careful training. Her 
seven children are Mrs. Angela Mace, of Kansas 
City; Isabella; John S., who is with the Great 
Western Manufacturing Company; Susie, Alph- 
eus, Nellie and Fred. 



EHARLES GREEN CASEBIER. In the list 
of representative business men of Leaven- 
worth County a prominent position is held 
by the subject of this article, who is one of the 
influential men of Tonganoxie Township. He 
was born near Winterset, Iowa, April 5, 1853, a 
son of Samuel B. Casebier, and brother of John 
Geary Casehier, represented elsewhere in this 
work. When he was three years of age his 
family came to Kansas and his education was ob- 
tained in public schools here and in the Kansas 
State University at Lawrence. After the comple- 
tion of his studies he taught school in Leaven- 
worth County for three years. He then began the 
manufacture of sorghum, of which he is the 
heaviest shipper in this section, having shipped, 
in 1898, forty car-loads, which is about three- 
fourths of the entire shipment from this locality. 
On his farm he erected a factory, in which he 
makes from one hundred to one hundred and fifty 
barrels of sorghum per annum. When an organi- 
zation was formed among the farmers here for the 
purpose of mutual assistance he was the buyer, 
but when the association disbanded he continued 
on his own account. His shipments are made 
niostlj' from Neely. The mill which he owns was 



828 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD, 



erected in 1893 and is operated by steam power. 
It has a capacit)- of about seven barrels daily. 
The products of the mill are shipped to Kansas 
City, St. Joseph, St. Paul, and he also supplies 
the wholesale firms of Leavenworth. 

Besides his interest in the sorghum industry 
Mr. Casebier is also engaged in farming and 
stock-raising. He has fine pasture lands and 
generally feeds from seventy-five to one hundred 
head of cattle each winter, the most of the stock 
being Shorthorn cattle. His original purchase of 
eighty acres has been increased to one hundred 
and ten acres in the home place and one hundred 
and fifty acres in a farm northwest of town. Of 
the latter place, one hundred acres were not even 
fenced at the time of purchase, and all of the im- 
provements have been made under his personal 
oversight. When he came to the farm where he 
now lives he built a house of two rooms, but he 
now owns and occupies a comfortable ten- room 
residence. 

In politics Mr. Casebier was formerly a Demo- 
crat, but now votes with the Republican party. 
He is a believer in expansion and supports the 
present (McKinlej') administration in its policy. 
He has served as justice of the peace, but does 
not care for ofi&ce, preferring to devote himself to 
his business affairs. He is a member of the 
Fraternal Aid Societj-. Maj' 20, 1879, he mar- 
ried Miss Sarah Bell. They became the parents 
of six children, five of whom are living, namely: 
Samuel O., Charles E., John Arthur, George M. 
and Allen Lee. 



30HN C. FELLER. The history of every 
community is made up, so far as its most in- 
teresting features are concerned, of events in 
the lives of its prominent citizens. For years the 
life of Mr. Feller has been closely identified with 
the business interests of Leavenworth. He is 
one of the city's oldest business men. Whe» he 
fir.stcame here, in 1858, the town was small, and 
its resources undeveloped. He has lived to see 
the present large and important city become a 
power in the commerce of the west, and his own 
efforts have aided in .securing this result. 

Mr. Feller was born in Oberlaningen oberaut 



Kirkheim, Wurtemberg, Germany, July 2, 1832, 
a son of Jacob Feller, a paper manufacturer. In 
the family of ten children six attained mature 
years and emigrated to America and three are 
living, one sister being in Philadelphia and an- 
other in Leavenworth. The oldest of the family, 
John C, was reared in his native province, and 
attended the local schools until fourteen years of 
age, when he was apprenticed to the glazier's 
trade. After serving his time he worked as a 
journeyman in Germany and Switzerland. In 
1853 he came to America, desiring to escape mili- 
tary oppression and hoping to better his fortunes. 
Leaving Bremen on the .sailer "Adonis," he ar- 
rived in New York after a voyage of fifty-six 
days. He was accompanied bj' a sister. Pro- 
ceeding to Philadelphia, he was employed at the 
cabinet-maker's trade there until 1858, the year 
of his removal to the west. For a j^ear he was 
engaged in building houses in Leavenworth, 
using in his work the native timber. 

During the gold excitement of Pike's Peak, in 
1859, Mr. Feller started west across the plains 
with an ox-team and followed the old government 
route west. On the waj^ he decided to change 
his intended destination and, with the others of 
his party, traveled along the road laid out by 
John C. Fremont to Salt Lake Citj', thence via 
the Truckee route to California, where they ar- 
rived in September, after a journey of six months. 
In Sacramento Mr. Feller secured employment 
on a farm, but in the spring of 1S60 he returned 
as far as Nevada, where he worked on a farm. In 
the fall of 1864 he cast his vote for Abraham 
Lincoln for president. During the same year he 
returned to Philadelphia via San Francisco and 
Panama. In 1865 he was married in Philadel- 
phia to Miss Louise Schieber, who was born in 
Wurtemberg, Germany, and came to America at 
the age of si.xteen years. 

After his marriage Mr. Feller returned to 
Leavenworth, where for a year he engaged in the 
manufacture of furniture. His next venture was 
the starting of a grocery on Shawnee street. In 
March, 1869, he located on the site where he now 
conducts business, No. 900 South Broadway. 
Here he built a brick block of three stories, 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



829 



50x75 feet in dimensions; also an adjoining store, 
20x60, for his pork-packing and meat business. 
He also owns a slaughter-house, barns and ware- 
house, and conducts a very important wholesale 
and retail business. Besides groceries and meats 
he has also on sale feed and grain. In 1890 his 
son, Harry C, was admitted into partnership, 
and five years later the second son, Louis C, be- 
came a member of the firm, the title of which 
has since been J. C. Feller & Sons. In addition 
to the Broadway stores he owns considerable va- 
cant property and a substantial residence. He is 
interested in the Merchants' Oil Tank Company 
and a large stockholder in the Citizens' Mutual 
Building & Loan Association. He has able as- 
sistants in his sons, Harry C. and Louis C, both 
of whom are graduates of the commercial college 
here and are young men of exceptionally fine 
business qualifications. The older son, Harry C, 
is married and has two sons, John and Louis. 

The political affiliations of Mr. Feller are with 
the Republican party. He is a member of the 
Delaware Tribe of Red Men and the Knights of 
Pythias. He and his family are faithful mem- 
bers of the Lutheran Church, and stand high in 
the regard of their acquaintances in their home 
town. 



(TOSEPH A. WOEBER. Among the earlier 
I residents of Leavenworth mention belongs 
(2/ to Mr. Woeber, who for years was one of the 
influential and prosperous business men of the 
city. It was in 1867 that he came here and 
bought and improved property. Starting a whole- 
sale grocery business on Delaware street he 
gradually built up a valuable trade, which ex- 
tended through this entire section of country. In 
the brick block that he erected he carried on his 
business for years, meantime gaining a wide 
reputation for integrity and honesty. It was the 
universal testimony of those who had dealings 
with him that he was a man of irreproachable 
honesty and integrity, and no one stood higher 
than he, both among retailers and among manu- 
facturers and shippers. He continued at the 
head of his wholesale business until his death, 
February 10, 1888, after which he was succeeded 



by a son of his sister, Joseph V. Stoltz, whom he 
had reared, and who still carries on the business. 

Mr. Woeber was born at Frankfort-on-the- 
Main, Bavaria, Germany, May 23, 1820, one of 
three children (two sons and one daughter), 
whose father, Joseph Woeber, a farmer, brought 
the family to America and settled in Alabama, 
thence removed to Louisville, Ky., where he 
died. When a boy our subject gained his first 
idea of the grocery business by clerking in a store 
in Louisville, and after a time he became a part- 
ner of his former employer, the two carrying on 
a large business as grocers and rectifiers. His 
health became impaired through constant atten- 
tion to business and he finally sold out and took 
a trip to Europe, where he spent six months. The 
visit to his old home, while pleasant, did not 
benefit his health, and he soon after his return to 
Louisville started for California. He bought 
property in San Francisco and remained in the 
west for eight years. He engaged in business at 
Nappa, Cal. , where the Spaniards and Indians 
called him the most honest man they had ever 
met. It was in that town that he was robbed 
one night of $6,000, a very heavy loss and one 
that he could ill afford, but it did not discourage 
him in the least. 

From California Mr. Woeber returned to Louis- 
ville, where he engaged in business for a time. 
The climate, however, did not agree with him, 
and he sold out and came to Leavenworth in 
1867. Afterward he was identified with the 
growth of the city, where he bought and im- 
proved property and gained a high place as an 
honorable and capable business man. In politics 
he was a Democrat. He assisted in the building 
of St. Joseph's Catholic Church, of which he was 
an earnest member and to which his wife belongs. 

In Louisville, Ky., in January, 1851, Mr. 
Woeber married Miss Anna Muchman, who was 
born in Bavaria March 23, 1823. Her father 
was a brewer, distiller and baker, also owned a 
farm, engaged in the cattle business and was a 
town oflBcial. As a citizen he stood very high in 
his home town. In 1840 he brought his family 
to America and settled first in Indiana, thence 
going to Louisville, where he died at fifty-five 



830 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



years. His wife died iu 1842. They were the 
parents of three sons and three daughters, of 
whom Mrs. Woeber and a brother are living. 
The family of Mr. and Mrs. Woeber consists of 
five daughters and one son, of whom the three 
eldest daughters are married. 



(TOSEPH BLACK, deceased, was a pioneer 
I and for many years a resident of Peoria 
G) Township, Franklin County. His father, 
Frederick, was the son of a German named 
Schwartz who emigrated to Virginia, and changed 
his name from its German form to its English 
meaning. To the same stock belonged Samuel 
Black, the great jurist. The subject of this 
sketch was born in Botetourt County, Va., in 
1813 and in 1825 accompanied his parents to 
Breckenridge County, Ky., where he married 
Mary V. Moorman in 1835. From Kentucky he 
removed to Missouri in 1850, settling in Cass 
County and remaining there for seven years. 
April I, 1857, he arrived in Franklin County and 
settled on a claim five miles south of the present 
site of Wellsville, in what was then Franklin 
(now Peoria) Township, entering upon a farmer's 
life amid the frontier scenes of the then unsettled 
west. He endured all the hardships of the days 
when Kansas was the seat of constant warfare 
between the pro-slavery and free-state men, and 
when danger lurked constantly in the air. In 
the midst of perils he remained faithful to the 
Union and the old flag. 

In 1839 Joseph Black and his wife became 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and 
with that denomination they were afterward 
identified. The lady whom he married in 1835 
was a native of Tennessee and a daughter of 
Samuel Moorman, who removed from Tennessee 
to Kentucky and, dying, left a large estate, in- 
cluding eleven .slaves which were inherited by 
Mrs. Black. Being opposed to slavery, she at 
once freed the slaves. She died in 1872. Of 
her twelve children ten attained mature years, 
namely: Mrs. Sarah Kirkham, who died in Ot- 
tawa; Susan, who died on the home farm; James 
\V., who served in the Missouri state militia dur- 



ing the Civil war, and died in Ottawa; John H., 
who died at twentj'-three years; Peter F., a large 
farmer in Woodson County, Kans.; Mrs. Mary 
A. Adams, in Ottawa; Jo.seph Thomas; Mrs. 
Laura Evans, on the home farm; Lucy I. and 
Lizzie, who died in girlhood. 

After the death of his first wife, Joseph Black 
married Mrs. May Johnson, who is still living. 
He passed away on his home farm January 9, 
18S9, leaving the memorj' of an honorable life 
filled with deeds of kindly helpfulness to those 
less fortunate than himself. 



(TOSEPH THOMAS BLACK, assistant chief 
I of the fire department of Ottawa, is a well- 
(2/ known business man of this city, where he 
is engaged in contracting and building, with shop 
and office at No. 423 South Walnut street. He 
was born in Hardinsburg, Ky., May 4, 1846, 
and was four years of age at the time the family 
settled in Cass County, Mo. April 1, 1857, he 
accompanied his parents to Kansas, and the sub- 
sequent days of his boyhood were spent on his 
father's claim, which he assisted in improving. 
Schools were few and poor and the work at home 
was heavy, for which reasons he had few advan- 
tages, but of such as he had he availed himself 
to the utmost. He was a member of Company 
E, Kansas state militia, under Colonel Pennock, 
and was called to the front at the time of Price's 
raid, taking part in the battles of the Blue and 
Westport, and aiding in driving Price out of the 
state. For three days and nights, when in pur- 
suit of the Confederates, he and other men in the 
regiment had nothing to eat except such corn as 
they could find in the fields they passed through. 
In the advance on Westport he was one of fifteen 
volunteers from his company (his brother James 
being one of the others) who acted as a body 
guard to General Lane and Colonel Moonlight, 
and in the advance one of these men was killed. 
Under the instruction of his father, who was a 
general mechanic, our subject early became fa- 
miliar with carpentering. In 1870 he began to 
take contracts for buildings in Wellsville and 
other parts of Franklin County. Three years 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



831 



later he settled in Ottawa, and here he has since 
engaged in contracting and building, having oc- 
cupied his present location since 1882. Among 
the contracts he has liad may be mentioned those 
for the residences of Lyman Reed, Judge Benson, 
K. M. Sheldon, Professor Ball and H. C. Bran- 
son of Ottawa. He has been connected with the 
erection of every business block in the city, not- 
able among these being the Bank of Ottawa, 
J. D. Chamberlain's block, the Harrison build- 
ing, etc. He was the architect and builder of 
the bank building and Woodson hotel at Yates 
Center, a large double store at Weir and numer- 
ous residences in various parts of his county and 
adjacent counties. 

Since 1882 Mr. Black has been connected with 
the fire department. For fourteen years he was 
foreman of the hook and ladder department, and 
since then he has acted as assistant chief. In 
1896 he was a delegate to the state Republican 
convention, which chose a delegate to the na- 
tional convention at St. Louis. He is a member 
of Lodge No. 18, A. F. & A. M. ; past officer in 
the Knights of Honor, representative to the 
grand lodge and assistant grand dictator of Kan- 
sas; past officer in the Knights and Ladies of 
Security; past officer in the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen and a member of the Western 
Knights Protective Association. Since 1889 he 
has served as a trustee of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, in whose Sunday-school he has 
been a teacher for fifteen years and has also held 
the position of librarian. He and his wife had 
no children of their own, but adopted a daughter, 
Mary, who is now the wife of R. C. Stewart. 



gEORGE F. NEALLEY, M. D., of Lansing, 
Leavenworth County, was born in Cook 
County, 111., in 1842, a son of Ezra R. and 
Mary (Butterfield) Nealley. His paternal grand- 
father, Joseph Nealley, descended from ancestors 
who settled in New Hampshire prior to 1776 and 
took part in the Revolutionary war. He was a 
devoted member of the Baptist Church and was 
religiously opposed to war, but when he was 
drafted into the war of 181 2 went to the front 



with his regiment; however, when on the battle- 
field he fired his gun into the air, feeling that to 
kill another, even in battle, would leave upon 
his soul the stain of murder. 

Lyman Butterfield, the doctor's maternal 
grandfather, moved from New York to Chicago 
in 1824 and afterward took part in engagements 
with the Indians on the frontier. Being well ac- 
quainted with the country he acted as govern- 
ment scout for the troops. At one time he went 
to Naperville to secure relief for Fort Dearborn. 
He was accompanied by two men, but he alone 
returned, the others having been killed by sav- 
ages. After the war was over he took up land 
north of the river in what is now the northern 
part of Chicago, and there he owned eighty 
acres. About 1830-32 he was proprietor of the 
Green Tree hotel, one of the fir.st taverns in 
Chicago. Afterward he gave his attention largely 
to trapping and hunting and had on his large 
farm a herd of deer. His death occurred on his 
home place about 1847. 

Born in Rockingham County, N. H., in 1812, 
Ezra R. Nealley moved west to Chicago in 1832, 
and became one of the first settlers of that city. 
For some years he carried on a cooper shop 
there. Later he moved twelve miles north and 
took up a claim to government land, where he 
began raising fruit and also engaged in the nur- 
sery business. He was active in local affairs and 
served as commissioner of Cook County. A 
stanch Abolitionist in principle, he was often 
accused of running an underground railroad. He 
died at his homestead in 1887, aged seventy-four. 
His widow is still living at the old place, twelve 
miles north of Chicago. They were the parents 
of six children, viz.: George F., Albert L., 
Laura, Mattie, Jennie and Helena. The educa- 
tion of our subject was acquired principally in 
Northwestern University, of which he was one of 
the first students. He was very fond of hunting 
and often hunted deer on the present site of Fort 
Sheridan and Evanston. For a few years he 
taught school, but at the same time continued 
his studies. At the age of twenty he enlisted in 
Company A, One Hundred and Thirteenth Illi- 
nois Infantry, in which he served until the sur- 



832 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



render of Vicksburg, and was then discharged 
on account of disability. Returning to the uni- 
versity he assisted in raising a company of in- 
fantry, of which Professor Lynn became captain 
and he was sergeant, continuing in that company 
until the close of the war. Among the battles in 
which betook part were those of Vicksburg and 
Arkansas Post. 

At the close of the war he returned to the uni- 
versity, from which he graduated in 1867. He 
then began stud3'ing medicine, entering the Chi- 
cago Medical College, from which he graduated 
in 1870. During his college course he was in- 
timately associated with Dr. N. S. Davis, presi- 
dent and founder of the college, and in his last 
year there he was appointed house surgeon of 
Mercy Hospital. After graduating he began to 
practice in Chicago, having hisofiSce at No. 299 
West Randolph street, and remained there until 
the great fire burned him out. He was a trustee 
in the Tabernacle Church and on the night 
of the fire opened that church to house and feed 
the sufferers of the fire. For a week he continued 
in this work. He then accepted the superin- 
tendency of the Chicago Relief and Aid Society, 
district No. 2, in which capacity he continued 
until January i, 1871. At that time he was 
given charge of the medical department on the 
north side and located at his old office, establish- 
ing a dispensary, which received an endowment 
of $15,000. 

On account of failing health Dr. Nealley left 
Chicago in 1878. Going to western Kansas he 
founded the town of Collyer, in Trego County, 
where he engaged in the lumber business, also 
carried on a ranch and bought and sold cattle 
and sheep. Through his influence a progressive 
village was built up. He was elected the first 
representative from the county to the state legis- 
lature. While there he also acted as examining 
surgeons for pensions. In 1883 he was ap- 
pointed surgeon to the Kansas penitentiarj' at 
Lan.sing. April i of that year he entered upon 
the duties of this position, and for ten years and 
one month he continued in the same capacity, re- 
tiring May I, 1893. For one year he conducted 
the "Elnora," a brick hotel which he had built, 



and afterward he established a drug business, in 
which, in connection with his practice, he has 
since engaged. In politics a Republican he has 
always supported the principles of that party. 
Fraternally he is connected with the Knights of 
Pythias, Ancient Order of United Workmen, 
Modern Woodmen of America, Nine Mile Lodge 
No. 49, A. F. & A. M., and the Grand Army 
Post at Lansing, of which he was commander for 
some time. October i, 1872, he married Elizabeth 
Sticknej', of Montgomerj', Ga. ,by whom he had 
two children, Jessie (who died in childhood) and 
Lynn. The latter assists Dr. Nealley in the drug 
store. 



(Sylvester e. Humphreys, one of 

/\ the leading and well-known business men of 
\zJ Leavenworth is the subject of this article, 
who is proprietor and owner of the E. J. Hum- 
phreys & Sons' drug store, on the corner of Third 
and Delaware streets. The business was estab- 
lished and for some 3-ears conducted bj' his fa- 
ther, who was a man of superior ability and 
easily ranked among the prominent pioneers of 
the city. Since his death it has been owned and 
conducted by his oldest son, who has maintained 
the high standard established by his father and 
has conducted the business systematically and 
successfully. 

During the residence of his parents in Peoria, 
111., the subject of this sketch was born Feb- 
ruary 1 , 1850. He was six years of age when the 
family first came to Kansas. His education was 
obtained in public schools and was supplemented 
by private reading and studj-. When twenty 
years of age he began to clerk in his father's drug 
store, where he became familiar with all the de- 
tails of the business. On the death of his father 
the store fell to him as his share of the estate, 
and he has since given his attention to its man- 
agement. Through his integrity of character and 
the reliable manner in which he conducts every 
business enterprise he has won the confidence of 
the business men of Leavenworth. He has an 
excellent trade and retains the same customers 
from year to year. 

As a citizen Mr. Humphreys takes an intel- 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



833 



ligent interest in affairs pertaining to the welfare 
of his city and county. His co-operation and 
sympathy are given to movements looking 
toward the development of his city's resources 
and the extension of the commercial interests of 
the place. In politics he is a Republican. Fra- 
ternally he is identified with the Knights of 
Pythias in Leavenworth, and at one time he was 
prominent in the state work of this order. He 
is married and has three children. 



Vyi ORGAN JONES, deceased, who was an 
Y early settler of Douglas County, was born 
(9 in Montgomeryshire, Wales, September 4, 
1819, and was the son of a farmer in that shire. 
Becoming familiar with agricultural pursuits at 
an early age he made farming his occupation dur- 
ing many of the later years of his life. In 1846 
he crossed the ocean, landing in New York and 
proceeding from there to Cincinnati, where he 
learned the boiler- maker's trade. This occupa- 
tion he followed in that city and in Pomeroy, 
Ohio, until 1858, when he came to Kansas and 
settled in Willow Springs Township, Douglas 
County. For three years he cultivated a rented 
farm. Next he moved to Wakarusa Township, 
where he spent three years as a renter. During 
this time he purchased eighty acres, now a 
part of the homestead of two hundred and forty 
acres. To this place he removed in 1864 and 
here he continued to reside until his death. An 
active, public-spirited man, he was always fore- 
most in enterprises for the upbuilding of this sec- 
tion of Kansas, and gained a position among the 
honorable citizens and efficient farmers of his 
county. 

May 14, 1847, Mr. Jones married Miss Eliza- 
beth GriflSth, who was born in Wales October i, 
1826, and came to America on the same ship that 
brought Mr. Jones to these shores. Eight chil- 
dren were born to their union, namely: Joseph, 
deceased; Robert M. , a prominent farmer of 
Wakarusa Township; Jane M., deceased; John 
M.,who in connection with Thomas C. has the 
management of the home farm; Margaret, de- 
ceased; ^^Elizabeth A., wife of J. W. Dunn, of 



Clinton Township, Douglas County; Thomas C. ; 
and Morgan R. , deceased. The sons who have 
the management of the homestead are among the 
most progressive young farmers of the county. 
Being men of good business ability, they have 
not only maintained the excellent condition of 
the farm as left by their father, but have even 
enhanced its value by their improvements made 
from year to year. 

During the war our subject was connected 
with the state militia, and served in Captain 
Dickinson's company at the time of the Price 
raid. For years he was a member of the school 
board, in which position he did much to promote 
the welfare of educational interests in his dis- 
trict. In religious views he was in sympathy 
with the Congregational Church, and for years 
was one of its active workers. The Republican 
party represented his political principles and its 
candidates received his support. For his in- 
tegrity and upright character he was known 
and esteemed throughout his county, and his 
death was mourned by his entire circle of ac- 
quaintances. 

r~REDERICK ODE. Not a few of the farm- 
ly ers of Leavenworth County came to our 
I country from Germany, hoping to gain 
greater success here than would be possible in 
their native land. To this class belongs Mr. 
Ode, who, on settling in Easton Township, pur- 
chased one hundred and sixty acres of farm land. 
Since then he has bought an eighty-acre tract, so 
that he now owns two hundred and forty acres. 
He has made a specialty of raising Hereford cat- 
tle and Poland-China hogs, and is interested in 
the breeding of high-grade stock. The land is 
mostly in corn and grass, and is kept in excellent 
condition. 

Born in Germany in 1849, the boyhood years 
of Mr. Ode were passed in the usual manner of 
German youths. At the age of nineteen he en- 
tered the German army and for one year he served 
as hospital steward in the Franco- Prussian war. 
Afterward he went to London, where he was em- 
ployed in a sugar factory. In 1873 he crossed 
the ocean and settled in America. For two years 



834 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



he worked as a farm hand in Platte Count}-, Mo. , 
during which time he saved $400. He then re- 
turned to Germany and brought his parents back 
with him. Afterward, for thirteen years he 
rented farm land in Platte County and was so suc- 
cessful that he saved about $5,000. With this 
money he came to Leaven worth County and bought 
the farm which he now occupies. His first wife, 
whom he married in 1S77, died the following 
year. His second marriage took place in 1881 
and united him with Lizzie Beute, a sister of 
Henry Bente. They have two sons, William and 
Henry. 

A Lutheran in religion, Mr. Ode took an active 
part in the building of the church of this denom- 
ination near his home, being chairman of the 
building committee and the largest contributor to 
the building fund. In politics he is independent, 
voting for the best man. He is prominent among 
the German-American residents of Easton Town- 
ship, and has many friends among the people of 
his locality. 

r"ERDINANDO MILLER. Lying on the 
JM north bank of the Marais des Cygnes, in 
I Greenwood Township, Franklin County, is 
the farm owned and occupied by Mr. Miller, who 
purchased sixty acres of the property in 1866 and 
afterward, by the purchase of an adjoining tract, 
increased the size of his farm to one hundred and 
thirty acres. He has been energetically engaged 
in general farming and stock-raising, and at the 
same time has devoted some attention to the car- 
penter's trade. When he came to Kansas in i860 
and settled down on the Sac and Fox Indian 
reservation, he took a contract from the govern- 
ment for the building of houses for the Indians, 
and did considerable work along this line up to 
the time of the treaty with the Sac and Fox In- 
dians. Under contract with the government he 
erected several houses in Franklin and Osage 
Counties. 

Mr. Miller was born in Hardin Count3^ Ky., 
in 1834, a son of John W. and Julia Ann Miller. 
His father, who was a son of Robert Miller and a 
descendant of a pioneer family of Kentucky, was 
born in Hardin County, and continued to reside 



there until 1866, when he removed to Indiana. 
His active life was devoted to the carpenter's 
trade. He died in Indiana when seventy-four 
years of age. His wife, who was a native of 
Tennessee, died in Indiana when sixty-eight 
years old. They were the parents of five chil- 
dren, all but one of whom are still living. Ann 
is the wife of John Cox, of White County, Ind.; 
William makes his home in Michigan; and 
Josephine is the wife of Hans Woodward. 

When a boy our subject attended the schools 
of Louisville, Ky. He served an apprenticeship 
to the carpenter's trade in Kentucky, and later 
was employed as a journeyman in that state. In 
1855 he went to Marathon County, Wis., where 
he secured employment at carpentering. From 
there, in i860, he came to Kansas and has since 
made his home in Franklin County. During war 
times he experienced all the excitement and 
danger incident to life in a state that was the 
scene of bloodshed and strife. At the time of the 
Quantrell raid, and also when Price invaded Kan- 
sas, he joined with others in pursuit of the raid- 
ers, but did not succeed in overtaking them. As 
a Republican he has been warmly interested in 
national progress and problems, and, while he 
has never sought local offices, his interest in 
education has led him to take an active part in 
school matters. 

In 1855 Mr. Miller married Miss Melinda Lut- 
ton, a si.ster of R. C. Lutton, of Franklin Count}-. 
They are the parents of four children, namely: 
Charles and T. F. , who are in California; John; 
and Frank, who manages the old homestead and 
superintends its general farm and stock interests. 



(lOHN F. WEAVER, the pioneer of that part 
I of the Kaw Valley known as the Weaver bot- 
Q) torn, and one of the leading men of Eudora 
Township, Douglas County, resides in Baldwin. 
He was born in Columbiana County, Ohio, on the 
last day of 1848, a descendant of remote German 
ancestry who settled in Washington County, Pa., 
in an early day. He is a son of Henry and 
Nancy (Hill) Weaver, natives of Washington 
County, the latter of Scotch-Irish descent. The 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



835 



family of which he was the youngest consisted 
of seven children, of whom those beside himself 
now living areas follows: Jonathan, who lives in 
Kansas; James, of Ohio; Frank 1^., who makes 
his home in Salina, Kans.; and Frances A., wife 
of E. J. Wherry. 

About 1845 Henry Weaver removed to Ohio, 
where he took up land and resided for twenty 
years. In 1865 he came to Kansas, becoming 
the second white settler in the Kaw Valley, where 
he took up five hundred acres of Shawnee Indian 
land. From time to time he added to his pos- 
sessions, and when he died he was the owner of 
thirteen hundred acres. The entire property was 
heavily timbered at the time of purchase and re- 
quired considerable clearing before it was in a 
condition for cultivation. Without doubt he was 
the most extensive farmer in the county. Besides 
general farming he engaged in feeding stock. 
During the existence of the Whig party he voted 
for its candidates and afterward identified himself 
with the Republicans. Though a constant worker 
for his party, he never sought office for himself. 
Educational and religious movements felt the 
quickening impulse of his assistance. He was a 
public-spirited and benevolent man, and an 
earnest worker in the Christian Church. In the 
organization and establishment of the Christian 
College in Lincoln County, Kans., he took a 
prominent part, and for some time afterward he 
served as a director of the same. He died Feb- 
ruary 2, 1893, at eighty-one years of age. His 
wife passed away in 1878 on their Kansas home- 
stead. 

When seventeen years of age our subject ac- 
companied his parents to Kansas, where he taught 
during the winter months from 1866 to 1869, the 
intervening summers being given to farm work. 
From 1876 to 1878 he made his home in Saline 
County, Kans., where he engaged in breaking 
prairie land. On his return to Douglas County 
he began farming for himself. His first purchase 
comprised one hundred and sixty acres, to which 
he has since added until he is now the owner of 
six hundred acres in the Kaw Valley. In ad- 
dition to raising potatoes, farm produce and 
stock, for years he has operated a stone crusher, 



which, in 1898, he moved to Lecompton, where 
stone ballast is being furnished for railroads and 
bridges, the business being conducted under his 
name. In 1892 he obtained from the Santa Fe 
Railroad the location of a station on his farm and 
this was named in his honor. During the same 
year he opened a general store near his residence, 
and here he carried a full line of general mer- 
chandise until he disposed of the stock in 1899. 
He was also station agent for the Santa Fe at 
Weaver from 1891 to 1899 and for the same time 
held the office of postmaster, serving under both 
Republican and Democratic administrations. 

Not the least of Mr. Weaver's activities has 
been his connection with the potato industry. 
He was the first promoter of potato raising in 
this valley, and has engaged extensively in the 
industry. A charter member of the Potato 
Growers' and Co-operative Dealers' Association, 
he has been a director in the same. He received 
a patent on a potato sorter, many of which he 
sold to people of the county, thereby doing much 
to reduce the manual labor of the growers. It 
was due entirely to his effiDrts that a schoolhouse 
was built in his district, and he has been very 
helpful in promoting the interests of the schools. 
For twenty-one successive years he was a mem- 
ber of the school board, in which he served as 
treasurer until 1899. Prior to 1892 he was a 
worker in the Republican party, but he then be- 
came a Populist. In the fall of 1898 he was a 
candidate for representative and, although this 
district is largely Republican, he was defeated by 
only eight votes, reducing the usual Republican 
majority more than four hundred votes. The 
temperance movement has in him an ardent sup- 
porter and he is one of the trustees of the Tem- 
perance tabernacle. Fraternally he is connected 
with the Ancient Order of United Workmen at 
Eudora and Halcyon Lodge No. 18, I. O. O. F., 
at Lawrence. He is one of the trustees and act- 
ive members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
which his family also attend. December 31, 1877, 
he married Australia C, daughter of William 
Speaks, of Salina, Kans. They have had seven 
children, of whom the third, Cornelius, is de- 
ceased. Those living are William H . , Jennie V. , 



836 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



Homer and Hallie (twins), Lucile Maj^ and 
Helen Winnifred. September i, 1899. Mr. 
Weaver removed to Baldwin for the purpose of 
giving his children theadvantagesof education in 
the high school and Baker University. 



(7) HERMAN W. RANDALL owns three hun- 
2\ dred and twenty acres in Douglas County 
\Z/ and is numbered among the leading farmers 
of Palmyra Township. In addition to the rais- 
ing of cereals such as are adapted to the soil he 
has given some attention to the stock business 
and has also successfully engaged in dairying and 
in the raising of large and small fruits. He was 
born in Chautauqua County, N. Y. , August 6, 
1845, a son of William S. and Polly (Youngs) 
Randall, natives respectively of Trenton Falls, 
N. Y., and Ohio. His father, who was a farmer 
and also a wagon manufacturer, spent the greater 
part of his life in New York, although for a time 
he also resided in Pennsylvania. In 1879 he 
came to Kansas, purchased a city home in Law- 
rence and a farm in Willow Springs Township, 
Douglas County. He died in Lawrence in March, 
188 1, at the age of fifty-nine years. His wife, 
who is now seventy-seven years of age, is still 
living in Lawrence. His father, a native of 
France, emigrated to the United States in 1826, and 
settled at Trenton Falls, N. Y., where he followed 
the millwright's trade and built the works at that 
place; he married Ruby Sherman, who was born 
on the Genesee Indian reservation in New Eng- 
land. 

In early life our subject worked as a wagon- 
maker, butcher and stonemason. At twenty-five 
years of age he began to sell a patent glove pat- 
tern, in which business he continued for five 
years, traveling in Pennsylvania, New York, Illi- 
nois and Michigan. In 1876, through a trade, 
he became the owner of his present farm of three 
hundred and twenty acres, and in the spring of 
1S78 he removed from Pennsylvania to this place, 
at once beginning its improvement. He has de- 
voted himself very closely to his work, and has 
never identified himself with politics, although 
he has always supported Democratic principles. 



December 29, 1880, Mr. Randall married Miss 
Sarah L. Walker, who was born in Charleston, 
S. C, August I, 1848, a daughter of Charles M. 
and Jeannette (Miller) Walker, and a grand- 
daughter of Robert H. Miller, who belonged to 
an old southern family. Her father died in 1862 
and her mother three years later came to Kansas 
and settled near Lawrence, where she resided until 
her marriage. The three children born of their 
union are Maggie J. , Walker S. and Delia J. , all 
at home. 



(1 AMES C. SINCLAIR. Starting in business 
I life as he did without means, Mr. Sinclair has 
\Z/ by his force of character and perseverance 
risen to a position of influence among the people 
of Wellsville, Franklin County. He deservedly 
ranks as one of the best citizens of his town and 
as one who, by his strict sense of honor, has won 
the position for himself. In 1882 he erected the 
store building in which he has since carried on a 
large hardware business and, in addition, he is 
treasurer of the Wellsville Grain & Lumber Com- 
pany, in the organization of which he assisted. 
He is also the owner of one hundred and sixty 
acres of land in Sedgwick County. All of his 
property has been accumulated by his own efforts. 
Mr. Sinclair was born in Fayette Count}', Pa., 
February 25, 1840, a son of Presley N. and Re- 
becca Sinclair. Retraces his ancestry to Robert 
Sinclair, who came from Scotland to America in 
an early day. Samuel, son of Robert, was born 
in New York state, and his son, Robert, was a 
farmer in that state. The latter's son, Presley 
N. , was boru in McKeesport, Allegheny County, 
Pa., and was reared on a farm. When thirty- 
five years of age he removed to Fayette County, 
Pa., where he died upon a farm three years later. 
He was a member of the Church of God and in 
politics adhered to Whig principles. His wife, 
who was a member of the same denomination as 
himself, was a lady of gentle character and ami- 
able disposition. She was spared to advanced 
years, dying August 4, 1S99, when eighty-five 
years of age. 

Of six children the subject of this sketch was 
fourth in order of birth. He remained at home 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



837 



until the opening of the Civil war. August 19, 
1 86 1, he enlisted in Company B, Thirty-seventh 
Illinois Infantry, and served as a private for four 
years, re-enlisting at the expiration of three years 
and continuing in the army until the close of the 
war. Among his most important battles were 
those of Pea Ridge, Ark., Prairie Grove, Vicks- 
burg, Brownsville, Tex., and Fort Blakely, be- 
sides which he was in many skirmishes. After 
peace was declared he was retained in the service 
for a time, guarding railroads in Texas, and 
received an honorable discharge in May, 1866. 
Returning home he remained there until March, 
1868, when he came to Kansas and settled in 
Franklin County. For three years he worked as 
a farm hand, after which he began buying and 
shipping cattle and hogs, and continued in the 
latter business until he opened his hardware store 
in Wellsville in 1882. He is a charter member 
of Lookout Post No. 96, G. A. R. , of Wellsville, 
in which he has held all of the offices. He is also 
connected with Wellsville Lodge No. 135, 
in which he has filled the various chairs. He 
and his wife, who was formerlj^ Agnes Williamson 
of this county, have a comfortable home in Wells- 
ville and are honored wherever known. 



(TASPER S. RICE, who is best known as 
I "Jepp" Rice, has been identified with the 
O history of Leavenworth for many years. 
When he first came here, in 1856, Kansas was in 
the throes of its free-state struggles. People had 
come here from the east and the south, and already 
the work of developing a great commonwealth 
had been begun. The way was being pioneered 
for the prosperity of an oncoming generation. 
In the growth of Leavenworth and the prosperity 
of Kansas he has been deeply interested and has 
been a large contributor, his business energy and 
judgment having contributed to the progress of 
his locality. 

The father of Mr. Rice was Col. George W. 
Rice, a native of Vermont, who in 1841 removed 
with his family to Michigan and settled in Kala- 
mazoo, where he engaged in farming. For several 
years he was sheriff of Kalamazoo County, and 

41 



for one term he served as United States marshal. 
His death occurred in that county when he was 
sixty-six years of age. By his marriage to Beth- 
sheba Spooner, who was born in Vermont and 
died in Michigan, five sons and one daughter 
were born who lived to maturity. Of these Will- 
iam K. is engaged in the hotel business in Texas; 
J. B., who was a railroad man, died in St. Paul; 
Bushrod F., who was an attorney in New York, 
died in that city; Charles makes his home in 
Kalamazoo. The oldest of the surviving sons is 
Jasper S., who was born in Woodstock, Windsor 
County, Vt., February 7, 1833, and was reared 
in Kalamazoo, where he attended the public 
.schools. On starting out for himself he was em- 
ployed as a clerk in his home town, later as ex- 
press messenger on the Kalamazoo & Grand 
Rapids road for Wells, Fargo & Co., for two 
years, and for two years was clerk in a hotel. In 
1856 he made a trip west to Omaha and Leaven- 
worth, and the next year settled in this city, 
where he engaged in the hotel business, with 
several others buying the old Planters' hotel. The 
hotel was carried on successfully until the war 
came on. Mr. Rice, being proprietor, was in 
touch not only with the business itself, but also 
with affairs in general. 

The hotel became so popular, and the number 
of travelers through Leavenworth increased to 
such an extent that it was necessary to increase 
the accommodations of the building. An addition 
of about fifty rooms was built, which gave the 
hotel one hundred and forty rooms. From 1864 
to 1866 Mr. Rice was not connected with the 
business, his attention being given to freighting 
across the plains to Denver and the frontier posts. 
In 1866 he again became a partner in the hotel, 
with which he was connected until 1877. He 
then started in the cattle business near Wallace, 
on the Union Pacific Railroad, and was also en- 
gaged in carrying on restaurants along the line 
of that road, being a partner of Fred Harvey, 
under the name of Harvey & Rice. The firm 
had eating houses at Lawrence, Wallace and 
Hugo, and on the Santa Fe at Topeka, conduct- 
ing these until 1882, when they sold out. About 
that time Mr. Rice became interested, as a di- 



838 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



rector, in the Leavenwortli Cattle Company, 
which had its ranch and range in Routt Countj', 
Colo., and owned about fifteen thousand head of 
cattle. The company carried on a large and 
successful business, which, however, it has now 
about closed out. 

In lyinden, Genesee County, N. Y., Mr. Rice 
married Miss Maria C. Smith, daughter of Thomas 
G. Smith and sister of L. T. Smith. One child 
was born of their union, Helen, who graduated 
from the seminary in Elmira, N. Y., and is now 
the wife of Frank Phelps, of Leavenworth. In 
politics Mr. Rice has never allied himself with 
any party, and he has never held any oflSce ex- 
cept that of councilman for one term. He is a 
member of the Sons of Malta. At one time he 
served as paymaster of the first Kansas Militia, 
with the rank of major. 



EHARLES H. BOYD, a general contractor 
and builder, is one of the rising young busi- 
ness men of Leavenworth. In his special 
line of contracting he has built up a large busi- 
ness and has become known for the reliability and 
honesty displayed in every transaction. He has 
had contracts for the erection of many of the im- 
portant buildings and substantial residences of his 
city. He had charge of the rebuilding of the old 
Continental, now known as the Imperial, and the 
building of the City hotel. The changing of the 
fronts and the remodeling of Cherokee street were 
done under his supervision. Recently he com- 
pleted a store building on the corner of Shoemaker 
avenue and Quincy street. He has his shop at 
No. 422 South Fifth street, at the north end of 
the bridge. The residence which he owns and 
occupies, at No. 931 Spruce street, was built un- 
der his supervision, and he also owns a residence 
on Grand avenue and Quincy street. 

Mr. Boyd was born in Leavenworth, July 9, 
1862, the oldest of six children of A. R. and 
Mattie E. (Adams) Boyd, of this city. When 
fifteen years of age he began to learn the miller's 
trade in Lisle's mill, but after two years he was 
obliged to leave on account of his health being 
injured by the dust. He then served an appren- 



ticeship of three years at the carpenter's trade, at 
which he afterward continued, being employed as 
foreman for three contractors in Leavenworth for 
a period often years. In 1886 he began to take 
contracts for himself. From 1887 to 1890 he was 
engaged in contracting in Wichita, as a member 
of the firm of Case & Boyd. On his return to 
Leavenworth he resumed contracting and build- 
ing here, and has since had charge of about one- 
half of the city contracting. With the exception 
of the three years in Wichita and eighteen months 
in New Mexico (when he was hardwood finisher 
at the Las Vegas Hot Springs) , he has spent his 
entire life in Leavenworth, and is therefore well 
acquainted in the city, having many friends 
among its business men. 

In Alton, 111., Mr. Boyd married Miss Annie 
Snyder, who was born in Louisiana, and by whom 
he has two children living, Sadie and Laura. In 
national politics he is a Democrat, and in local elec- 
tions votes for those he believes best qualified to 
represent the people, irrespective of political ties. 
Fraternally he is connected with the Knights 
and Ladies of Security, the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen and the Degree of Honor. 



(TOSEPH E. WALTER, who is living retired 
I in Leavenworth, was born in Pennsylvania, 
v2/ May 14, 1828, a son of Andrew and Nancy 
(Smith) Walter, the latter a daughter of a Revo- 
lutionary soldier, the former a fifer in the war of 
18 12. In after years the fife which he had used 
on the battlefield and by the camp fire was one 
of his most prized relics and many an evening he 
spent playing upon it the old war tunes. In pol- 
itics he was a Democrat. 

Owing to his mother's death when he was a 
small child the subject of this sketch was early 
obliged to start out for himself. He learned the 
miller's trade, at which he worked in various 
places. With the money thus earned he paid for 
text books and carried on the studies of the com- 
mon schools. During the war with Mexico he 
enlisted in the army as a member of the Second 
Regiment Dragoons, which he accompanied to 
Texas. From the ranks he was promoted to be 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



839 



second sergeant soon after joining the army. After 
the close of the war with Mexico he continued in 
service, and fought a number of battles with the 
Indians. With the exception of a year spent at 
home, on sick furlough, he remained in the army 
until 1853, during which year he resigned his 
commission and came to Kansas. During the 
Civil war he re-entered the army, and was em- 
plo3'ed by the government as wagon-master of a 
train going to Colorado, New Mexico and other 
western territories. 

During the earlier j'ears of his residence in 
Kansas Mr. Walter engaged in farming at Island 
City and owned the island on which he lived. 
In 1865 he removed to Leavenworth County and 
settled in High Prairie Township, where he oper- 
ated a farm. Later he also had charge of the 
government farm for twelve j'ears. For two 
years he served as chief of police in L-aven- 
worth, after which he traveled for some years in 
the interests of Fred Harvey's railroad restau- 
rants. He is now living in retirement from busi- 
ness cares, although he still finds sufficient to oc- 
cupy his time in the management of his personal 
interests. Fraternally he is a member of the 
Masonic Order and the Knights of Honor. Sep- 
tember, I, 1853, Mr. Walter married Miss Sarah 
Tash, of Baltimore, who died January 16, 1892. 



r^ P. PHILLIPS, who is engaged in the real- 
L/^ estate business In Lawrence and is also a 
l^ justice of the peace in this city, was born in 
Rochester, N. Y., November 17, 1825, a son of 
John A. and Anna (Williams) Phillips. He was 
one of three children, of whom he and his sister 
Delia A., of Leroy, N. Y., are the survivors. 
His father, a native of Keene, N. H., born in 
1793, was four years of age when his parents re- 
moved to Rochester, N. Y., and there he grew 
to manhood, married and embarked in farming. 
During his entire active life he conducted a farm 
near that city, where he died in 1882. His wife 
was born in Ithaca, N. Y., in 1803, and died at 
Rochester in 1874. 
The paternal grandfather of our subject, John 



Phillips, was born in Keene, N. H., and was a 
farmer. He descended from ancestors who came 
from Wales to America about 1720, and settled 
at Roxbury, Mass. The maternal grandfather, 
Davenport Williams, was born in Connecticut, 
to which state his ancestors had come in a very 
earlj' day from England. He was a man of up- 
right character and a strict Presbyterian. In the 
common schools and Genesee Wesleyan Seminary 
our subject acquired his education. Having de- 
termined to cast in his fortunes with the west, in 
1857 he joined a company of two hundred families 
known as the Geneva colony, which arrived in 
Allen County, Kans., April i of that year, and 
took up one hundred quarter sections of land 
there. He remained there until the fall of 1863, 
when he returned east, and there, on the 19th of 
October, he married Helen S. Beebee, a native 
of Lima, N. Y. Immediately after his marriage 
he brought his wife to Kansas and began house- 
keeping in Allen County. 

In the spring of 1867 Mr. Phillips settled in 
Lawrence, and directly afterward he laid out 
the South Park farm (now the center of the city 
of Lawrence). This farm he conducted for fifteen 
years as a nursery and fruit farm, after which it 
was turned over to the city. Until recent years 
Mr. Phillips has engaged in the nursery business, 
and has also been interested in fruit-growing and 
farming. Now, however, he gives his attention 
to the real-estate business, although he continues 
to make his home on a fruit farm just outside the 
city limits. He and his wife became the parents 
of five children, namely: John L. , deceased; 
Charles W., who manages a fruit farm owned by 
his father; Eddie E. and Randall, deceased; and 
Anna M., who since the death of her mother, 
January 5, 1899, has kept house for her father. 
The family are connected with the Congregational 
Church, in all the good works of which Mrs. 
Phillips took a warm interest. 

Fraternally Mr. Phillips is a member of Pacific 
Lodge No. 28, A. F. & A. M., of Humboldt, 
Kans. In politics he is an advocate of the Pro- 
hibition party, with a leaning toward Republican- 
ism. Since 1889 he has held office as justice of 
the peace, which position he has filled to the 



840 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



satisfaction of all. Among the energetic and re- 
spected business man of Lawrence he holds a 
prominent place. 

EHRISTIAN RODENBURG, deceased, was 
born in Nassau, Germany, September 10, 
1832, the onlj' son of John Rodenburg, a 
farmer of Germany. When fifteen years of age 
he took passage at Hamburg for the United 
States and after a voyage of six weeks on a sailing 
vessel arrived in New York, whence he pro- 
ceeded to Albany. There he learned the trades 
of machinist, engineer, sawyer and saw-filer. 
Afterward he was employed as second engineer 
on the Ohio and Mississippi river steamers, from 
Louisville to New Orleans. His next position 
was that of machinist in car shops at Columbus, 
Ohio. In 1854 he settled in DesMoines, Iowa. 
Two years later he came to Kansas, becoming a 
pioneer farmer of Leavenworth County and 
buying a tract of land in Easton Township. 
There he engaged in farm pursuits until 1869, 
when he sold the place and removed to a farm 
near Lansing, Delaware Township. He had but 
begun the improvement of that property when he 
died, in 1870. In religion he was connected 
with the Evangelical Church, and in politics was 
a Republican. 

While in Columbus Mr. Rodenburg married 
Anna Schmale, who was born in Hanover, Ger- 
many, October 18, 1832, a daughter of Chri.stian 
Schmale. Her father, who was a member of an 
old family of Hanover, followed the shoemaker's 
trade until his death, at fifty-three years; he 
had married Charlotte Alborn, a native of Han- 
over, who accompanied her children to America 
and died in Leavenworth County when eight}^- 
one years of age. The four children who came 
to the United States are still living, three sisters 
being in Leavenworth, while a brother, Fred, 
lives in Rock Island, 111. In 1852 Miss Schmale 
came to America, crossing the ocean in a sailing 
vessel that .spent thirty-two days on the waters 
between Bremen and New York. After about 
six months in New York she went to Columbus, 
Ohio, where she met and married Mr. Rodenburg. 
She is a member of the First Presbyterian Church 



of Leavenworth. In her family there are three 
children, namely: Christian, a farmer in Dela- 
ware Township; Henry L. ; and Mrs. Hughes, 
of Leavenworth. 



HENRY L. RODENBURG, an enterprising 
and successful business man of Leavenworth, 
was born in Easton Township, Leaven- 
worth County, May 16, 1857, a son of Christian 
and Anna (Schmale) Rodenburg. He was edu- 
cated in private schools in Leavenworth, which 
he attended for two years. At sixteen years of 
age he left the home farm and went to Rock 
Island, 111., where he served an apprenticeship 
of three years to the carriage-blacksmiths' trade, 
and afterward continued for two years as a jour- 
neyman. Meantime he attended a night school 
and a business college, thus broadening the some- 
what limited education he had obtained at home. 
He spent a short time at work in Davenport and 
Muscatine, Iowa, and then visited in Leaven- 
worth for three months, after which he worked 
at his trade in Kansas City, Mo., for two years, 
being foreman of his department. From that 
city he returned to Leavenworth, where for nine 
months he was foreman for the Kansas Wagon 
Manufacturing Company, of which Alexander 
Caldwell was president. 

In 1882 Mr. Rodenburg started in business on 
the corner of Spruce street and Fifth avenue, 
where he rented a small frame building and 
opened a grocery. Three years later he bought 
the corner and erected a three-story brick block, 
with a frontage of forty feet, a depth of seventy- 
four feet, and a rear breadth of ninety feet. This 
entire building he occupies with his stock of 
goods, which he sells both at wholesale and 
retail. His residence adjoins his store at No. 706 
Spruce street, and besides his store and house he 
owns other residence properties in the city. In 
1897 he started in the wholesale commission 
business at No. 511 Cherokee street. In the fall 
of 1898 the Leavenworth Fruit and Commission 
Company was incorporated, with himself as 
president and principal stockholder. Prior to 
this he had engaged in packing and handling 
apples in connection with his grocery business, 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



841 



but wishing to separate the two, he organized 
the commission company, which has since 
shipped about thirty thousand barrels of apples 
annually, besides packing a variety of other fruits. 
Fraternally Mr. Rodenburg is connected with 
the Modern Woodmen of America, Ancient 
Order of United Workmen, and the Tent of the 
Maccabees, and formerly was identified with the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In politics 
he has always voted the Republican ticket. His 
marriage, which took place in Leavenworth, 
united him with Miss Mary Lambert, who was 
born in Ohio, a daughter of Jacob Lambert, now 
of California. The two children born of this 
union are Walter and Hortense. Mrs.' Roden- 
burg is a member of the Lutheran Church, which 
the family also attend. 



pCJlLLIAM W. WALTER, M. D., of Leav- 
\ A / en worth, was born at Island City, Riley 
VV County, Kans., in i860, and was the 
youngest of three children and the only son of 
Joseph E. and Sarah (Tash) Walter. His edu- 
cation was acquired principally in Leavenworth 
County, where his father settled at the close of 
the Civil war. In 1879 he graduated from the 
Leavenworth high school, and afterward turned 
his attention to the study of medicine, which he 
carried on for a year under private preceptor- 
ship. In 1880 he entered the medical department 
of the University of Pennsylvania, from which 
he graduated in 1883. Returning to his home 
town, he began the general practice of his pro- 
fession, and during the years that have since 
elapsed he has become known as an accurate and 
skillful physician, who justly occupies a high 
place among his professional co-workers and in 
the confidence of the public as well. Besides his 
private practice he holds the position of local 
surgeon for the Union Pacific, Atchison, Topeka 
& Santa Fe and Leavenworth, Topeka & South- 
western Railroads; also a member of the medical 
staffofCushing Hospital, and professor of obstet- 
rics in Cushing Training School. For ten years he 
served as a member of the board of health, for 
six years was a member of the school board, and 



for some time acted in the capacity of first surgeon 
at the Soldiers' Home. His ofiice is in the Man- 
ufacturers National Bank building. 

Interested in everything bearing upon his pro- 
fession, directly or indirectly. Dr. Walter keeps 
abreast with every development in therapeutics, 
and by thoughtful study of current medical liter- 
ature and by experience and observation he has 
gained a broad prof essional knowledge that places 
him at the head of the medical fraternity in his 
city. He is a member of the Leavenworth 
County, State and Eastern District Medical So- 
cieties, in the work of each of which he takes an 
interest. Politically he affiliates with the Demo- 
crats. He is identified with the Episcopal Church, 
in which he now holds the office of junior warden. 



Gl R- BOYD, who is living retired in Leav- 
Ll enworth, was bom near Indianapolis, Ind., 
I I, the son of J. R. Boyd, a Scotchman, who 
settled upon a farm in Indiana. When he was a 
boy he served an apprenticeship of seven years 
as engineer, machinist and millwright. Previous 
to his apprenticeship he ran away from home, 
fired with a boy's desire to become a sailor, and 
for two 3'ears he sailed the high seas, once being 
shipwrecked on an island, where, after nearly 
starving, he was picked up by a boat and brought 
back to the United States. On the completion 
of his apprenticeship he became an engineer on 
a railroad. In 1844 he came to Fort Leaven- 
worth. For three years he was employed as an 
engineer on the boat that .ran between the fort 
and Weston, Mo. Later he freighted across the 
plains to Salt Lake City, being for a year em- 
ployed as a mule driver, next becoming wagon 
boss, and after two years being transfered to the 
work of shoer. For five years he was employed 
by the government in these various positions. 
From 185 1 to 1853 he engaged in farming in 
Leavenworth County. Next he went to Platte 
County, Mo., where he was overseer for Clinton 
Cockrell, of Platte City. At the opening of the 
war he was commissioned lieutenant of a company 
in the First Kansas Infantry, in which he 
served for a time. Afterward he engaged in 



842 



PORTRAIT AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. 



burning lime and in farming in High Prairie 
Township. During 1863 he operated a saw mill 
for the government at Manhattan. 

After farming in Neosho County, Kans. , for 
.several years, in 1869 Mr. Boyd returned to 
Leavenworth County and for seven years he car- 
ried on a farm in High Prairie Township. He 
then removed to the city of Leavenworth, where 
for eleven years he was engineer in a mill owned 
by Kelly & Lisle; later was employed in an- 
other mill for three years. Of recent years he 
has lived in retirement from business duties. 
His wife, who is also living, was Mattie E. 
Adams, a native of Kentucky, whence she ac- 
companied her father, James Adams, to Leaven- 
worth County, in early days. For many years 
Mr. Adams owned a farm in High Prairie Town- 
ship, which he operated, besides carrj-ing on work 
as a huckster. 



0TTO SCHMECKEL has engaged in the 
grocery business at his present location in 
Leavenworth since 1877. During that year 
he opened a store in a small frame building at 
No. 514 Fifth avenue, and embarked in business 
for himself. From the first he met with success. 
After four years he had saved enough to enable 
him to secure more adequate accommodations for 
his enlarged trade. He bought two corner lots and 
erected a two-story brick building, 24x140 feet in 
dimensions, where he has since carried on a gen- 
eral grocery business, having a large trade among 
the people of that part of the city. He is the 



owner of a rock quarry, comprising forty -five 
acres on Ohio street beyond Fourteenth, where he 
has successfully quarried lime building stone, the 
finest of its kind quarried here. 

Mr. Schmeckel was born in Prussia, Germany, 
February 12, i860. His father, who was the 
youngest son of a wealthy German of a noble fam- 
ily, became a government ofiBcial, holding a posi- 
tion .similar to that of county clerk in this coun- 
trj'. At the time of his death he was thirtj'-seven 
years of age. His wife, accompanied bj' her 
youngest son, Otto, came to the United States in 
1 87 1, and settled in Leavenworth, where she died 
in 1893. 

When a boy our subject attended the common 
schools in Colmar, Germany. With his mother 
he came via steamer to America in 1871, and at 
once settled in Leavenworth, where for a j-ear 
he clerked in a book store. Later he engaged as 
a clerk for his brother, .Gustav, in the latter's 
grocery, and after eighteen months there became 
connected with another grocer in this citj'. His 
next position was with Joseph A. Woeber, the 
wholesale grocer, with whom he remained until 
he resigned to engage in business for himself. 
He has given his attention very closely to busi- 
ness matters and has not taken any part, aside 
from voting the Democratic ticket, in public or 
political affairs. He was married, in Leaven- 
worth, to Miss Annie Rodenhaus, who was born 
in this city, and is a daughter of Jacob Roden- 
haus. They are the parents of three children, 
Gertie, Carrie and Otto, Jr. 



J^f^ 



^p- 



INDEX 



A 

Aaron, John 697 

Aaron, Johu A 700 

Abdelal, Maj. A. G., M. D,.4I6 

Abernathy, S. W 570 

Adams, John 22 

Adams, John Q 38 

Adams, John y 539 

Aitchison, John R 509 

Akers, Jonathan 225 

Alder, John William 531 

Alexander, John C 639 

Alford, Lieut. A. C 729 

Alford.D. S 728 

Allen, Dr. A. A 279 

Allendorph, Charles W....315 

Anderson, A. J., M. D 519 

Anderson, David H 496 

Anderson, George A 522 

Anderson, Mrs. Hanora 516 

Andrews, Capt. .S. H 510 

Anthony, Col. D. R Ho 

Anthony, D. R, Jr 269 

Anthony, Hon. G. T 195 

Anthony, Henry 408 

Apitz, Charles 528 

Appletou, G. C 568 

Armstrong, Beatty 501 

Armstrong, Robert 817 

Armstrong, William H 515 

Arthur, Chester A 98 

Ashby, Charles A 435 

Ashby, Hon. William F....731 

Atchison. David 718 

Atkinson, Rev. Robert 377 

Atwood, John H 621 

Avenarius, Charles F 666 

Averill, Narcisse N fi02 

B 

Babcock, Hon . C. W 354 

Baker, Col. J. J 333 

Baker, John W 693 

Baker, Thomas N 603 

Baldwin. Andrews 578 

Baldwin, Eben 323 

Baldwin, Lafayette P 315 

Bales, Elbert 489 

Barker, Hon. George J 314 

Barley, Isaiah N 400 

Barnes, Delos N 451 

Barthel, Alfred B 805 

Bass, Hon. W. B 535 

Bauer, P. H 761 

Baum, John 688 



Beddow, James H 784 

Beeler, Otto C 744 

Bell, JohnP 811 

Bell, 'Olin 389 

Berger, August 614 

Berger, Henry 747 

Berry, Peter 740 

Beumiann, Louis 607 

Biart, E. EH 738 

Biebusch, Henry 537 

Biederman, John A 776 

Bigsby, Ambrose 327 

Birney, William L., M. D. .648 
Bishoff, Hon. C. N.,M. D..599 

Black, Joseph 830 

Black. Joseph T 830 

Blackman, W. I. R 790 

Blochberger, Herman 770 

Boling, R. L., M. D 764 

Boling, Hon. T. G. V 764 

Bollin, John 767 

Bonebrake, Hon. J. H 316 

Bosworth, Charles 563 

Bough ton, Joseph S 405 

Bowen, Isaac ■ 752 

Bowersock, Hon. J. D 132 

Boyd, A. R 841 

Boyd, Charles H 838 

Brandon, John 7.56 

Branson, Henry C 589 

Breese, Henry G 762 

Brewer, Hon. David J 591 

Brewer, Eugene 596 

Brock, J. W., M. D 758 

Bromel.sick, William 397 

Brooks, Hon. Paul R 293 

Brown, Felii C 533 

Brown, William W 407 

Bruce, Robert M 423 

Brune, S. Edward 3»6 

Buchanan, James 74 

Bunn. John W 413 

Burr. Henrys 797 

Bush, Jacob 601 

Butell, Adolphus D 446 

Byers, James L 693 

Byington, Dwight 205 

Byington, Mrs. Emily J 206 

Byrd, MacC. 635 

c 

Caldwell, Hon. Alex l.SS 

Caldwell, Hon. E. F 225 

Calhoun, Hon. J. C 768 

Callahan, Alfred 778 

Callahan, H. B., M. D T77 



Campbell, Maj. R. C 655 

Carmean, Samuel H 236 

Carney, Edwin L 783 

Carney, Hon. Thomas 126 

Carpenter, C. R., M. D 815 

Carpenter, Capt. Robert... 276 

Carpenter, W. B., M. D 814 

Carr, E. T 788 

Carr, Manford H 795 

Carter, William R 257 

Casebier, Charles G 827 

Casebier, John G 809 

Chambers, Nelson A 360 

Chandler, Nelson M 572 

Chapin, Charles H 569 

Charlton, Judge John 192 

Churchill, Col. S. J 200 

Clark, John Z 653 

Clark, Malcolm 246 

Clarke, Nicholas S 230 

Cleveland, S. Grover 102 

Clough, E. N. 819 

Cochran, Samuel 765 

Colman, Osgood A 259 

Conard. JohnM 671 

Conger, Charles L 328 

Conley, Michael 576 

Coomb.s, Edward E 775 

Cordley, Rev. Richard,D.D.136 

Corlett, William 771 

Cory, John M 801 

Coursey, James 823 

Cowdery, C. L., M. D 288 

Cox, EdmundH 620 

Cox, Hon- Joseph J 256 

Cradit, Capt. N. C 608 

Cramer, John 546 

Crancer, John W 284 

Crane, Charles D 345 

Crane, Henry D 588 

Cranston. J. Alexander 781 

Crawford, Levi Russell 316 

Cummings, Patrick 237 

Cunningham, Joseph B 261 

Cutler, Charles C 514 

D 

Dassler, C. F. W 411 

Davenport, J. A., Jr 556 

Davenport, J. A., Sr 555 

Davis, George H 401 

Davis, Winslow .507 

DeFord, H. S., M. D ,585 

Deichmann, Frederick 538 

Denholm, George A 619 

Denholm, William 618 



Denton, Oliver 375 

Dickey, Samuel R 387 

Dicks, Capt. Henry B 406 

Diestelhorst, Henry T .570 

Dodsworth. Samuel 435 

Dolphin, Miss Mary E 428 

Donnelly, James 540 

Donovan, Benjamin J 393 

Donovan, Martin B 394 

Doolittle, Reuben R 517 

Downey, Very Rev. T. J. . .250 

Dreisbach, Joseph H 444 

Duffee, Lloyd 495 

Duffin, John 427 

Dyer, John M 514 

Dyer, Thomas 492 

E 

Eaton, Burdine 803 

Eaton, Calvin F 502 

Edminster, Reuben S 822 

Edmond, Hon. John D 223 

Edmonds, Hon. M. W 501 

Edwards, Benjamin F 662 

Edwards, Maj. C. L 465 

Edwards, Julius S 431 

Eggleston, A.. P 437 

Elder, Aldamar P: 561 

Elder, Hon. P. P 278 

Eldridge, E. W,, M. D 567 

Eldridge, Maj. T. B 825 

Elwell, Mrs. Mary G 418 

Emery, Charles C 627 

Emery, Hon. James S 233 

Engle, Solomon 716 

Evans, David 477 

Everhardy, Peter 445 

Ewing, Charles W., M. D. .548 

F 

Farnsworth, Oliver J 313 

Faucett, John F 436 

Faulkner, John K 778 

Faulkner, William K 787 

Feller, John C 828 

Ferguson, Robert M 522 

Ferris, Judge John 480 

Fevurly, William 488 

Few, Samuel P., M. D 415 

Fillmore, Millard 66 

Finley, William S 411 

Fischer, Capt. Julius 478 

Fisher, Hon. George A 394 

Fitzpatrick, Michael T 248 

FitzWilliam, Hon. F. P ...284 
FitzWilliam, Frank P 280 



344 

Fletcher, Josiah 8 287 

Plinner, John 446 

Flintjer, Arnold 441 

Flora. Chauncey 482 

Flora. Reazin V 448 

Flory, Cyrus W 558 

Fogle. Daniel 600 

Poulkrod. Rev. J. W 828 

Fraser,.\Villiam W 286 

Freienmulh, William 442 

Fritzel, John 646 

Fuller, William G 816 

G 

Gardner. William 507 

<;ar6eld, James A 94 

Garrett, Robert 447 

Gates. August 456 

Caw, James W 710 

Gentry-. Nicholas 313 

Gelchcll.Capt. Thomas, ...676 

Getker. Anton 494 

GilRes, Capt. J. W 824 

Gill. William H 488 

Gillham.John H 511 

Gilniore, John 491 

Glathart, Jeremiah H 532 

Glenn, Alexander G 534 

Goddard, C. C. M. D 425 

Godding, George F 508 

Gorrill, Robert W 800 

Gould, Hon. G, R 141 

Graeber, G. A 179 

Grant, Dlysses S 88 

Gray, James 264 

Grelie, Maj. M, R. W 637 

Green, William R 229 

Greene, Hon, H. M 148 

Greenlee, M. D 188 

Greever. Charles F 183 

Greever, JohnB 706 

Griesa, Adolph C 228 

Griesa, Augustus H 266 

Griesa, Theodore 229 

Griffin. AllKsrt 260 

Grist, NorrisM 6.36 

Greener, Rev. R. B 239 

Grovenor. Gurdon 258 

Grover, Hon. Joel 197 

Gucnther, Rev. Louis l.W 

Gustafson, Joel 803 

H 

Hackbusch. H. C. F 356 

Hallaui, John B 782 

Hambliu. George W 677 

Harding, Anson C 686 

Haiding, William D 794 

Harris, Hon. J. P 168 

Harris. Hon. William A. ...213 

Harrison, Benjamin 106 

Harrison, Hon. J. H 669 

Harrison. Joseph H 178 

Harrison. Thomas W 672 

Harrison, William Henry.. .W 

Hartman. Frederick W 433 

Hartnett, Joseph J ...687 

Har%-ey, MosesC 238 



INDEX. 



Haskell, Hon. D. C 139 

Haskell, Col. J. G 166 

Hastings, Samuel M 685 

Havens, Paul E 295 

Hawn, Judge I^nrens 682 

Hawn. Frederick 681 

Hayes, Rutherford B 90 

Hays, Martin P 575 

Heaston, Daniel F &)2 

Heimann, Father Albert. ..460 

^^-flenderson, Howard W 605 

^Jlenderson, John A 644 

Heasley. Abel 651 

Herning. John Albert 218 

Herr, Francis C, M. D 615 

Herries. David 476 

Herries, John 426 

Hesse, William G 427 

Hester, Solomon A 704 

Hetrick, Frank 307 

Hetrick, Rev. Isaac 307 

Higgins, Charles W 779 

Hill, Rev, C.Rowland 711 

Hill.D. Mark 249 

Hill. James A 781 

Hindman. John C 457 

Hindman, Lorenzo W 453 

Hines. Thomas J 412 

Hitzemann. John 460 

Hon n old, AmosG 191 

Hoover, l.saac L 190 

Home, John B 715 

Houston, Samuel A 515 

Howard, Hon, W, C 169 

Hudelson, N. .V 721 

Huesgen.J. P 707 

Hughes, Isaac F 490 

Hughes, William 172 

Hummel. Capt. J. L 719 

Humphreys. Edgar J 702 

Humphreys, Sylvester E.. .832 

Hund, John M 370 

Hund, Leo 726 

Hund, Wendlin 373 

Hunt, Col. F. K 156 

Hunt. Hon. McCown 605 

Hunter, Martin M 737 

Hurd, Hon. T. A 600 

Hutson, Harry T 545 

I 

Ide. Judge Harvey W 251 

Igel, Capt. Richard L 227 

Ingle, Charles W 472 

lusley, Joseph B 808 

J 

Jackson, Andrew 42 

Jackson, William 590 

Jacobs. J, H 519 

Jameson, Edward 235 

Jansen, Henry 141 

Jardon, Augustus M 475 

Jardon, Francis X 383 

Jeflcrsou, Thomas 26 

Jenkins. Francis M 417 

Jennings, Capt. A. J 240 

Jewett. M. M 217 

Johns, John H 178 



Johnson, Andrew 82 

Johnson, August 713 

Johnson. Capt. Thomas I.. 181 
Jones, Maj. D. C, M. D....202 

Jones, Morgan 833 

Jordan, William W 727 

K 

Kahn. William 468 

Kaiser, George F 725 

Kaiser, Peter 725 

Kaufniann, George W 171 

Keck, Ethan B 611 

Keller, Francis M 823 

Keller. Fred W 613 

Kelly. Vincent A 810 

Kelly, Washington D 626 

Kibbe, William E 742 

Kier, Robert A 551 

Kilgore, James 826 

Kimmel, Rev. J. W 807 

Kindred. John W 547 

Kindred, L. P 458 

King, Albert H 682 

Kingsley, Richard H 615 

Kirk, Alexander 611 

Kirmeyer, Michael 815 

Kittredge, Miss H. D 712 

Kittredge. Miss M. C 712 

Klinkcnberg. Kufus 247 

Knapp, Lewis F 654 

Knapp, Thomas H 686 

Knipe. Hubert 858 

Knollman, Henry 707 

Koch, Herman 798 

Koohler, Harry W 7W) 

Krezdoru. Mrs. Afra 689 

Kripp. August L 679 

KroU. August 376 

Kuster. Jacob 732 

Kyle, Andrew T 369 

L 

Lahue, Marshall G ., 247 

Lamb. John F 7.12 

Lamber, J. B 813 

Lambert. William 397 

laming, J. Caulton 684 

Laming. Whitsed, Jr ftS2 

- Lane, Gen. James H 130 

, Lane. James A., M. D 243 

Longwortliy, S. B., M. D...379 

Laptad. Peter .S80 

Lawrence. Capt. G. W 715 

Leahy. Daniel 633 

Leavenworth Anglers As- 
sociation 606 

Leeds, Absalom 730 

Legate. Judge J. F 675 

Leibey. Mrs. Nancy A. G..421 

Leibey. J.Tnies. M. D 121 

Leis. George 7 19 

Lemon. Stephen K 711 

Leonard. W. Y., M. D 123 

Lewis, .\lexander 613 

Lewis, P. M.. M. D 556 

Li nek. George H 652 

Lincolu, Abraham 78 

Lindley, William M 587 



Lindsey. James P 617 

Lingard, Amos L 375 

I^ingard, James 374 

Lister, Edmund 365 

Liltell, David W 461 

Lloyd, John 757 

Loar.John W 654 

Love, Hon. Alexander 619 

Lowe, Capt. P. G 697 

Lowe, Hon. P. G 684 

Lowe. Wil-son G. S 696 

Ludington. Hon. R. W 6.31 

Luther, Caleb M 577 

M 

McCarthy, Michael 709 

McClanahan, John G .'>86 

McClelland, C. B ,583 

McCormick, John 656 

Mccormick, J. M., M. D...766 

McCune, Adam D 774 

McCune, William 775 

McCurry. John 762 

McDonald. James 612 

McElheny, Wilson 678 

McFarland, Charles W .SSI 

McKarland, Robert S 610 

McFarland, Thomas 763 

McKarlane. John 747 

McGill, George E 870 

Mclntire, L. 769 

McKee. Hon. John 265 

McKeever. Patrick 813 

McKinley . William 110 

McNar)-. Capt. O. C 579 

McNaughton. Samuel J 629 

Macomb. John N 296 

Madison, James 30 

Maffet, George W 785 

Magers, John H 776 

Maier, Gottlieb 70S 

Manwaring. Henry .S81 

Markart, Frank G 720 

Marsh. Joseph 723 

Martin, W. D., M. D 2'.'0 

Mason. Mrs. F'. H 7ti0 

Mason, Maj. L. P 760 

Mason. Ziua A 684 

Mayer. William. ^ 810 

Mcdill, Hon. Sherman 303 

Meeker. Silas;B 407 

MchI, Lo\iis C 471 

Merchant, Nelson 388 

Mero, Oliver ....577 

Merritt, Edward B »10 

Melz, Henr>' 628 

Meyers, Stance L 652 

Miller, Ferdinando 8.34 

Mills, LaFayette 399 

Mintier, Kot>ert J 634 

Moherman, William H 734 

Monroe. James 34 

Moonlight. Col. Thomas.. .142 

Moore, Benjamin B 283 

Moore, Charles 28S 

Moore, Col. H. L 278 

Moore. Hon. H Miles 123 

Moore, Samuel P 821 

Morgan, Gilbert H 795 

Morgan, Jonathan F 789 



INDEX. 



845 



Moys, William 780 

Miindey, David E 330 

Munk. Capt. Edward 767 

Murliu, Lemuel H., D.D...199 

Murphy, Edward E 267 

Murray, Rev. James 554 

N 

Nadelhoffer. William 772 

Naelier, Stephan 393 

Neal, Jordan 796 

Nealley, G. F.. M. D 831 

Nelson, Andrew P 464 

Nelson, John 746 

Nettleton. Lamar H.. ..710 

Newsome, Joseph 617 

Nightingale, William 753 

Noss, Hiram 743 

o 

Oakes, Capt. Henrv A 622 

Oatman, Adolphus G 616 

Oatraan, H. C. M. D 150 

Ode. Fred 833 

Oldroyd, Charles W 338 

O.ds, Rev. Frank B 601 

Olin, Walter H 334 

Olson, O. G 703 

Orsbonro, William M 798 

P 

Parcels, John W — 170 

Pardee, William A 476 

Parker, Dillwyn 204 

Parnell, Andrew J., Jr 700 

Parnell, Andrew J., Sr. .699 

Patter.son, William 441 

Payne, Rev. J. M 818 

Peairs, Hervey B 708 

Pearson, Robert H 339 

Penny, Prof. George B 180 

Petherbiidge, J. C 161 

Pettibone, Capt. .Milton. ...255 

Phenicii. James M 824 

Phillips, E. D. F., M. D....680 

Phillips, J. M., M. D 357 

Phillips, P. P 839 

Pierce, Franklin 70 

Pilla, Charles 25S 

Planz, Jacob 434 

Poitrey. Joseph 512 

Polk, James K 58 

Pontious, Frederick B 754 

Pontius, Arthur C 788 

Porter, Joh u A 367 

Porter, William A 545 

Powell, Alfred B 536 

Prang, Hejiry C 518 

Przybylowicz, M. A 526 



Rabinovitz, Harrj' 520 

Randall, Sherman W 836 

Rankin, Col. John K 385 

Ransom, James H 310 

Rathhone. J. Cass 529 



Ray, Marcelmus B 473 

Raymond, Joseph M 275 

Reed, Fitch 390 

Reedy, Michael 424 

Rees, Edwin T 402 

Reid, Lyman 318 

Reynolds, Maj. Clarkson. .442 

Reynold,*. Samuel 462 

Rhea, Heury W .380 

Rice, Jasper S 837 

Richardson, George C 289 

Richardson, Jason P 1,59 

Ridgway, Charles H 403 

Riggs, Hon. Samuel A 185 

Roberts, Gen. J. N 138 

Robert.son. John W 465 

Robbins, Judge C. L 324 

Robinson, Hon. C, M. D. .121 
Robinson. Mrs. Sara T. D..121 

Rodenburg, Christian 840 

Rodeuburg. Henry L 840 

Rodenhau'i, Jacob 667 

Rodgers, Henry H 329 

Rothenberger. Jacob H. . . .487 

Ruder, Fred 562 

Ruediger, Theodore H 398 

Russell, Mrs. Clarinda L- 359 

Rujsell, Gen. Edward 128 

Ryan. Jepp 207 

Ryan, Matthew, Jr 263 

Ryan, Hon. Matthew, Sr. .151 
Ryan, Thomas C 365 



St. John, Marcena 308 

Sams, Frederick, M. D 726 

Sanders, Meshack 596 

Saunders, Prof. R. S 721 

Savage, Forrtst 773 

Schaake, Christian 597 

Schanze. August 816 

Schmeckel, Otto. 842 

Schnebly, J. G., M. D 404 

Schneider. E. H. F 594 

Schulte, F. C 660 

Schwager, Jacob 783 

Schwartz, Andrew 528 

Scott, John W 337 

Sears, Gen. W. H 353 

Seidel, Herman 677 

Selig. August L 571 

Ser\atns, Mrs. Delia F 525 

Servatus, William 525 

Seufert, George Adam 559 

Seufert. Lewis. . 530 

Seymour, George W 491 

Shannon, Hugh 4.55 

Sharpe. Alvin V 557 

Sharpe, Araasa T 325 

Shaw, Alexander 604 

Shearer, James Bruce 625 

Shearer, Lawrence P 625 

Sheldon, Edwin M 309 

Shepherd, William 495 

Shinn, Albert C 664 

Shiras, William M 463 

Shively, Edward 574 

Shively, Joseph M 765 



Short, Harold C 864 

Short, Oliver F 363 

Simmons, C. J., M. D 653 

Simmons, James C 558 

Simmons, Hon. N., M. D..551 

Sinclair, James C 836 

Singer, Samuel v.. 608 

Skourup, N. H 366 

Slater, Alfred H 285 

Small, William 270 

Smith. Frank P ,549 

Smith, Hon. Horace J 165 

Smith, Mrs. Lurenda B 345 

Smith, Leonard T 647 

Smith, Malcom F 344 

Smith, Hon. Martin 209 

Snow, Francis H., LL. D. . .175 

Snyder, Elmore W 186 

Snyder, George W 290 

Sparr, Ripley W 158 

Spencer, Charles C 4.56 

Spencer, William F 355 

Spratley, John W 203 

Spurgeon. William .560 

Stannard, F. H 374 

Slayman, Dr. Joseph 493 

Steele, Judge L. S 564 

Stephens. Richard 334 

Sterubergh, Hon. T.J 146 

Stevens, Capt. J. T 208 

Stevens, Nelson O 140 

Stigglem.in, Martin L- ■ - -614 

Stiue, Louis C 317 

Slinebaugh, George D 3.58 

Stokely. P. D 454 

Stonebraker, Samuel A 474 

Stratton. John L 304 

Strong, Charles B 592 

Slump, John B 550 

Sullivan, Rev, John M 666 

Swift, Walter F .512 

Swisher, Robert 498 



Tawney, Horatio 479 

Taylor. Judge F. K 806 

Taylor, John F 722 

Taylor, Mrs L. H., D.D.S..717 

Taylor, Thomas T 585 

Taylor, Zachary 62 

Teflft, Clark 513 

Thomas, Barclay 733 

Thomas, F .M, M. D 245 

Thomas, M. Shaw, M. D.. .214 

Thomas, Theodore C 246 

Thomas, W. Edwin 792 

Thompson, L. M 573 

Thornbury, J. R., M. D. .368 

Tisdale, Henry 738 

Todd, William N 497 

Trackwell. Benjamin F 643 

Trackwell, LeRoy 500 

Tucker, Hon. C. H 661 

Tucker, Rev. Dexter 595 

Tudhope, John 565 

Turner, James L 526 

Tyler, Freeman 336 

Tyler, John .54 



u 

Cmmethuu, George 521 

Underwood, Junius 547 

Usher, Hon. John P 135 



Van Buren, Martin 46 

Van Neste, H. G 657 

Van Voorhis, Lansing 663 

w 

Wade, Hon. A. B 659 

Walter, Joseph E 838 

Walter, W. W., M. D 8(1 

Warring, J. w., M. D 799 

Washburn, George P 482 

Washington, George 18 

Watts, Hon. J. C 312 

Weaver, John F gSl 

Weeks, p. H ....5SS 

Weelborg, Frederick 535 

Weimer, James H 818 

Wells, George 499 

Welsh, Hon. H. P 735 

WesthefTer, Eli 634 

Wherry.Eli J 669 

Whetstone, John H 701 

White, AfvaE. B 7,59 

Wiggin, Dudley H 660 

Wilber, Clark 350 

Wilke, Adam L .793 

Williams. William H 318 

Williams, William R 665 

Williams, W. Stanley 496 

Willis, Arthur .470 

W^ilson, Allen L 640 

Wilson, William C 804 

Winkelman, Jacob 646 

Winter, Milton R 8o2 

Woeber, Joseph A 829 

Wohlfrom, Marion A 800 

Wolf, Charles F 3O6 

Wolfsperger, G. J 363 

Wood, Edwin S., M. D. .350 
Wood, Robert L., M. D... 349 

Wood, Rev. W. R 383 

Woodlief, Hon. W. H 319 

Woodruff, W. G., M. D....626 

Wosser, Richard J 698 

Wright, A. H.. M. D 326 

Wright. John W 609 

Wright, Marks 543 

Wulfeknhler, F. W 637 

Wulfekuhler, H. W 269 

Wulfknhle, August 598 



Yewdall, Joseph 630 

Yohe, A. F., M. D 715 

Yohe, Williams 713 

z 

Ziesenis, August 575 



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